Glossary of Terms

Helpful Definitions Or Trans/lation

Bio-female - a person born female.

Bio-male - a person born male.

Blake drain - long, flat perforated Teflon tube placed in surgical wound of top surgery patients to encourage drainage of fluids from wound.   --->Click here to see a Blake drain.<---

Butch - a person born female whose manner, dress, body language, and essential personality echo to one degree or another the societal definition of "masculine"

Chest compression vest - vest of lightweight nylon/lycra stretch material used after surgery to help in proper healing of chest reconstruction surgery. Also sometimes used by pre-op FTMs and Butches to "bind" or minimize the size/appearance of breasts.

Chest reconstruction surgery - surgical procedure during which the breasts are removed using one of two different techniques along with surgical sculpting of the chest to give a masculine appearance.

Drag king - a female performer who impersonates men onstage.

Drag queen- a male performer who impersonates women onstage.

Estrogen - along with progesterone and others - female sex hormone.

FTM - female to male transsexual; a person born female who feels that male gender more closely reflects his feelings about himself and his self-concept

Feminist - women-affirming women; women who believe that women are as valuable as men.

Femme - a person born female whose manner, dress, body language, and essential personality echo to one degree or another the societal definition of "feminine".

Gay - a person who identifies as male who is primarily attracted to other persons who identify as male.

Genderqueer - a person who rejects the binary gender system with male and female polarities. May present as androgynous or anywhere along the femininity-masculinity continuum.

Jackson-Pratt - a flexible bulb attached to tubing that connects with the drains in a post-top surgery patients surgical incisions/wounds. These bulbs have a little stopper that can be removed to allow for removal of drainage. Squeezing the bulb before replacing the stopper exerts mild suction and enhances the removal of drainage.--->  Click here to see a picture of a Jackson-Pratt bulb.<---

LGBT - lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered.

Lesbian - a person who identifies as female who is primarily attracted to other persons who identify as female.

MTF - male to female transsexual; a person born female who feels that female gender more closely reflects her feelings about herself and her self-concept.

Misandrist - a person who hates men.

Misogynist - a person who hates women.

Partner - usually indicates a primary relationship…not a business partnership.

Progesterone - along with estrogen and others - female sex hormone.

Radical feminist - term coined and used in the Second Wave of Feminism in North America connoting womyn-affirming womyn in staunch defiance of patriarchy in all its' forms.

Ringer's lactate - intravenous fluid often given to postoperative surgical patients.

SO - significant other; the partner or loved one of a transsexual

SOFFA - significant others, friends, family, and allies of transsexuals

Stealth - trans community's term for transfolks who pass as their chosen gender 24/7 and who generally have no contact with other transfolks.

Steri-strips - Nylon-reinforced tape used to help closed surgical incisions.

Stonebutch - a male-identified female whose persona is extremely masculine. Can also connote an extremely masculine butch who is sexually untouchable.

Testosterone - male sex hormone.

TransFemme - a femme who is primarily attracted to FTM(s).

Transensual - attracted to transsexual persons.

Transsexual - a person who identifies as a member of the "opposite" sex.

Transition - the process by which a person of a given sex is transformed into a person of the "opposite" sex.

Womyn - female persons who resent the implication of male superiority inherent in the "woman" spelling