Transgender people use a variety of terms to refer to their genitals and other sexually dimorphic body parts and bodily functions. While some may use the standard clinical and colloquial terms e. These replacement words serve as alternatives to existing names that may conflict with a person's gender identity and trigger gender dysphoria. In medical contexts, providers may use traditional clinical terms, may mirror patients' preferred terms, or may use alternate terms such as internal genitals and external gonads.
Common approaches include using terms associated with analogous body parts e. Some words are humorous, like hen for a transfeminine penis contrast cock or chesticles for a transmasculine breast. The naming of body parts is an important component of transgender sexuality. Trans people may pick different words for different contexts. In both colloquial and medical contexts, experts emphasize deferring to individual preference. One way many of us show our bodies love is by rewriting the language we use to describe them.
Many of us have body parts that feel gendered in ways that do not match our sense of self. This can make it difficult for some of us to hear these body parts called by their standard names. Prior to the s, there was little research on the social aspects of transgender bodies.
Terms also exist to differentiate cisgender body parts without othering transgender parts, for instance factory-direct dick to refer to a cisgender man's penis. Many trans people refer to body parts with words for comparable cross-sex body parts based on adequation the finding of "sufficient similarity" with those body parts.
More colorful terms include bussy for the anus; clit , strapless contrast strapon , or hen contrast cock for the transfeminine penis ; front hole , man cave or bonus hole for the transmasculine vagina ; and chesticles for the transmasculine breast. Some trans people are less uncomfortable with their body or do not associate their sexually dimorphic body parts with their gender assigned at birth.
