Trans Terminology

A transgender person is someone who does not feel capable of identifying with the members of his or her anatomical sex.

A transsexual person is someone who has made a surgical change to his or her body in order to artificially sculpt the anatomy to fit the anatomy of the sex with whom the transgender person better identifies.

FTM stands for Female-to-Male, where a person born female has opted to either simply identify as, or make physical steps toward becoming, “male.” Many FTMs change their birth name to a more masculine or gender neutral name, and they ask their friends, family, associates, and new acquaintances to shift to using male pronouns and male terminology (e.g. “son” instead of “daughter”). An MTF is the Male-to-Female form of this transition.

HRT stands for Hormone Replacement Therapy, where either the hormone estrogen (MTF) or testosterone (FTM) is given weekly or bimonthly in form of injection, cream, pill, or patch.

Sexual Reassignment Surgery (SRS) encompasses a wide range of operations depending on the person’s identified gender, but in my case, as in most FTMs, I’m referring only to a full mastectomy, which includes chest sculpting and nipple grafts, more commonly referred to as “top surgery.”

“Stealth” is term used by those making the gender transition to denote fully passing socially as a member of the sex they identify with, as opposed to the sex they were biologically born.

Transguy, trans, FTM, transgender person, tguy are acceptable terms when referring to a transgender person who is publicly open about his transition from female to male, however it’s more preferred (unless told so otherwise by the person), to simply use male terminology sans trans prefixes or specifications. If the trans person does not want his transition to be made public, then refrain from denoting any connection to gender transition.

“Tranny” is an unacceptable term.