Archives Resources

Vocal Therapy

A process that an individual may pursue to change their voice to a more masculine, feminine, or androgynous pitch. Some people seek professional assistance to train their voices to match their identified gender. Others will train their voices to match their voices with their identified gender. Some transmasculine individuals who take HRT will not need to seek voice therapy or coaching, as testosterone will naturally lower the pitch of their voice. Since their voice caused them a lot of body dysphoria, Oliver decided to try vocal therapy to train themself to speak in a lower pitch.

Glossary of Terms & Definitions, V

Umbrella Term

A term used to cover a broad number of functions, words, subjects, or items that all fall under a single common category or theme.

Glossary of Terms & Definitions, U

Vaginoplasty

A surgical procedure intended to construct a vagina surgically. Vaginoplasty is typically performed as a single surgical technique, but some may seek follow-up surgeries—such as labiaplasty—to enhance certain physical characteristics (see: bottom surgery).

Glossary of Terms & Definitions, V

Vaginal Preservation Phalloplasty

A surgical procedure in which an individual with a vagina would potentially keep their vaginal opening while creating a phallus. This procedure is typically pursued by individuals who do not fit gender stereotypes or simply desire to keep their vagina while having a phallus.

Glossary of Terms & Definitions, V

Two-Spirit

A modern, pan-Native American term used by some Indigenous communities in the United States to describe queer and/or gender non-conforming people, replacing the inaccurate and often degrading phraseology imposed on gender-variant Indigenous peoples by white colonizers. The term is not synonymous with Western concepts like “transgender” or “queer”—it can mean many things depending on an individual’s culture or personal identity.

Glossary of Terms & Definitions, T

Truscum

A belief system, arguably based on the Western construction of the gender binary that transgender people must experience a certain set of conditions—including gender dysphoria and a desire to transition medically—in order to legitimately “qualify” as transgender. While such attitudes may be prevalent among cisgender people, “truscum” is a slang term used primarily within transgender communities to denote other trans people who subscribe to this idea. Gary used to be truscum—he once believed that people who didn’t want gender-affirming surgery weren’t truly transgender.

Glossary of Terms & Definitions, T

Trauma-Informed

A treatment framework that acknowledges the long-term effect of trauma on human behavior and development, viewing a person’s coping mechanisms as rational responses to adverse situations rather than pathological acts of deviance requiring corrective intervention. Trauma-informed care may consist of:

Glossary of Terms & Definitions, T

Transsexual

An older term used to refer primarily to binary transgender people, typically those who intended to or had successfully undergone some degree of hormone replacement therapy and/or gender-affirming surgery. Some individuals consider this term derogatory, as it was historically used to refer to someone based on their gender assigned at birth—for example, clinicians originally described transgender women as “male transsexuals” during the 1960s (Benjamin, 1966).

Glossary of Terms & Definitions, T