Adding this part is a dangerous exercise. There is little that gets people in the transgendered community so worked up as an argument about the proper application of terminology. However, since one purpose of this web site is to act as a resource for friends who want to find out more about my life and try to understand it, I have finally decided to boldly go where I know I shouldn't and add this for the benefit of those friends. If you are one of those people who gets all hot and bothered about imagined slights in the use or definition of terms, save your energy. I haven't got time for debates on such trivia.

CD: abbreviation for crossdresser

Crossdresser: someone who wears the clothes of the opposite sex. May be of any sexual orientation, straight, gay or bisexual, though most are straight at least in terms of actual behaviour.

Drag Queen: male, usually but not always gay, who dresses as a woman for the purposes of entertaining others or to attract sexual partners. Some strive for a realistic look, but others deliberately cultivate an outrageous, exaggerated or gender-bending look. (a drag king is a woman who dresses as a man for similar reasons, but the term is very rare, at least around here). Often has slightly pejorative overtones when applied to transgendered people who do not identify themselves as drag queens.

Female Impersonator: a man who dresses as a woman in order to impersonate specific female celebrities for entertainment purposes.

FI: abbreviation for female impersonator.

GG: abbreviation for "genetic girl"; used to distinguish who's who in a mixed crowd where some CD/TG/TS/TVs may be mistaken for those born genetically female.

Hermaphrodite: someone whose physical genitalia are of ambiguous appearance. Tends to have clinical overtones; the terms which seems to be preferred by such people themselves is intersexed.

She-male: a term primarily used in pornography to refer to people who retain male primary genitalia while often having breast implants or other feminization for sexual purposes. Considered to be a highly pejorative term by most transgendered people.

To pass: be accepted as a member of the opposite sex.

To be read: to be recognized as not of the genetic sex which one is attempting to present oneself as.

TG: abbreviation for transgendered.

Transgendered person: an umbrella term generally used to refer to crossdressers, transsexuals and others whose gender identity differs in some way from their genetic sex.

Transnatural: a person, usually a pre-op MTF TS, who decides not to proceed with genital surgery, but who lives at least partially in the role of the opposite sex. A relatively new and little-used term.

Transsexual: someone who wishes to be of the opposite sex. Often classified as:

Transvestite: an older word for crossdresser, now usually held to have clinical or pejorative overtones (psychologists & psychiatrists often refer to those who crossdress for erotic purposes as "fetishistic transvestites", while any crime committed by a crossdressed or transgendered person is invariably committed by a "transvestite prostitute" or some other "transvestite (fill in the blank)")

TS: abbreviation for transsexual

TV: abbreviation for transvestite; not generally considered to be as pejorative as the original term

T*: pronounced "tee-star", this is an umbrella abbreviation for all trans-whatever folks. It's intended to save space and avoid claims of being excluded, arguments over definitions, etc.