WORDS IN CONTEXT
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Go beyond definitions to context and common misunderstandings. Available in four languages. Labels can help people describe themselves; they are never yours to assign to someone else.
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SOGIE core concepts14
Assigned sex at birth
出生指派性别 · AFAB · AMAB · assigned gender
The male-or-female call recorded at birth from visible anatomy — "assigned" because someone else made it.
Comphet (强制异性恋)
compulsory heterosexuality · qiangzhi yixinglian
The structural assumption that everyone is straight until stated otherwise — from Adrienne Rich's 1980 essay.
Gender binary
性别二元 · binary gender system
The idea that gender comes in exactly two mutually exclusive kinds — and the institutional defaults built on it.
Gender expression
性别表达 · xingbie biaoda · 性别气质
How you outwardly present gender — clothing, hair, mannerisms, voice. It can differ from identity and orientation.
Gender identity
性别认同 · xingbie rentong · 性别身份
A person's deeply felt, ongoing sense of their own gender — which may or may not match the sex assigned at birth.
Gender spectrum
性别光谱 · gender continuum
A model of gender as a continuum, not two boxes — the ends still exist, just no longer the only places to stand.
Heteronormativity
异性恋本位 · heteronormative
The system that treats heterosexuality as the default life script — a critique of the default, not of straight people.
Intersex (间性人)
intersex · jianxingren · 间性人 · 双性人
Born with sex characteristics that don't fit male/female definitions — about bodies, not orientation or identity.
Romantic orientation
浪漫倾向 · affectional orientation
The pattern of which genders you fall for romantically — describable separately from sexual attraction.
Sex characteristics
性征 · xingzheng · SC
Bodily features tied to sex — chromosomes, gonads, hormones, genitals, secondary traits. The "SC" in SOGIESC.
Sexual attraction
性吸引
Sexual desire directed at a specific person — the core dimension of orientation, distinct from romance and libido.
Sexual orientation
性倾向 · 性取向 · xingqingxiang
The enduring pattern of who you're emotionally and sexually drawn to — distinct from the question of who you are.
SOGIE
SOGIESC · SOGI · sexual orientation and gender identity
Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression — plus Sex Characteristics for SOGIESC. Everyone has one.
Split attraction model
SAM · 吸引分离模型
A tool treating sexual and romantic attraction as two independently describable axes. Born in asexual communities.
Identity labels27
Agender
agender · genderless · 无性别
Identifying with no gender, or finding the category of gender simply inapplicable; not the same thing as asexual.
Aromantic
aromantic · aro · aroace · 无浪漫倾向
Experiencing little or no romantic attraction; romantic and sexual attraction are separate axes that need not align.
Asexual
asexual · ace · A-spec · wuxinglian · 无性恋
Experiencing little or no sexual attraction — an orientation, not celibacy, coldness, or a disorder; a spectrum.
Biphobia
biphobia · anti-bisexual prejudice
Prejudice toward bisexual people; its most common form is denying that the orientation is even real ("just a phase," "greedy fence-sitting").
Bisexual
bisexual · bi · shuangxinglian · 双性恋
Attraction to more than one gender — not necessarily equally, and not necessarily at the same time.
Cisgender
cis · 顺性别 · shun xingbie
Having a gender identity that matches the sex assigned at birth — the neutral counterpart to "transgender."
Coming Out
chugui (出柜) · coming out of the closet
Sharing your sexual orientation or gender identity with others — an ongoing process where safety always comes first.
Demisexual
demisexual · demi · 半性恋 · 接触后吸引
Sexual attraction that only becomes possible after an emotional bond has formed; part of the asexual spectrum.
FtM / MtF
FtM · MtF · F2M · M2F · female-to-male · male-to-female
Directional shorthand — MtF means a trans woman, FtM a trans man. Increasingly replaced by "trans woman / trans man."
Gay
gay · nan tongxinglian · 男同
A man emotionally and sexually attracted to men; borrowed directly into Chinese, where it almost always means men.
