AMAB stands for Assigned Male At Birth, where a person’s gender was given by medical professionals based on the baby’s genitalia found at birth giving a person a biological sex marker on their birth certificate. In this case, AMAB would mean that doctors or midwives found the baby to have a penis, therefore, would assign male to their birth certificate.
Using the AMAB acronym could also be used to describe a person’s former gender or biological sex identity – used in the case where the person now lives as non-binary, a trans woman or feminine-presenting or a factual status on a man’s gender identity.
Is using AMAB to describe someone offensive to say?
No, but as with most language, it is how the words are applied or the context in which they are used where offensive can be taken. As being described as AMAB is a fact it shouldn’t be considered problematic unless the person you are referring to has said that they are uncomfortable with being called by a certain term. It could in the case of a transgender person out them as trans, or lead to a situation of deadnaming or deadgendering.
Can you expand this definition? Use the comments below and your answer could be used to expand or define this glossary entry.
Deadgendering is when someone refers to a person with the wrong gender pronoun or refers to a previous gender identity which that person has since denounced. It is similar to deadnaming except you are specifically referring to their previous gender identity rather than their previous name.
Referring to a trans woman as “he” saying “him” or “his” or a trans man as a “she” or “her” is misgendering. Also saying someone is AFAB or AMAB is a form of deadgendering.
Is deadgendering offensive?
It can be considered deeply offensive to some trans people – especially if the deadgendering is done with malice or deliberately. It can also be done by mistake by someone who is unsure about how another feels about their previous gender being public knowledge. It’s always best to ask someone how they feel and let them discuss their own identity if they wish to do so.
Can you expand this definition? Use the comments below and your answer could be used to expand or define this glossary entry.
Folx is a gender-neutral way of writing or saying “folks”.
The word folks is already considered a gender-free expression however some in the community feel that it has gender connotations.
Folx is a relatively new term, with only a few instances of use on the internet, however, with the rise in popularity of other X terms, we may start to see more and more use of Folx. However its use is often derided, as demonstrated on Urban Dictionary, who writes,
A strange, unnecessary misspelling of “folks” popularized by people who think using a gender-neutral term for an already gender-neutral word is woke.
This is totally up to you. There’s no major call by any community for people to start using the x term over the normal spelling of folks. As it stands, some people and organisations are using the term, in the same way, they are using “womxn” however when they do it is usually followed by a big backlash on social media.
Other X Terms
You may have noticed X’s appearing in quite a few words, including Latinx and Womxn.
Writing in Latina Magazine, journalist Raquel Reichard said, “Latinx, pronounced ‘La-teen-ex,’ includes the numerous people of Latin American descent whose gender identities fluctuate along with different points of the spectrum, from agender or nonbinary to gender non-conforming genderqueer and genderfluid.”
As for Womxn?
Nita Harker, an assistant professor of sociology at Whatcom Community College in Bellingham, Washington USA and co-organizer of a “Womxn’s March” said, “I actually think the challenge — particularly that it is hard to pronounce in your mind as you read it, that it forces one to stop and think, that it is not just easy and nice and recognizable — is part of the point and the draw. To me, it represents the complexity of gender.”
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Have you noticed the term Womxn and ever wondered what it means or why people are starting to use it?
Womxn is a relatively new term, thought to be a more inclusive way of saying or writing women/woman. It is thought that it was first used in 2015.
The term Womxn is an alternative for the English language word women. It has been in occasional use since 2015 to explicitly include non-cisgender women.
It has been used in a similar manner as womyn and wimmin, as a rejection of the English-only etymology of ‘woman’ from Old English wifmon (wife-man).
More inclusive to non-cisgender people
The term, like folx and Latinx, is thought to be more inclusive to non-cisgender people. Non-cisgender people are those whose gender identity does not necessarily match their biological sexual characteristics. This could be people from the non-binary or transgender community.
“Represents the complexity of gender”
Nita Harker, an assistant professor of sociology at Whatcom Community College in Bellingham, Washington USA and co-organizer of a “Womxn’s March” said, “I actually think the challenge — particularly that it is hard to pronounce in your mind as you read it, that it forces one to stop and think, that it is not just easy and nice and recognizable — is part of the point and the draw.
“To me, it represents the complexity of gender.”
How do you pronounce Womxn?
Although the way people pronounce words is vastly different across the globe, Womxn can be pronounced Woah-Mex/Mix or Wim-Mex/Mix.
