What does it all mean!? This foundational workshop provides an introduction to the vocabulary of trans inclusion. Attendees will develop an understanding of common terms as they are used by the transgender community, and how they apply in a library context.

1. Becoming a Trans
Inclusive Library
1. Trans Inclusive Vocabulary
Spencer D. C. Keralis, Ph.D.
spencerk@illinois.edu
@hauntologist

2. License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

3. Outline
I. Housekeeping and Introductions
II. Words Matter

4. Housekeeping
No photography or social media, please.

5. Format
There will be lecture, a group activity, and some discussion.
This is a space for conversation, not confrontation. Be gentle
with each other.
All materials are licensed under a CC BY NC 4.0 license
except where otherwise noted.

6. Learning Outcomes
In this workshop, participants will learn...
1. Contemporary language around gender identity
Future workshops will build on this vocabulary.

7. This is not Ally Training.

8. Questions
Please interrupt if you need clarifications.
If you have a question you’re not comfortable asking aloud,
please send it in the Chat. I’ll respond to these intermittently,
and in a shared document afterwards.

9. Spencer Keralis, Ph.D.
Pronouns: They/Them
@hauntologist
Assistant Professor and Digital Humanities Librarian with the
University of Illinois at Urban- Champaign Libraries.
I hope to learn more about the professional development
needs of librarians to help deliver inclusive services.

10. Introductions
1. Your Name
2. Your Pronouns
3. Your Role
4. What you hope to learn today.

11. A Little Background...

12. TX-Gender Project Librarian
Survey
● 66% of Respondents know a transgender person; 12%
don’t know whether they know a transgender person.
● 8% believe there are not more than 2 genders; 19% are
unsure.
● 10% either believe there is no difference between sex
and gender or are unsure (5% each).
● 34% believe there is a relationship between gender
identity and sexual orientation; 17% don’t know.

13. Words Matter

14. Gender
is a cultural and linguistic construct.

15. Biological Sex
Male, Female, Intersex
Based on secondary sex characteristics (including genitals);
not generally determined chromosomally.
Contrary to common assumptions, biological sex is not binary
- there are a range of genital and chromosomal configurations
that occur without disorder or health issues.

16. Gender
Man, Woman, Agender, Bigender
Gender is socially constructed around the roles culturally
ascribed to individuals based on perception of biological sex.
Gender identity involves how an individual identifies
regardless of the sex assigned at birth.
Gender expression relates to how an individual represents
their gender in fashion, hairstyles, body language, etc.

17. Culture
...makes all of this messy.

18. Linguistic Challenges
Many Libraries serve polyglot communities.
Cultural and linguistic differences can present additional
challenges to gender-nonconforming people who speak
languages in addition to English, and/or who are from
non-Western cultures.
Spanish: Latina/Lantino->Latinx/Latin@;
Maestro/Maestra->Maestre/Maestr@
herman@, hermane = brother/sister/sibling

19. Vocabulary Extravaganza!
You’ll see a series of words and phrases on the
screen.
You’ll have about a minute per term to write
down, as quickly as you can, a definition that
reflects your best understanding of the term.
Don’t Google it. Just write what you know.

20. Gender Binary

21. Cisgender

22. Transgender

23. Transphobia

24. Vocabulary Exercise
Now, in your breakout rooms, take some time
to discuss your definitions. See if you can come
to a rough consensus on how a term is defined,
and how it relates to today’s topic.
10 Minutes

25. Regroup

26. Gender Binary

27. Gender Binary
– (noun) the idea that there are only two
genders – male/female or man/woman and
that a person must be strictly gendered as
either/or.

28. Cisgender

29. Cisgender
– (adj; pronounced “siss‐jendur”) a person
whose gender identity and biological sex
assigned at birth align (e.g., man and
male‐assigned).
A simple (but limiting) way to think about it is
if a person is not trans, they are cisgender.
Safe Zone Vocabulary Extravaganza

30. Alea iacta est
The Latin prefix cis means
“on this side of.”
Caesar crossed the Rubicon
from Cisalpine Gaul.
The Latin prefix trans means
“on the other side of.”
Transalpine Gaul was across
the Alps.
“The die is cast…”
Julius Caesar Crossing the Rubicon, Tancredi Scarpelli
(1866-1937)

31. Transgender

32. Transgender
Transgender – (adj) (1) An umbrella term covering a range of
identities that do not conform to socially defined gender roles.
(2) A person who lives as a member of a gender other than
that expected based on sex assigned at birth.
* I don’t use trans* because many trans activists perceive is as being applied in
ways that are problematic. Transgender is already an umbrella term for many
trans identities.

