 Hi everyone, it's Courtney Act bringing you all the ins and outs of gender terminology. It's so much easier than you think and it's kind of important to how we think about ourselves and others. You shouldn't expect every gender diverse person you meet to be an ambassador for who they are or how they identify. I mean after all we're just trying to get our Starbucks order correct and get on with our lives, right? So it's worth taking some time to school yourself so as not to get an F in common courtesy. So here are some Courtney facts. First things first, gender and sex are two different things. Simply put your gender is about what's between your ears and your sex is about what's between your legs, although it's a little more complex than that. Your sex is assigned at birth by a doctor based on whether you have a penis or a vagina, male or female. But there are a few more biological facts like internal sex organs, chromosomes and hormones that actually determine someone's sex. Gender basically refers to each culture's traditional social roles for men and women. Gender comes in two parts, your gender identity which is how you feel inside and your gender expression which is how you choose to present your gender to the world. Words like man, woman, boy, girl, trans and cis all refer to someone's gender. Now let's get to it. Cis gender is a term you've probably heard a bit more of lately and it describes someone who is not transgender. It comes from the Latin prefix meaning on the same side as. If you're cisgender it just means that your gender matches the sex you're assigned at birth. You have lady parts or boy parts and you're just hunky dory with how that turned out. Transgender, first of all the word is transgender, not transgendered or transgenders. A common mispronunciation but it means that how you feel on the inside doesn't match how you look on the outside. Some trans people might take hormones or undergo surgery to bring their bodies into alignment with their gender identity but not all trans people can or will take those steps. Being trans is not dependent on your physical appearance or medical procedures and so often trans people can be reduced to their genitals like does she have a penis or a vagina and when you think about it that's kind of rude. I mean we're all going to make judgments I get it being inquisitive is natural but whenever I catch myself doing that I just like to say does it matter and how is that my fucking business. An intersex person is born with sexual anatomy or chromosomes that doesn't fit the traditional definition of male or female. We used to use the word hermaphrodite to describe intersex people but we don't anymore. Now very few intersex people have a penis and a vagina that's a misconception but rather a combination of sexual reproductive organs and chromosomes not traditionally male or female. A gender fluid person is someone who doesn't fall into the binary be it the cis concept or the trans concept. They prefer to simply be seen as a person who will choose to live and look in whatever manner they feel is true to themselves. They might look traditionally like a boy or like a girl or somewhere in between or none of the above. Their physical appearance might change too like me. I identify as gender fluid sometimes I'm a boy sometimes I'm a girl and sometimes I'm just me. Now remember with all of these things that it's about respecting and learning about people if someone says that they prefer to be called he or she or they or whatever. Respect that and do it. Do you know how many people I know who use their middle names instead of their first names or reviews to be called Matt instead of Matthew? I mean you'd respect their wishes and address them how they want to be addressed so just do that for everyone. I hope you've enjoyed my little gender 101 and I hope I've answered some questions. If you've got any more ask them down below. Let's start a conversation. Bye.