Massage Therapy Journal Fall 2024

26 • Massage Therapy Journal

With so many of our neighbors, loved ones, relatives and friends part of this vibrant, diverse, resilient—and often marginalized and vulnerable—community, odds are at least one of your clients or coworkers is LGBTQ, even if they aren’t “out” to you. Educating yourself on proper language and best-practices when working with transgender and nonbinary people will not only benefit your clients and colleagues, but will benefit your practice, too. Here are four common questions you might be thinking to yourself but are afraid to ask, as well as answers that will help you do your best by your trans and nonbinary clients. 1. What does “transgender” mean? The word “trans” is a Latin prefix meaning “across” or “other side of.” So, a person who is transgender (or trans for short) has a gender identity that is different from the one that was assigned to them at birth (“It’s a boy!” or “It’s a girl!”). The opposite of transgender is cisgender, which means that a person (like myself) identifies as the gender they were presumed to be at birth. Cis- is another Latin prefix that means “on the same side as.” If you’ve never had to think about your gender identity, you’re probably cisgender. It’s important to note that gender isn’t binary, and over 1 million Americans between the ages of 18–60 identify as nonbinary. Nonbinary individuals’ experiences are diverse: some identify as both male and female, whereas some people identify as neither, with a whole rainbow of experiences in between. A ccording to UCLA’s Americans—5.5% of the adult population in this country—identify as LGBTQ, and 1.6 million people ages 13+ in the U.S. are transgender. School of Law Williams Institute, nearly 14 million

1.6 million people in the U.S. are transgender

Photo by Mark Hanson

Knowing the Difference: Gender Identity, Gender Expression and Sexual Orientation Gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation are three distinct things, and knowing the difference will help you better understand how you can provide a welcoming environment to your LGBTQ clients. 1 Gender identity is your innate sense of who you are. 2 Gender expression is how you present your gender to the world (the clothes, makeup and hairstyle

1.2 million people in the U.S. identify as nonbinary Source: UCLA's School of Law Williams Institute

you choose, for example). 3 Sexual orientation is separate entirely from your gender and is defined by who you love and are attracted to.

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