Part 1:
Terms to Avoid and Suggested Replacements
To ensure absolute clarity, use only accurate terms and phrases that have precise, comprehensible definitions. Articulating the reality of women’s experience, and the threats gender identity ideology poses to our rights, requires that we make only statements that are true, and that do not create a misleading impression or misrepresent our position.
Transgender, or any variant/derivative:
The manufactured word “transgender” does not have a universally agreed upon definition. Even the group of people who call themselves “transgender” have not, and cannot, agree on a single, coherent definition. The word “transgender”, including any of its derivatives or variations, such as “trans”, “transwoman”, “transman”, “trans-identified”, can never be used with any exactitude or credibility. Instead of using it, define what you mean by it. For example:
| Instead of this | Use this |
| Transgender people | Those who claim to be the opposite sex |
| Trans women | Men |
| Trans men | Women |
If it is necessary to clarify that the person in question claims to be the opposite sex, then just say so. For example:
| Instead of this | Use this |
| Trans women are being housed in women’s prisons. | Men who claim to be women are being housed in women’s prisons. |
| Transgender athletes are not allowed on girls’ teams. | Boys who say they’re girls are not allowed on girls’ teams. |
| Trans-identified males are requesting services in women’s clinics. | Men who claim they’re women are requesting services in women’s clinics. |
| Do you welcome trans women in this women’s shelter? | Do you welcome men who say they’re women in this women’s shelter? |
Non-Binary:
The same logic as in “transgender” applies to the word and idea of “non-binary”. There is no agreed-upon definition, and there can never be one. People who claim to be “non-binary” are simply rejecting both sets of sex-based stereotypes, and to some extent, that definition includes everyone; it is not possible for any person to conform to 100% of sex stereotypes 100% of the time. This term therefore can’t be used in any meaningful way. Simply refer to all people by accurate, sex-based pronouns. When necessary for clarification, in addition to referring accurately to a person’s sex, add that the person denies that she or he is in a sex category.
| Instead of this | Use this |
| Sam, a non-binary student, reported Mr. Johnson for sexual harassment. | Sam, a student who says she is neither male nor female, reported Mr. Johnson for sexual harassment. |
Gender:
The word gender is often misused and is easily misinterpreted by the average reader. The writer sometimes means sex, and sometimes means sex-based stereotypes. In place of the word gender, define the concept with reference to sex (a person’s reproductive capacity or biology) for greater clarity.
| Instead of this | Use this |
| The gender pay gap still exists. | The sex-based pay gap still exists. |
| A person’s gender is observed at birth. | A person’s sex is observed at birth. |
| Gender is socially constructed. | Sex-based stereotypes are socially constructed. |
| Gender nonconformity | Nonconformity to sex-basedstereotypes. |
Misgender:
People who claim to have “gender identities” often claim that it harms them to be “misgendered”, which in reality, means correctly sexed. This is a tactic intended to compel speech and silence opposition. Always refer to everyone by correct sex pronouns.
Male-Bodied, Female-Bodied:
No one is born in the opposite sexed body. Male-bodied people are always male. Female-bodied people are always female.
| Instead of this | Use this |
| Male-bodied athletes do not belong in sports programs designed for females. | Male athletes do not belong in sports programs designed for females. |
| Male-bodied athletes on cross-sex hormones retain biological physical advantages over female-bodied athletes. | Male athletes on cross-sex hormones retain biological physical advantages over female athletes. |
Identify as:
Sex cannot be changed. Regardless of a person’s sense of identity, a person is and will remain either female or male. When referring to a man who claims to “identify as a woman”, simply refer to him as a man. When clarification is necessary, refer to him as a man who says he’s a woman.
Transition:
People cannot change sex, so there is no such thing as “transition”, “transitioning”, or being “transitioned” to the other sex. Instead, when people undergo medical interventions in an attempt to approximate the opposite sex, such as cross-sex hormones, mastectomies, or genital surgeries, use the accurate word, “medicalized”.