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Help us deliver unique, usable and reliable journalism that supports the gay, bisexual and curious community of the United Kingdom. Can you help protect LGBT+ media? Publishers like us have come under severe threat by the likes of Google and Facebook. The problem is that advertisers are choosing to put their money with them, rather than with niche publishers like us. Our goal is to eliminate banner ads altogether on site and we can do that if you could pledge us a tiny amount each month.
We’re asking our readers to pledge just £1 per month, more if you’re feeling swanky. You can stop payment at any time.
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Cornwall Pride wrote to all of the UK’s MPs to express concerns over the Gender Recognition Act and the delays to “gay cures” in the UK.
“Very concerned over backtracking on trans rights”.
The team that runs Cornwall’s only Pride event, Cornwall Pride has written to all of the UK’s MPs to outline their concerns about backtracking on transgender rights in the UK.
They also criticised the Government for “failing in its commitment to formally respond to the Gender Recognition Act consultation by repeatedly delaying publication of the review”
It continued,
“However, we are also disappointed to see the leaks of selected sections of the report without proper communication by the Government. This has caused significant distress and anxiety among trans people and wider LGBT+ communities here in Cornwall and the UK. We believe trans women are women, trans men are men and non- binary identities are valid.
“We, therefore, state our support for trans people’s right to self-identification.”
As it stands,to obtain a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) in the UK, transgender people require a medical diagnosis of Gender Dysphoria, implying that being transgender is a mental illness – a view not recognised by the World Health Organisation.
“They must also live in their “acquired” gender for a minimum of 2 years and must pay a fee of £140.
Cornwall Pride adds, “The Government’s own research acknowledges that this process is bureaucratic, expensive, and humiliating for many transgender people. We believe the Government should respect the consultation, demonstrate a consideration for transgender people’s safety and dignity, and continue to explore ways of reforming the GRA”.
“Perturbed to restrict trans women’s access to services and facilities”
The letter also states,
“We are particularly perturbed by the reported proposals to not only scrap any reform to the GRA, but to restrict trans women’s access to services and facilities in the guise of “safeguarding” safe spaces for cisgender women. One of our supporters has worked in the Violence Against Women and Girls sector, including in a refuge, for more than 13 years and believes such restrictions for trans women are unnecessary and unethical.
“We will be dismayed if the rights of transgender people, both with and without a GRC, are dismantled to appease a “vocal few”.
Reddit has purged a huge amount of forums recently. Yesterday it banned numerous subreddits, many of which were gender critical, trans-exclusionary or part of an anti-transgender movement.
Reddit is one of the largest forum websites in the world. It has hundreds of thousands of pages dedicated to thousands of topics, with millions of users.
As part of an ongoing clean up of its website, Reddit banned numerous forums yesterday (10th July), which homed thousands of threads of conversations with regards to the validity of transgender identities and gender expression.
Here’s the list of subreddits that were banned that Reddit said had broken its guidelines on “promoting hate”.
The ban included LGB specific reddits. Some of the LGB groups think that the T should be dropped from the LGBT+ acronym, very much like the Get the L out campaign which disrupted Pride In London in 2018 or the LGB Alliance on Twitter.
r/LGBDropTheT
r/TrueLesbians
r/GetTheLOut
r/UncensoredLGBT
r/gendercritlesbians were all part of the ban.
Detrans is a forum that was initially banned for around an hour but was later reinstated. Its purpose is to give those people who detransition a forum to talk about their lives and journies.
A week ago, Reddit made headlines after it deleted dozens of forums for hate speech.
It is thought that Reddit has now deleted around 2000 of its forums.
AFAB stands for Assigned Female At Birth, where a person’s gender was given by medical professionals based on the baby’s genitalia found at birth giving a person a biological sex marker on their birth certificate. In this case, AFAB would mean that doctors or midwives found the baby to have a vagina, therefore, would assign female to their birth certificate.
Using the AFAB acronym could also be used to describe a person’s former gender or biological sex identity – used in the case where the person now lives as non-binary, a trans man or masculine-presenting or a factual status on a woman’s gender identity.
Is using AFAB to describe someone offensive to say?
No, but as with most language, it is how the words are applied or the context in which they are used where offensive can be taken. As being described as AFAB is a fact it shouldn’t be considered problematic unless the person you are referring to has said that they are uncomfortable with being called by a certain term. It could in the case of a transgender person out them as trans, or lead to a situation of deadnaming or deadgendering.
Can you expand this definition? Use the comments below and your answer could be used to expand or define this glossary entry.
