Table Of Content“Language really, really matters, it always has, but in these times being able to self-define and
feel confident and present in words that describe is quite literally often life.”
—Juno Roche, author of Queer Sex
“At once an authoritative and yet highly readable book, it covered all bases and
uncovered questions I didn’t yet know I needed to ask. This book will be immensely useful
to the queer community.”
—Juno Mac, author of Revolting Prostitutes: The Fight for Sex Workers’ Rights
“A lucid, accessible, and engaging snapshot of the ever-evolving terminology used to
navigate gender, sexuality, and the shifting relationships between them. It represents a
substantial achievement, and looks set to become an invaluable reference text for our time.”
—Helen Hester, Associate Professor of Media and Communication, University of West London
There can be confusion around the appropriate terminology for trans and queer identities,
even within the trans community itself. As language is constantly evolving, it can be difficult
to know what to say. As a thorough A–Z glossary of trans and queer words from “A”
to “zucchini,” this dictionary guide will help to dispel anxiety around using the “wrong”
words, while explaining the weight of using certain labels and providing individuals with a
vocabulary for personal identification. Written in a traditional A–Z glossary style, this guide
will serve as a quick reference for looking up individual words, as well as an in-depth look
at queer history and culture.
Morgan Lev Edward Holleb is a queer anarchist and an advocate for LGBT+
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healthcare in Scotland. He runs a support group called Not Your Fault for men and non-
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binary people who have experienced sexual violence. He plays the cello and likes plants. r
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From Ace to Ze
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Jessica Kingsley Publishers l
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b Morgan Lev Edward Holleb
www.jkp.com
Cover design: www.ironicitalics.com
the a–z of gender and sexuality
of related interest
Written on the Body
Letters from Trans and Non-Binary Survivors of
Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence
Edited by Lexie Bean
Foreword and additional pieces by Dean Spade, Nyala Moon,
Alex Valdes, Sawyer DeVuyst and Ieshai Bailey
ISBN 978 1 78592 797 3
eISBN 978 1 78450 803 6
To My Trans Sisters
Edited by Charlie Craggs
ISBN 978 1 78592 343 2
eISBN 978 1 78450 668 1
How to Understand Your Gender
A Practical Guide for Exploring Who You Are
Alex Iantaffi and Meg-John Barker
Foreword by S. Bear Bergman
ISBN 978 1 78592 746 1
eISBN 978 1 78450 517 2
The Gender Agenda
A First-Hand Account of How Girls and Boys Are Treated Differently
Ros Ball and James Millar
Foreword by Marianne Grabrucker
ISBN 978 1 78592 320 3
eISBN 978 1 78450 633 9
THE
A–Z
OF
G E N D E R
AND
S EXUALIT Y
From Ace to Ze
Morgan Lev Edward Holleb
First published in 2019
by Jessica Kingsley Publishers
73 Collier Street
London N1 9BE, UK
and
400 Market Street, Suite 400
Philadelphia, PA 19106, US
www.jkp.com
Copyright © Morgan Lev Edward Holleb 2019
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material
form (including photocopying, storing in any medium by electronic means or
transmitting) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in
accordance with the provisions of the law or under terms of a licence issued in the
UK by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd. www.cla.co.uk or in overseas territories
by the relevant reproduction rights organisation, for details see www.ifrro.org.
Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of
this publication should be addressed to the publisher.
Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may
result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 78592 342 5
eISBN 978 1 78450 663 6
To everyone who breaks unjust laws.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Cosmic appreciation for all the people who have taught me, the friends
and lovers who’ve supported me and encouraged me and sweetly
demanded a signed copy of this book well before it was a real object.
Thank you Jo Marius Hauge for your friendship, your validation, your
excellent performance art, your impressive knowledge of bottoming,
your excellent advice, and the sitting with me and singing with me in the
sad boy corner when I was heartbroken and homeless. I love you so much.
Thank you Christopher Gill, Kitty Richardson, MaréLua Açir, Pasha
Blanda, Anna, Sofia Nikolaevna Aneychik, Tobias Slater, and Joe Isaac,
for your invaluable insights, captivating conversations, your empathy
and affection, and for sharing your joys and struggles and creative
projects and resources and lives with me.
Thank you especially to Christopher, who gave me the idea for this
book in the first place, for believing in me even though I’m stubborn.
I love you.
Thank you to Kitty and the babes of Willow Coven—Jo Marius,
MaréLua, Vicki Baars, Roo, and LucasDonna—for housing and feeding
me in the spring of 2017, when I was evicted. Thank you to Lyra Dunseith
for helping me secure new housing in London, and to Kitty and
Christopher for later helping me move to Glasgow.
Thank you Angus Henderson, H Beverley, Jo Marius, and Kitty for your
invaluable input and expertise with particular aspects of queer culture
and history. Should there be any incorrect or problematic information
included herein, the fault lies entirely with me.
Thank you Andrew James, my editor, for your boundless patience
with me as I floundered and deadlines slipped past.
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Thank you to my mother, Stacey Potts, the first queer I ever knew, a
c
k
for her boundless love and support. You are an absolute beacon of n
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compassion who inspires me to constantly learn and better myself, and w
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serve my communities through kindness and generosity rather than d
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judgement, without compromising my values. Your activism in America e
m
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fuels mine abroad. You have been the surrogate mother of many of my n
t
queer friends with less-than-understanding parents, and are personally s
responsible for sustaining my communities with your support, empathy,
and optimism. I love you, Mom.
Thank you to my fathers for giving me daddy issues and teaching me
to be my own dad.
Thank you to everyone who assisted with stabilizing my immigration
status in the UK: to everyone who helped me navigate the labyrinthine
bureaucracy, everyone who gave me money to cover the legal costs,
everyone who supported my application with paperwork, and to my
spouse for marrying me.
Thank you to all the activist groups I have had the privilege of
working with, and those who have worked in solidarity with us. Thank
you especially to everyone who works to support survivors of sexual
violence, and all the survivors who have shared their experiences, their
strength, and their anxieties with me. There is power in our mutual aid.
(If your activism doesn’t center the safety of survivors and hold abusers
accountable, it’s broken.)
Thank to you the queer activists of the past, whose work inspires us to
be unapologetically ourselves and unwavering in our demands for dignity.
Thank you to the broader queer communities of London and
Glasgow for welcoming me in, pushing me out, welcoming me back,
and showcasing a multitude of glorious culture and infighting. I believe
in our collective learning and healing through support groups, skill
shares, safer spaces, dance nights, group chats, community gardens,
mutual social media hyping, accountability processes, and drag shows.
Thank you to the wider queer community online, and to everyone
who has called me in and called me out on Twitter.
Thank you to the secret underground of trans people who helped me
navigate healthcare and gave me hormones when my doctors wouldn’t.
Thank you to my therapist, and all my friends and lovers who have
generously acted as surrogate therapists.
7
y Thank you to everyone who’s given me gender euphoria by using my
t
i
l given names and pronouns or chatted me up on Grindr.
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x Thank you to everyone who has ever asked me for help: there is
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s nothing more empowering, and helping you helps me. Asking for help
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n is hard and I’m flattered to be considered approachable enough to ask.
a
r This project was only possible through funding and other material
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d support from my family and friends, and ultimately the death of my
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g grandfather and my subsequent inheritance. We don’t often acknowledge
of the socio-economic barriers to creating art, but we should.
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Description:There can be confusion around the appropriate terminology for trans and queer identities, even within the trans community itself. As language is constantly evolving, it can be especially difficult to know what to say. As a thorough A-Z glossary of trans and queer words from 'ace' to 'xe', this dicti