Genderfluid
genderfluid · gender-fluid · 性别流动 · 流性别
A gender identity that moves between positions over time; the pace and range of movement vary from person to person.
Gray-asexual
gray-asexual · graysexual · gray-A · 灰色无性恋
The gray zone between asexual and allosexual — attraction that is rare, faint, ambiguous, or conditional.
Heterosexual
heterosexual · straight · yixinglian · 异性恋 · 直人
Attraction to a different gender — an orientation like any other, not a 'default setting'; Chinese yixinglian (异性恋).
Homophobia
homophobia · anti-gay prejudice
Prejudice, aversion, or hostility toward gay people; it can be institutional, or internalized into how LGBTQ people judge themselves.
Homosexual (同性恋)
homosexual · tongxinglian · 同性恋
Attraction to the same gender. Clinical-sounding and dated in English — yet the neutral standard word in Chinese.
Lesbian
lesbian · les · lala · 拉拉 · 女同
A woman attracted to women — named for the Greek island of Lesbos; Chinese community term is lala.
Minority stress
minority stress · minority stress model
A model for health gaps in sexual minorities: chronic stress from prejudice and concealment, not the identity itself.
Nonbinary
nonbinary · non-binary · enby · NB · 非二元
A gender identity outside the man/woman binary — an umbrella covering many distinct experiences.
Outing
outing · being outed
Disclosing someone's sexual orientation or gender identity to others without their consent; the opposite of coming out on one's own terms, and potentially risky.
Pansexual
pansexual · pan · fanxinglian · 泛性恋
Attraction in which the other person's gender is not a precondition — 'gender is not a filter.'
Queer (酷儿)
queer · ku'er · 酷儿
A reclaimed umbrella term for people outside sexual and gender norms; the Chinese transliteration ku'er has no sting.
Questioning
探索中 · Q · exploring
Still working out your orientation or gender identity — the Q in LGBTQ+, and a fully legitimate place to stand.
Social transition
social transition · shehuixing guodu
The non-medical side of transition — new name, pronouns, presentation, living as oneself. Fully reversible.
Stigma
stigma · stigmatization
The social process of marking an identity or condition as shameful; the harm often outweighs the thing itself.
The Closet
shengui (深柜) · closeted · in the closet
Metaphor for keeping one's orientation or gender identity hidden — often a rational survival strategy, not dishonesty.
Transgender
trans · 跨性别 · kua xingbie · 跨儿
Umbrella term for anyone whose gender identity differs from their assigned sex — including nonbinary people.
Transphobia
transphobia · anti-trans prejudice
Prejudice, exclusion, or hostility toward transgender people — often expressed as denying their gender, refusing their pronouns, and institutional barriers.
Community & culture16
Ally
zhitongmeng (直同盟) · straight ally
A person outside the LGBTQ+ community who actively supports its equality and safety — zhitongmeng in Chinese.
Bear Culture
xiongzu (熊族) · bears · zhuangxiong (壮熊)
Gay subculture celebrating bigger, hairier bodies; Chinese communities adopted it as xiong (bear), with local variants.
Bei Chugui (被出柜)
outing · being outed · bei chugui
Being outed: having your orientation or gender identity disclosed without your consent. Coming out is yours to decide.
Chosen Family
logical family · xuanze de jiating (选择的家庭)
Family built by choice rather than blood — a core LGBTQ+ tradition of mutual care, with legal tools varying by region.
Deadname
deadname · dead name · deadnaming
The name a trans person used before transition and has retired — "dead" because it is not to be revived.
Drag
drag queen · drag king · bianzhuang (变装)
Performance art built on exaggerated gender codes; drag is a show — not the same thing as being transgender.
Misgender
misgender · misgendering
Referring to someone with pronouns, titles, or gendered words that contradict their gender identity.
Passing
passing · pass · straight-passing
Being read by strangers as one's actual gender (or as cis or straight) — often a matter of safety, not vanity.
