female-to-male transsexual: Often referred to as FTM or F2M. A person who was born in a female body but whose gender identity is male. Also can refer to those assigned female at birth, in the case of intersex people, whose gender identity is male. Usually, female-to-male transsexuals will seek hormonal and/or surgical treatment in order to live successfully as a men in society.
gender dysphoria: Also body dysphoria. A term coined by psychologists and medical doctors that refers to the state of discomfort felt by transsexuals and some transgender people caused by the incongruity between one's physical sex and one's gender identity.
gender identity: A person's internal self-awareness of being either male or female, masculine or feminine, or something in-between.
Gender Identity Disorder (GID): A condition identified by psychologists and medical doctors wherein a person who has been assigned one gender at birth identifies as belonging to another gender.
World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH): Formerly known as the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, Inc. (HBIGDA), WPATH is a professional organization devoted to the understanding and treatment of gender identity disorders. WPATH is best known for developing and refining Standards of Care (SOC) for the treatment of gender identity disorders (formerly known as the Harry Benjamin Standards of Care, or HBSOC). The WPATH SOC, currently in their sixth version, are periodically updated and revised as new information becomes available. www.wpath.org