“Something else that I’m surprised no news organisation has picked up on is forced declaration of pronouns in the public sector. Employees now have to declare on their email signature their preferred pronouns. Why? It’s not an issue for 99.9% of people”
However, there is no law that requires workers to share their gender or pronoun statuses, or any law that requires organisations to force their workers to select a pronoun.
Unsurprisingly the tweet got a few replies from India’s followers, one from Dr Adrian Harrop, who replied,
“Not sure it’s really being “forced” onto anyone. I find it to be quite an impactful & empowering thing. it is one of those cues / signals that show our organisation to be one that is inclusive & in which it is safe for trans & non-binary people to be open re: their identity”.
THEGAYUK.com undertook a quick survey across two social media platforms to check the validity of the statement of enforced pronoun selection.
The answer came back with the vast majority (94%) saying that they were not forced to share any gender details with their email correspondents.
What’s the legal standpoint?
We asked Helen Hughes, legal director and employment law specialist at the law firm, Shakespeare Martineau about the legal ramifications on employers asking their employees to state their gender publicly. Hughes told us,
“Although this may be introduced with the best intentions – to address individuals with respect and courtesy in the way that they wish to be referred to – employers must be wary about requesting information from employees that could impact the way they are treated. Although they can’t force you to disclose this kind of information, you should feel comfortable sharing preferred pronouns if you feel it important to do so.
“Forcing employees to reveal their pronoun preferences could leave employers open to discrimination claims, and employees feeling alienated.”
A preferred pronoun indicates which gender a person would like to be referred to, usually with a choice of male, female or non-binary pronouns.
Masculine pronouns are, he his and him
Feminine pronouns are she and her and hers
Non-binary pronouns are: They, Them Theirs / Zim Ze and Zis / Mx / Thon /
So what should companies do?
Helen continues,
“Having an inclusive workplace culture is crucial however singling out one group of people is a dangerous game for employers. Being open, honest and above all else celebrating people’s differences will no doubt go a long way to improve culture, retention and breed a workforce that looks beyond age, gender, race or the like. There is simply no need to force employees to reveal any more information than they are comfortable with.”
Recently the BBC was attacked for teaching children that there are over 100 different types of gender. This move from the BBC received widespread criticism from the right-wing media (as expected) and unfortunately when a gender spokesperson on Good Morning Britain was interviewed on the matter they struggled to explain the differences when challenged by presenters on what the 100 genders stood for and why some of them were ‘genders’ and not simply aspects of their personality.
It was, put bluntly, a car crash and did nothing to explain to your the majority of UK viewers what the move was about.
Don’t get me wrong, I have my issues with Piers Morgan, but that interview was a car crash and made the gender argument look ridiculous. Love him or hate him, Piers won that round and inflicted serious damage on the public perception of gender freedom.
It left even those of us in the LGBT community that weren’t aware of 100+ genders before now baffled and unsure of what was expected of us as allies?
As someone that has worked with the wider LGBT+ community, I found the statement that there are 100+ gender staggering. It might easier for a child to get their head around, I can’t say as I’ve not been a child for quite some time now, but if we even struggle then how on earth is wider Society meant to cope? So I went looking to see what on earth the 100+ genders are and what they could mean.
I found this list from Tumblr which has listed around 116 different types of genders. Some I recognise and some have just baffled me. Many of them, especially those where they say they aren’t ‘Male’ or ‘Female’, but they aren’t anything else either until you ask them, then they say they are X or Y based on that moment. That is not a ‘gender’ type, that’s an attitude or personality trait. At most that is gender fluid, so what’s wrong with being gender fluid?
For a community that claims to despise labels and being put in boxes are we really telling the wider world that we now have 100+ labels for ourselves, a fair majority of which are based on our mood and situation at any given time?
Me: “I don’t want you [Society] to label me, we should be beyond labels”
Also Me: “Here are 100+ more labels, many of which depend on my mood on any given day. You wanna label me, ha I’ve just made it 100 times more difficult.”
People have to remember that we are a community, built and based on social interaction. This 100+ list of genders and associated pronouns has just put a massive barrier up to other human beings communicating with us/them.
If you have no idea how to address someone (as even ‘they’ wouldn’t work for some of these) then surely that person is simply not going to address you, and just avoid you completely as it’s the path of least resistance (easier). They don’t mean anything by it, they aren’t out to ‘get you’ or ‘oppress you’ they just have no idea how to interact with you because of this mind-boggling wall you’ve put up and have 1001 things to deal with other than how on earth to say hello to you and ask how you are.