PFLAG-Style Parent Groups
tongzhi qinyouhui (同志亲友会) · parents' support groups
Peer-support groups run by parents and friends of LGBTQ+ people — the parent-helping-parent model, worldwide.
Pride Month
jiao'ao yue (骄傲月) · pride
June, commemorating the 1969 Stonewall uprising — a month of parades, screenings, and remembrance worldwide.
Pride Parade
pride march · jiao'ao youxing (骄傲游行) · Taiwan Pride
Annual marches for equality and visibility dating to 1970; Taipei has hosted one of Asia's largest since 2003.
Pronouns
pronouns · she/her · he/him · they/them · TA
The words used to refer to a person — he, she, they, or Chinese TA. Getting them right is the cheapest form of respect.
Rainbow Flag
pride flag · Progress Pride Flag · caihong qi (彩虹旗)
The pride symbol designed by Gilbert Baker in 1978; in the standard six-stripe version each color stands for a value.
Stonewall Uprising
Stonewall riots · shiqiang shijian (石墙事件)
The June 1969 resistance at New York's Stonewall Inn — the catalytic turning point of the modern LGBTQ+ movement.
Visibility
kejiandu (可见度) · representation
How present LGBTQ+ people are in public life; collective visibility matters, but being out is never an individual duty.
Zhiren (直人)
straight · zhinan · zhinü · zhitongzhi
'Straight person' — the everyday Chinese calque of English 'straight'; neutral, with wan ('bent') as its counterpart.
Chinese context16
1 / 0 (Chinese Gay Slang)
1 · 0 · 0.5 · bufen (不分) · top/bottom
In-community shorthand for position preference among Chinese gay men — optional, changeable, unrelated to masculinity.
Bihun (逼婚)
forced marriage · marriage pressure · cuihun
Family pressure to marry, from nagging to coercion — often the heaviest everyday reality for Chinese LGBTQ+ people.
Duanxiu (断袖)
duanxiu · cut sleeve · passion of the cut sleeve
'Cut sleeve': a Han emperor cut his sleeve rather than wake his lover — classical China's most famous gay allusion.
Duoyuan Xingbie (多元性别)
duoyuan xingbie · gender diversity · plural genders
Taiwan's umbrella term for gender and sexual diversity — literally 'plural genders'; standard in education and policy.
Face and Family (面子与家族)
mianzi · face · chuanzong jiedai · family honor
Why coming out is a family affair in Chinese culture: marriage is read as the whole family's face and duty.
Fentao (分桃)
fentao · shared peach · bitten peach
'Shared peach': Mizi Xia gave his half-eaten peach to the Duke of Wei — a classical allusion to love between men.
Lala (拉拉)
lala · lazi · les
The warm everyday self-name of Chinese lesbians, born as 'Lazi' in Qiu Miaojin's 1994 novel Notes of a Crocodile.
Longyang (龙阳)
longyang · longyang zhi hao · Lord Longyang
Lord Longyang, a Warring States royal favorite; 'the love of Longyang' became a classical phrase for male-male love.
Pianhun (骗婚)
pianhun · marriage fraud · deceptive marriage
Concealing one's orientation to marry an unknowing straight spouse; unlike xinghun, there is no informed consent.
T / P / H (Chinese Lesbian Slang)
T · P (po 婆) · H · bufen (不分) · tomboy
Lala community labels — T (tomboyish), P (feminine), H ("half," neither) — optional self-descriptions, not fixed roles.
Tiancai (天菜)
tian cai · my type · ideal type
Slang for one's absolute ideal type — literally a "heaven-made dish" for your taste; now mainstream Chinese slang.
Tongfu (同夫)
tongfu · lesbian's husband
A straight man unknowingly married to a lesbian — the less-visible mirror of tongqi.
Tongqi (同妻)
tongqi · gay man's wife
A straight woman unknowingly married to a gay man — the Chinese term for a hidden casualty of marriage pressure.