Detransition, Detransitioner:
While it’s true that people who call themselves “detransitioners” are making news headlines, and bringing much needed attention to the dangers of medicalization, the word “detransition” gives credence to the idea that “transitioning” is possible in the first place. Instead of using this common misnomer, say instead “people who are no longer trying to change sex”, or “those who have stopped medicalizing their bodies”. When referring to someone who has stopped trying to change sex and has not been medicalized, the accurate word for that person is desister.
| Instead of this | Use this |
| Corey, a detransitioner, has always loved mud. | Corey, who is no longer trying to change sex, has always loved mud. |
Top Surgery/Bottom Surgery:
It is important not to use euphemisms to glaze over the horrors of the body-altering surgeries performed on people who try to change sex. Use accurate medical terms such as elective double mastectomy, hysterectomy, orchiectomy, or appropriately descriptive terms such as castration and genital mutilation to describe the experimental, permanent damages being done to patients.
HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy):
Trying to change sex by taking wrong-sex hormones is a dangerous, experimental, mutilating practice. To call it hormone replacement therapy is inaccurate and harmfully misleading. In reality, it is the damaging introduction of wrong-sex hormones, or cross-sex hormones, into the body. Use the names of the specific drugs themselves, if known. For example: “men who take exogenous estrogen.”
LGBT, LGBTQ, LGBTQIA+, LGB, “Gay”, etc. and “Queer”:
Any conflation of same-sex attracted people with the “gender identities” of T,Q, I, A, etc. serves to delegitimize and erase the right of same-sex attracted people to be openly and exclusively same-sex attracted. Since there are only two sexes, there are only two ways to be same-sex attracted. The T (“transgender”) indicates people who pretend to be the opposite sex; therefore, by its inclusion, same-sex attracted people are required to consider people of the opposite sex as potential sexual partners. Those who refuse its inclusion are labeled bigoted and “transphobic.”
The term “gay”, when used to include both gay men and lesbians, tends both to erase lesbians and to imply similarities that do not exist in the sexualities and political interests of the two groups.
Queer is a derogatory word historically used as a slur against same-sex attracted people, many of whom still consider it offensive and degrading. Queer Theory refers to the postmodern ideology that legitimizes any sexual practice that deviates from societal norms, including pedophilia, incest, and other sadistic sexual acts that are inherently harmful and immoral.
All intersex people (or more accurately, people with Disorders of Sexual Development) are either male or female, so the same sexual orientation categories that apply to everyone else also apply to them.
“Gay” should only be used in combination with “man” or “men”, so that it clearly does not include lesbians. Avoid using “LGB” except when quoting others. When referring to same-sex attracted people, use unabbreviated, accurate terms such as lesbians, gay men, and bisexual people.
‘Coming Out’ as a Different Sex Category:
When the term was developed, “coming out of the closet” as same-sex attracted required profound courage, as discrimination against lesbians and gay men was rampant and often violent. People who want to change sex do not face this kind of discrimination; to the contrary, they are generally culturally celebrated and awarded privilege. For them to adopt the term “coming out” is a form of cultural appropriation that should not be conceded. Rather than using language that erases lesbians and gay men as the ones who bravely pioneered and coined “coming out”, it is more accurate to say that a person is lying about her or his sex, disguising her or his sex, or trying to deceive others into accepting her or him as the other sex.
Trans Activists:
This term misleads the reader into thinking that “trans” is a kind of civil rights movement for the rights of an oppressed group. To give an accurate representation, use the term “men’s sexual rights activists”. Alternatively, you can use the word “misogynists” to describe the group that is attempting to erase the rights and protections of women.
People With Vaginas/People Who Menstruate:
All people who have vaginas, wombs, and menstruate are women or girls. Only women and girls give birth, are mothers, and are lesbians. All so-called “inclusive” language modifications, such as “people with uteruses” are used to erase women as the class of humans who are oppressed on the basis of sex, and who gestate and birth children. Simply say women or girls when referring to specific lesbians and mothers. By extension, never use obfuscating words like “chestfeeding” or “birthing person” that erase women and mothers from the language around childbirth.
“Inclusive”:
The word “inclusive” is increasingly used to refer to policies which either conflate same-sex attraction with “gender identity” or allow men into spaces designated for women. Because the word “inclusive” typically has a positive connotation, this usage creates a misleading impression that such policies are beneficial. Instead, accurately describe them as intrusive.
“Transphobic”:
When reporting on controversies related to gender or “gender identity”, accurately describe the specific views of dissenters to gender identity ideology. Additionally, include evidence of said statements or actions, rather than merely reporting that an individual or public figure said something that was deemed “transphobic” by others.