The rise in gender fluidity and the challenge of the traditional masculine and feminine associations is something to be celebrated, especially if it means we get closer to achieving true gender equality, eradicate sexism and truly accept into Society transsexuality and gender re-assignment. However, with saying to the world that there are now 115 different genders, many of which are based on circumstances and mood, are we at risk to invalidating and demeaning that freedom we have enjoyed as it is coming across as ridiculous and unrealistic?
A friend of mine recently ‘came out’ as pansexual. For those unaware, pansexuality, or omnisexuality, is the sexual, romantic or emotional attraction towards people regardless of their sex or gender identity.
Pansexual people may refer to themselves as gender-blind, asserting that gender and sex are not determining factors in their romantic or sexual attraction to others. Unlike Bisexuality, pansexuals tend not to see gender and just see the person/personality.
Recently Sam Smith (not the friend mentioned above) also came out as non-binary and raising awareness of gender descriptives within our language. Smith has a valid point and if we are truly to be 21st-century race then more accurate command of the language is a good thing. The abuse Smith received from the LGBT community was completely uncalled for.
However, the 100+ genders issue raises the question, are we using gender identity as a smokescreen for our own personality traits and rising trend to be identified as something and to use that as a banner against oppression? It’s almost as if the community has achieved a level of acceptance (which we have on the whole) but now we want evermore? Or to put it another way, have we just gotten so used to being oppressed and that feeling of ‘fighting the machine’ that we now seek new battles and new demands for acceptance?
If some of our allies and the community itself are struggling to keep up with the notion of 100+ genders and pronouns, and find they have to ask what someone’s gender is in order not to offend, are we just simply creating a society where no one can get it right because I’ve used the pronouns for gender 67 but actually you are gender 68 which causes you offence and now I’m the oppressor? Surely we want a world where gender isn’t even factored into someone’s decision making. But this seems to want to enshrine even further it into everyday life and make it yet another thing people can use to beat you over the head with.
Personally, I don’t see the argument for creating any more genders beyond the 6 the NHS currently uses and recognises. Or at least, certainly not for creating 100+ pronouns. I shouldn’t need to know your gender, simply what pronoun to use. For those unaware, the 6 genders the NHS uses are currently male, female, gender-neutral, non-binary, gender-fluid and gender-queer. Being referred to as ‘they’ should be perfectly acceptable for the majority if not all genders. I’ve not seen any of the 100+ that aren’t simply a very subtle variation of 1 of the six (with maybe 1 or 2 exceptions).
If you do identify as one of the 100+ genders then you don’t need my validation to exist. You certainly don’t need my confirmation of your gender so seeking it from others is a fool’s errand.
If you can look me in the eye and can honestly say that you are peace with the fact that you identify as whatever-sexual, I’ll believe you and quite happily accept for you that. But if you honestly think this does anything for reaching a stage where gender means nothing to Society then you are deluding yourself. This turns the gender discrimination and bias argument into a completely different beast, a beast you are very unlikely to master.
There are a number of resources out there on Gender Freedom and Identity. I would encourage everyone to read more on the issue, starting with Mermaids charity so you can understand more around Transsexuality and wider issues. There are also some good resources from the BBC on gender identity and pronouns.
Here I have simply asked the question and posed some issues that we need to find answers to. Do your own research and come to your own conclusion, but remember this is a debate the nation should have. Not prejudice, or an attack, or an invalidation.
Let me tell you about my own gender expression before we go on. I don’t think of myself as a “man” because I don’t really fit into what society expects of men. When I was a child all I wanted to do was be called a girl, wear high heels, my mum’s dresses and sing Petula Clark’s ‘Downtown’ on repeat.
I was a Grade A queer/trans kid. As an adult I couldn’t admit that to anyone outside my immediate family. I was so shamed by this behaviour – and bullied mercilessly at school when I chose to wear the white, patterned “girls’” socks instead of the regulation grey socks for boys.
Nowadays, I dress in typically masculine clothes, I have a boyfriend, I have short hair and people assume that I’m a man and a gay one at that. I respec the privileges that, for the most part, that assumed identity affords me. But, it never really feels right when someone refers to me in that way.
That said, I don’t mind if people use the pronouns him/his or he when they refer to me.
Although it does jar me if someone calls me a man.
Weird? Right?
I also don’t mind it if I’m referred to with female pronouns.
I’m pretty relaxed about the pronouns that are used to describe me.
But for some, words really matter. So here’s some advice to help us all become better allies to our non-binary, gender non-conforming siblings.
It seems that we’ve all got our lives set to transmit only. We need more receiving in our lives. So when someone is telling you something about them, listen.