Tongzhi (同志)
tongzhi · comrade
The warmest and most widely used Chinese umbrella term for LGBTQ+ people — literally "comrade," repurposed in 1989 from revolutionary vocabulary.
Xinghun (形婚)
xinghun · cooperative marriage · marriage of convenience
A 'marriage in form': a gay man and a lesbian marry, both fully informed, to deflect family and social pressure.
Xingshaoshu (性少数)
xingshaoshu · sexual minorities
The standard Chinese umbrella term for LGBTQ+ people — literally 'sexual minority'; common in media and academia.
Trans & medical9
Binding
binding · binder · chest binding
Flattening the chest with a purpose-made binder — common among trans men and nonbinary people; safe if done right.
Gender confirmation surgery
gender confirmation surgery · SRS · GRS · GCS · gender-affirming surgery · sex reassignment surgery
Umbrella term for surgeries aligning the body with gender identity — not one operation, and not required to be trans.
Gender dysphoria
gender dysphoria · GD · xingbie bu'an
The DSM-5 clinical term for significant distress caused by a mismatch between gender identity and assigned sex.
Gender incongruence
gender incongruence · GI · xingbie buyizhi
ICD-11's term for a mismatch between gender identity and assigned sex — moved out of the mental-disorders chapter.
Gender-affirming care
gender-affirming care · gender-affirming healthcare · xingbie kending yiliao
Umbrella term for medical and support services that help trans people align body and life with identity.
HRT (hormone replacement therapy)
HRT · hormone replacement therapy · GAHT · gender-affirming hormone therapy
Estrogen or testosterone therapy that shifts the body toward one's gender identity — prescription, medically monitored.
Puberty blockers
puberty blockers · GnRH analogues · puberty suppression
Prescription GnRH analogues that pause puberty; specialist-only for trans youth, with ongoing professional discussion.
Transition
transition · transitioning · gender transition
Aligning one's life and body with one's gender identity — social, legal, and/or medical, in any combination.
Transsexual (变性人, bianxingren)
transsexual · bianxingren · bianxing
Dated mid-20th-century medical term that reduces trans identity to surgery. Say "transgender" — in Chinese, kuaxingbie.
Use with careSexual health12
AIDS
AIDS · acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
The late stage untreated HIV can reach — not a virus itself, and one most people never reach if treated early.
ART (Antiretroviral Therapy)
ART · antiretroviral therapy · HAART
The standard HIV treatment — drugs that suppress the virus long-term, enabling a healthy life and an undetectable load.
HIV
HIV · human immunodeficiency virus
A virus that attacks immune cells; with treatment it stays in check for life — and it is not the same as AIDS.
Informed-consent testing
informed consent testing · voluntary counselling and testing · VCT
HIV testing done only with the person's knowledge, consent, and confidentiality, plus counseling before and after.
MSM (men who have sex with men)
MSM · men who have sex with men
A public-health term for men who have sex with men — describing behavior, not identity.
PEP (Post-Exposure Prophylaxis)
PEP · post-exposure prophylaxis
Emergency medication after possible HIV exposure — the sooner the better, and it must start within 72 hours.
PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis)
PrEP · pre-exposure prophylaxis
Medication taken regularly by someone who is HIV-negative to sharply lower the chance of acquiring HIV through sex.
Serodiscordant couple
serodiscordant · mixed-status couple · serodifferent
A relationship where one partner is HIV-positive, the other negative; with U=U and PrEP, they can love and live safely.
STI (Sexually Transmitted Infection)
STI · sexually transmitted infection · STD
Infections passed through sexual contact — chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, HPV; most are preventable and treatable.
U=U (Undetectable = Untransmittable)
U=U · Undetectable equals Untransmittable
When someone on treatment keeps their viral load undetectable, they cannot pass HIV to a partner through sex.
Viral load
viral load · HIV viral load
The amount of HIV in the blood; treatment driving it to "undetectable" marks success — and no longer being infectious.
