Understanding How Mis/Gendering Students Can Affect a Learning Environment

Key Words and Definitions from Millian Kang’s Introduction to Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Pronouns: A word that is used instead of a noun or noun phrase. In reference to a person, these could include she/her, he/him, they/them, ze/zir, or any combination.

Misgender: Referring to a person using a word, a pronoun, or an honorific that does not correctly reflect the gender with which they identify.

Cisgender: Or cis, refers to individuals who identify with the gender assigned to them at birth.

Transgender: Refers to individuals who identify as a gender not assigned to them at birth. The term is used as an adjective (i.e., “a transgender woman, not “a transgender”), however, some individuals describe themselves by using transgender as a noun. Trans is an abbreviated term and individuals may use it self-referentially in addition to or instead of transgender.

Non-binary: Refers to gender identities beyond binary identifications of man or woman. A person does not identify as either a man or a woman.

Binary thinking: A way of thinking and believing that social constructs and oppositional ideas only possess two sides. An exaggeration of differences between social groups until they’ve been separated into having nothing in common.