Someone once wisely told me, “Assumptions are the mother of all fuck-ups” – and they were completely right. How often have you assumed something about a situation only to find that nothing was as you imagined? Pretty often, right?
Your assumptions are based on your own life experience. It doesn’t take into account other people’s experience. So leave your assumptions at the door and again, open your mind.
If a person tells you what their preferred pronoun is, accept it don’t fight it. It’s what they’ve asked you to call them. The decision is effectively out of your hands. It’s the same as when someone tells you their name. You accept it and it becomes part of their identity. Well, pronouns are the same.
Some non-binary, gender fluid and gender non-conforming folks use a number of different pronouns. Some popular ones are: Zim/Zer and Ze, they/them and theirs or even thon, which was actually added to the dictionary in 1964. They as a singular pronoun has been used for centuries.It’s not particularly new, it’s not trend based, it’s just getting a lot of media attention at the moment.
Blue for boys, Pink for girls… gender stereotyping is all so the 1950s and really doesn’t work for today’s society. No one likes living in a predefined box and we don’t live in a black and white world. There’s a whole rainbow out there.
Gender norms and stereotypes, when adhered to, just keeps society attached to a patriarchal system that’s almost impossible to climb and doesn’t work for all of us, particularly LGBT+ people. So lets bin it shall we?
Normalise the conversation surrounding pronouns. Write your preferred pronouns in your social media profiles. As @thalestral says on Twitter, “normalise that shit”.
Also on twitter, stop assuming people’s pronouns based on their profile pic and your binary stereotypes.
Read their profile. Check their pronouns. Don’t assume.
And while you’re there, put your own pronouns in your profile.
Let me tell you about my own gender expression before we go on. I don’t think of myself as a “man” because I don’t really fit into what society expects of its men. When I was a child all I wanted to do was be called a girl, wear high heels, my mum’s dresses and sing Petula Clark’s ‘Downtown’ on repeat.
I was a Grade A queer/trans kid. As an adult I couldn’t admit that to anyone outside my immediate family. I was so shamed by this behaviour – and bullied mercilessly at school when I chose to wear the white, patterned “girls’” socks instead of the regulation grey socks for boys.
Nowadays, I dress in masculine clothes, I have a boyfriend, I have short hair and people assume that I’m a man and a gay one at that. I enjoy the privileges that, for the most part, that assumed identity affords me. But, it never really feels right when someone refers to me in that way.
That said, I don’t mind if people use the pronouns him/his or he when they refer to me. Although it does jar me if someone calls me a man. Weird.
I also don’t mind it if I’m referred to with female pronouns.
I’m pretty relaxed about the pronouns that are used to describe me.
But for some, words really matter. So here’s some advice to help us all become better allies to our non-binary, gender non-conforming siblings.
It seems that we’ve all got our lives set to transmit only. We need more receiving in our lives. So when someone is telling you something about them, listen.
Someone once wisely told me, “Assumptions are the mother of all fuck-ups” – and they were completely right. How often have you assumed something about a situation only to find that nothing was as you imagined? Pretty often, right?
Your assumptions are based on your own life experience. It doesn’t take into account other people’s experience. So leave your assumptions at the door and again, open your mind.
If a person tells you what their preferred pronoun is, accept it don’t fight it. It’s what they’ve asked you to call them. The decision is effectively out of your hands. It’s the same as when someone tells you their name. You accept it and it becomes part of their identity. Well, pronouns are the same.
Some non-binary, gender fluid and gender non-conforming folks use a number of different pronouns. Some popular ones are: Zim/Zer and Ze, they/them and theirs or even thon, which was actually added to the dictionary in 1964. They as a singular pronoun has been used for centuries.It’s not particularly new, it’s not trend based, it’s just getting a lot of media attention at the moment.
Blue for boys, Pink for girls… gender stereotyping is all so the 1950s and really doesn’t work for today’s society. No one likes living in a predefined box and we don’t live in a black and white world. There’s a whole rainbow out there.
Gender norms and stereotypes, when adhered to, just keeps society attached to a patriarchal system that’s almost impossible to climb and doesn’t work for all of us, particularly LGBT+ people. So lets bin it shall we?
Normalise the conversation surrounding pronouns. Write your preferred pronouns in your social media profiles. As @thalestral says on Twitter, “normalise that shit”.
Also on twitter, stop assuming people’s pronouns based on their profile pic and your binary stereotypes.
Read their profile. Check their pronouns. Don’t assume.
And while you’re there, put your own pronouns in your profile.
