better words than "gender identity"

[Draculess]

As important as "gender identity" is, I think the term itself kind of falls short of describing the concept. A lot of cis people seem to take it as like trans people identify as their gender the way people identify with characters in fiction or whatnot, that it's kind of just a psychological/mental thing or like a wish or something when there's indisputably a biological component to it. Even though I've had to transition to live more fully, I don't think of myself as ever having been a man or born a boy, just a woman with a medical condition. Or people say that I'm biologically male or similar things and I just thing of myself as being biologically a trans female. (I think assigned sex is a much better term than biological sex)

I think something like "internal gender" or something might be accurate. I think the word identity makes people associate trans issues with quote unquote "identity politics", when I think in a lot of ways it's more of a health issue. Anyone else have any thoughts about this?

[KathyLauren]

"Gender identity" is actually quite an accurate term.  The problem is that it is too easily open to misinterpretation.  I can't think of a better term.

I consider myself to be biologically transgender female.  What the public like to call "biologically male" should really be called "anatomically male".  I will admit to being anatomically male, but insist on being called biologically trans.

Semantics will get you every time.

[RobynD]

Semantics can be a tangled thing at times. I too see Gender Expression as an accurate term. Yes medical issue may drive us to that expression, but it is still our choice of how to express that. But i do like the assigned term because let's face it our parents and others had a lot to do with what our old gender expression was. They truly assigned us. Like you i think "biological" in terms of gender is not that great of a term.

I see crossdressing (when you don't identify as transgender) as gender expression as well.

I can see how the term could be twisted to disadvantage but that is true of most terms i guess.

[Ashley3]

As important as "gender identity" is, I think the term itself kind of falls short of describing the concept. ... I think the word identity makes people associate trans issues with quote unquote "identity politics" ... Anyone else have any thoughts about this?

I think all of the terms and labels can always fall short because you are always going to be you, and have a desire to express how you wish to express, and all that is born out of your overall identity.

At a certain point, my consideration of the question of my own gender identity actually stood in my way of discovering more about my gender identity until I threw all the terminology aside, including the question regarding gender identity, where I then started to focus on how I felt like being, expressing, doing each and every day. I focused daily on tangibles that were directly connected with how I felt I was, wanted to express, be. This made me human and alive rather than stuck in my head contemplating nebulous terms. This meant being feminine without the need to qualify identity, something I'm guessing many ciswomen experience. Why not just be who you are first and discover from that?

By allowing myself to occasionally cast aside the term gender identity, I was able to consider things without the gimmicky nature that can sometimes arise when considering such terms.

I get what you're saying that sometimes people can make superficial associations between unrelated terms given the presence of identical words, but I don't know if we need to change the terms but there are no rules that say you cannot spearhead something in that way. I see no issue with you responding to someone, "I don't use that term gender ideneity, rather I refer to my core internal gender as ...." and so forth. Obviously, we'd go bananas if everyone had their own terms... but a little thing here/there doesn't seem bad as long as you have the patience to explain yourself, and as long as you can handle people who might be impatient with what might seem like splitting hairs. And, of course, you could also use the existing terms and help clear up those superficial misunderstandings via a little friendly clarification.

While our labeling systems can be a curse, they are truly a hard fought wonder connected with our ability as human beings to communicate so robustly in a truly phenomenal manner. A term like "gender identity" is likely imperfect but is so much better than nothing, and while it has gotten in my way at times, the term itself, along with so many others, opened my mind to what was allowed beyond the boxes. So even if I tire of terms at times, I always appreciate them too and those who got them established. We live in a comfy better understood world today because of those imperfect terms. They can be a pain at times but I appreciate and them and can deal with the quirks.

[Miss Clara]

I, too, have issues with transgender terminology.  They usually arise from inconsistent meanings associated with labels that lead to miscommunication.  For example, some people use the term "gender identity" to denote an intrinsic, essentialist quality of an individual which is present at birth and unchanging, while others see it as a characteristic that can be donned and doffed as circumstances call.

I'm in the latter camp because, to my way of thinking, gender identity is not a one-way street.  My gender identity is both my own sense of gender and how other people see me.  If there's agreement, there's harmony in gender relevant social interactions, and if not, it'll depend on the situation.

For most of my life I identified as a boy/man.  Because I was born male-bodied, there was no disagreement over where I fit within the gendered social structure.  That gender identity, however, did not agree with my immutable, neurological (brain) sex which biological processes rendered in the womb. 

When I decided to change my gender identity to match my neurological sex, it clashed with the gender identity that others perceived.  People still identified me as being male.  It wasn't until I changed that perception so that my sex and gender merged into a consistent, congruent state of being that gender dysphoria was relieved.

So I see a person's gender identity as being both chosen and bestowed.  My transition has been a long, difficult pursuit of a gender identity that matches my neurological sex; that is, to have others acknowledge and accept the gender identity I've chosen for myself so that I can live free of chronic gender anxiety and distress.

The controversy over access to sex-segregated spaces disappears for those whose gender identity is not in question, that is, when a person 'passes' as the gender they've chosen to present as.  It's only when other's contest your chosen gender identity that the potential for confrontation occurs.

I seriously doubt that the linking one's gender identity to their sex will ever become irrelevant.  Sex drives all human life, and gender identity is its proxy.

[Dani]

Sometimes I use "Gender Issues" as a catch all phrase. So far, no one has challenged me on that.

[Aurorasky]

Gender development makes me more sense to me. It encompasses nature and nurture just in one term. Gender identity is often too abstract.

[Michelle_P]

Many of the terms being bandied about in this thread do have very specific clinical meanings.

I do not favor altering terms because someone else failed to understand the terms.  In particular, I do not favor altering terms because an attempt has been made to politicize a term or attach a particular incongruent semantic concept to a term.

This site actually contains a resource which provides fairly clear descriptions of these terms in lay English.  I would suggest that the use of this resource might render some of this topic moot.

https://www.susans.org/wiki/Main_Page

[Draculess]

I just wanted to clarify a few things briefly. I don't necessarily dislike or disagree with the term gender identity, and I'm not too hung up on the semantics personally. That is to say I consider the term relatively accurate and it doesn't really effect my perception of my transsexualism or anything, I just think for people who are relative novices to gender studies, it can have confusing/misleading connotations. Clara Kay, you mentioned the term "neurological sex". I've also used this term before, and I think it's probably closest to what I'm looking for. Although, I definitely disagree that other's perceptions effect someone's gender identity, I honestly think what you're referencing as gender identity is closer to gender expression. I don't think someone contesting your gender identity makes it invalid or incomplete, but maybe I'm misinterpreting. Certainly it has an effect on your dysphoria.

oh and RobynD, I can relate to some of what you're saying, but gender expression is really very different from gender identity and has a pretty fixed meaning. that's like for example, you have "butch" and "femme" lesbians, two different gender expressions, but all lesbians are women and female in their gender identity. Again, I could be misinterpreting, so maybe I'm explaining something you already know.

thanks for all the replies, everyone. it's interesting to here so many different perspectives.

[Draculess]

I think all of the terms and labels can always fall short because you are always going to be you

I definitely agree with this! human beings are so specialized and individual. everyone is different.