33. Gender Dysphoria
Gender dysphoria involves a conflict between a person's
physical or assigned gender and the gender with which
he/she/they identify. People with gender dysphoria may be
very uncomfortable with the gender they were assigned,
sometimes described as being uncomfortable with their body
(particularly developments during puberty) or being
uncomfortable with the expected roles of their assigned
gender.
American Psychiatric Association. “What Is Gender Dysphoria?”

34. Gender Expression
– (noun) the external display of one’s gender,
through a combination of dress, demeanor,
social behavior, and other factors. Also
referred to as “gender presentation.”

35. Genderqueer
‐ (adj) a gender identity label often used by
people who do not identify with the binary of
man/woman; or as an umbrella term for many
gender nonconforming or nonbinary identities
(e.g., agender, bigender, genderfluid).

36. Genderqueer
Genderqueer people may think of themselves as one or more of the
following, and they may define these terms differently:
● may combine aspects man and woman and other identities
(bigender, pangender);
● not having a gender or identifying with a gender (genderless,
agender);
● moving between genders (genderfluid);
● third gender or other‐gendered; includes those who do not place a
name to their gender having an overlap of, or blurred lines between,
gender identity and sexual and romantic orientation.

37. Identity
Remember, gender is a
socially constructed identity.
This means that cisgender is
as much an identity as trans,
genderqueer, non-binary or
other gender identities.
Archie Bongiovanni & Tristan Jimerson. A Quick
and Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns. Simon &
Schuster, 2018.

38. Transphobia

39. Transphobia
–(noun) discrimination against, or hatred of trans people, the
trans community, or gender ambiguity. Transphobia can be
seen within the queer community, as well as in general
society.
Transphobia need not be expressed (though it often is)
through violence, or through trans-excluding policies or laws.
Transphobic microaggressions are pervasive and often
unrecognized in everyday life.

40. Deadnaming and Misgendering
Deadnaming is the use of the
name assigned at birth for
someone who has expressed
their use of a different name
or who has changed their
name to reflect their gender
identity.
Misgendering is the use of
pronouns based on one’s
assumption of a person's gender;
or intentionally using pronouns
that reflect the gender assigned
at birth for someone who has
expressed their personal
pronouns.
(More on pronouns in a bit)

41. Microaggressions
Microaggression is a term used for brief and commonplace
daily verbal, behavioural, or environmental indignities,
whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate
hostile, derogatory, or negative prejudicial slights and insults
toward any group, particularly culturally marginalized groups.
Derald Wing Sue. (2010). Microaggressions in Everyday Life:
Race, Gender, and Sexual Orientation. Wiley. pp. xvi. ISBN
978-0-470-49140-9.

42. Harassment
Microaggressions can have a negative effect on wellbeing in
the workplace, and can cause patrons to avoid public services.
City of Evanston Policy Prohibiting Sexual Harassment
Repeated and deliberate misgendering or dead-naming may
be sufficiently severe or pervasive to constitute harassment
because may have the “effect of substantially interfering with
an individual’s work performance, or creating an intimidating,
hostile, or offensive working environment.” II.3

43. Words to Avoid
Tranny
Transgendered
The Transgenders
He/She
She-male
Sir/Ma’am
You Guys (more on this in a sec)
UC Davis LGBTQIA Resource Center.
“Words That Hurt and Why.”
Microaggressions
Gendered
Language

44. is gender neutral.
Joe Pinsker. “The Problem with ‘Hey Guys’.” The Atlantic. August 23, 2018.
Rachel Hampton. “Why Y’all Should Be Our Salvation From the Sexist, Bro-y Tyranny of You Guys.” Slate. August 27, 2018.
Y’all

45. Any final questions?

46. Thank You!
Spencer D. C. Keralis, Ph.D.
spencerk@illinios.edu
@hauntologist