“For all intents and purposes, I am a woman,” Caitlyn Jenner states to Diane Sawyer on “20/20” Friday (April 24, 2015).

My communication needs were small potatoes. I was searching for a clear, readable explanation to send to my Mom and the Florida ladies when I really got into the thick of the problem.

Dear Reader recall,  over half the adults in the US read at 8thgrade level and lower and struggle to understand health concepts andinformation. Less than 20% of US are scienceliterate – know much about science, science terms  & concepts.

“Transgender is the state of one’s gender identity or gender expression not matching one’s assigned sex. Transgender is independent of sexual orientation; transgender people may identify as heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual, etc; some may consider conventional sexual orientation labels inadequate or inapplicable to them. The definition of transgender includes:

“What does transgender mean?  Transgender is an umbrella term for persons whose gender identity, gender expression or behavior does not conform to that typically associated with the sex to which they were assigned at birth. Gender identity refers to a person’s internal sense of being male, female or something else; gender expression refers to the way a person communicates gender identity to others through behavior, clothing, hairstyles, voice or body characteristics. “Trans” is sometimes used as shorthand for “transgender.” While transgender is generally a good term to use, not everyone whose appearance or behavior is gender-nonconforming will identify as a transgender person. The ways that transgender people are talked about in popular culture, academia and science are constantly changing, particularly as individuals’ awareness, knowledge and openness about transgender people and their experiences grow.

“A term for people whose gender identity, expression or behavior is different from those typically associated with their assigned sex at birth. Transgender is a broad term and is good for non-transgender people to use. “Trans” is shorthand for “transgender.” (Note: Transgender is correctly used as an adjective, not a noun, thus “transgender people” is appropriate but “transgenders” is often viewed as disrespectful.)

Mark O’Connel writing for the Huffington post decided “we could all use some clarification on what this word actually means”. But we get a somewhat simpler text but still 13^th grade level. :

“Transgender is a broad term that includes people whose gender identity or self expression does not conform to, or is not associated with, the sex to which they were assigned at birth. Transgender is an authentic experience and expression of self.   Your gender expression is informed by a number of things, including your gender orientation and sexual orientation, gender stereotypes in your consciousness or subconsciousness, and social circumstances. Some of these influences on our gender expression are hard-wired–e.g., sexual orientation, gender identity–and so the cues we send are involuntary, regardless of our genitalia….”

I’ve been thinking about all this painfully tortured language.

Gender expression

Gender identify

Assigned sex

Gender conformation

Gender non-conforming

Gender stereotypes informed by subconscious…

I did find something for MOM.  THE CENTER: The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Community Center  has a great video .

And there’s always my go-to source –John Oliver 

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