Window period
window period
The gap between infection and when a test can reliably detect it; a negative result during it isn't yet proof.
Rights & law14
Anti-discrimination law (反歧视法)
non-discrimination law · fanqishifa
Laws explicitly banning unequal treatment based on sexual orientation or gender identity; mainland China has none.
CCMD-3
Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders
China's psychiatric diagnostic manual, 3rd edition (2001) — homosexuality no longer classed as a mental disorder.
Civil union (民事结合)
civil partnership · registered partnership
A legal partnership status created outside marriage; rights vary widely by jurisdiction and usually fall short of it.
Conversion therapy (扭转治疗)
niuzhuan zhiliao · reparative therapy · sexual orientation change efforts
Discredited practices claiming to change sexual orientation or gender identity; ineffective and harmful.
Decriminalization (去罪化)
quzuihua · decriminalisation
Removal of criminal penalties for same-sex acts; in mainland China marked by the 1997 repeal of "hooliganism."
Depathologization (去病理化)
qubinglihua · depathologisation
The medical consensus that sexual orientation is not an illness — WHO 1990, China's CCMD-3 2001, ICD-11 2019.
Hooliganism (流氓罪, liumang zui)
liumang zui · hooliganism crime
A vague catch-all crime in China's 1979 Criminal Law, once used against same-sex acts; abolished in 1997.
ICD-11
International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision
WHO's disease classification, adopted 2019, in force 2022; moved gender incongruence out of mental disorders.
IDAHOBIT (May 17)
IDAHOT · IDAHO · International Day Against Homophobia Biphobia and Transphobia
May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia — marking WHO's 1990 declassification.
Legal gender recognition (法律性别变更)
gender marker change · legal gender change
The process of changing one's legal gender marker; in mainland China it currently requires surgery.
Marriage equality (婚姻平权)
same-sex marriage · hunyin pingquan
Equal access to marriage for same-sex couples; Taiwan became the first place in Asia to achieve it in 2019.
WHO 1990 (May 17)
May 17 1990 · ICD-10 · WHO declassification
On May 17, 1990 the WHO-approved ICD-10 removed homosexuality from its classification of mental disorders.
Yiding jianhu (意定监护, voluntary guardianship)
voluntary guardianship · appointed guardianship · yiding jianhu
Voluntary guardianship under China's Civil Code — adults may designate anyone, including a same-sex partner.
Yogyakarta Principles (日惹原则)
YP · YP+10
A 2006 expert document applying international human rights law to sexual orientation and gender identity.
Words to avoid8
Biantai (变态)
bientai · biantai · pervert
"Pervert" — aimed at LGBTQ+ people, it recycles a pathologizing view that medicine abandoned decades ago.
Use with careBoli (玻璃)
boli · glass · boli quan
Dated slur for gay men — literally "glass," from old Taiwanese street slang. Neutral terms today are tongzhi, gay.
Use with careBu nan bu nü (不男不女)
bu nan bu nv · neither man nor woman
"Neither man nor woman" — a verdict-style insult aimed at anyone who fails to perform gender "correctly."
Use with careGaoji (搞基)
gaoji · jiyou · 基友
"Doing gay stuff" — meme slang that turns same-sex love into a punchline; jokey on the surface, corrosive underneath.
Use with careJilao (基佬)
jilao · gei lou
Cantonese slur for gay men — gei ("gay") plus a dismissive suffix. Insulting from outsiders, reclaimed by some insiders.
Use with careNiangpao (娘炮)
niangpao · sissy
A slur for feminine men — roughly "sissy" — whose premise is that being like a woman is itself the insult.
Use with careRenyao (人妖)
renyao · ladyboy
A dehumanizing Chinese slur for trans women — yao means "demon, freakish omen." Say "transgender woman" instead.
Use with careYinyangren (阴阳人)
yinyangren · yin-yang person
"Yin-yang person" — a slur for intersex people, also flung at anyone gender-nonconforming. The right word is intersex.
Use with care