Terms and Acronyms

AFAB: Assigned female at birth. This term refers to people whose sex was designated as “female” at birth, most often based on external genitalia. (Designating sex this way wrongly presumes that people have characteristics and behaviors that are either “female” or “male.”) 

BDSM: A range of expressions, not necessarily erotic, that spans bondage and discipline (BD), domination and submission (DS), and sadomasochism (SM). 

Bottom surgery: Range of gender- affirming surgeries that change the genitals. Among people who are assigned female at birth, this refers to hysterectomies, oophorectomies, metoidioplasty and phalloplasty.

Cisgender (cis): Describes a person who identifies as the sex they were assigned at birth.  

Dental dam (dam): Thin sheet made from materials such as like latex and nitrile and used for oral sex to create a safer sex barrier between the mouth and the asshole, front hole, or vagina. 

Dysphoria: Feelings of unease, dissatisfaction or distress when a person’s gender is different from the sex they were assigned at birth.

Front hole: Some of us use this term to refer to our internal genitals. (Note: The term “vagina” is also used in this guide because some of us have sex with people who refer to their internal genitals as a vagina.) 

Glory hole: A hole in a partition (e.g., a public bathroom wall) that allows the people on either side to have sex with each other (e.g., anal sex, oral sex). Glory holes are especially associated with gay male culture.  

IUD: Intrauterine device. 

Non-binary (ENBY, enby): Describes a person who doesn’t identify exclusively as being a man or a woman. This includes people who identify as not having a gender and people whose gender identity spans multiple genders. Some nonbinary people identify as trans and some don’t. The term is sometimes also written as enby, a phonetic rendition of “NB” for “nonbinary.”

PEP: Post-Exposure Prophylaxis: A medication that can stop HIV from establishing itself in your body. You take it after potentially being exposed to HIV.

PrEP: Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis. A medication that can stop HIV from establishing itself in your body. You take it before being exposed to HIV.

STBBI:  Sexually Transmitted or blood-borne infection

T: Testosterone. 

Top surgery: Range of gender-affirming surgical procedures that change the chest. For people who are assigned female at birth, this includes mastectomy (removal of the chest tissue), breast reduction and chest contouring.

Trans: Transgender. Describes a person whose gender identity is different from the sex that they were assigned at birth. This term includes a wide range of people.

Trans man: A man who was assigned female at birth. 

Transmasculine: Describes a person assigned female at birth whose gender involves or leans toward a male or masculine identity. This can include butches, studs, Ts, genderqueer, and genderfluid people. Sometimes written as “trans masculine.” Also shortened as “transmasc” or “trans masc.”

Two-Spirit: “Two-Spirit” is a modern term (coined in 1990) that describes centuries-old traditional practices and identities held by some Indigenous peoples on Turtle Island (North America). Describes an Indigenous person whose sexual, gender or spiritual identity has masculine and feminine spirits. Also written as Two-Spirited and 2-Spirit.