Table of Contents
- Overview of search terms
- Search hedges
- Ovid Medline (health & medicine)
- PsycINFO (psychology)
- PubMed (health & medicine)
- CINAHL (nursing)
- Embase (health & medicine)
- Women's Studies International
- GenderWatch
- Education Source
- LGBT Life with Full Text
- ERIC (education)
Overview of Search Terms
Terminology used to describe transgender individuals has evolved over time. This variability in language can make searching comprehensively for literature on transgender topics difficult. Below is a list of search terms that can be used in databases from a variety of disciplines. The list is annotated to provide context and guide their use. Many of the definitions were adapted from https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/learn/glossary.
|
Term |
Notes |
|
Transgender |
As an identity term, describes individuals whose gender identities and/or expressions do not align with the sociocultural expectations of their birth-assigned gender; most widely used term in the literature |
| Gender identity | An umbrella term referring to one's sense of self |
|
Trans men |
Generally describes people assigned female at birth who identify as men; plural |
|
Trans man |
Generally describes someone assigned female at birth who identifies as a man |
|
Trans women |
Generally describes people assigned male at birth who identify as women; plural |
|
Trans woman |
Generally describes someone assigned male at birth who identifies as a woman |
|
Trans youth |
Children and adolescents who are transgender |
|
Transfeminine |
Individuals who were assigned male at birth but align more closely with the female side of the gender spectrum. |
|
Transmasculine |
Individuals who were assigned female at birth but align more closely with the male side of the gender spectrum. |
|
Trans folks |
Gender neutral reference to transgender people. |
|
Trans folx |
An alternative spelling for trans folks |
|
Intersex |
A variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male |
|
AFAB |
Assigned female at birth |
|
AMAB |
Assigned male at birth |
|
Cross gender |
Across multiple gender identities, that draw from or pertain to, the traditional opposite role of the individual’s gender. |
|
Crossgender |
Across multiple gender identities, that draw from or pertain to, the traditional opposite role of the individual’s gender. |
|
Trans people |
Plural reference to people who identify as transgender |
|
Trans person |
Singular reference to a person who identifies as transgender |
|
QTPOC |
Queer and trans persons of color |
|
Gender change |
Referrers to changing one’s gender they were assigned at birth. Differently, sometimes used instead of sex change. Can also mean changing gender markers in systems. |
|
Gender transition |
The process of gender identity and expression development of an individual whose gender assigned at birth is not aligned with their self-identified gender. Gender transition is comprised of personal, social, legal, and physical processes. Some examples of these processes may include hormone replacement therapy, name changes, and or a change in wardrobe. |
|
Trans male |
A person assigned female at birth who identifies as male or has a masculine gender identity (Female to Male) |
|
Trans female |
A person assigned male at birth who identifies as female or has a feminine gender identity (Male to Female) |
|
Two spirit |
A modern term used by some Native American populations to describe a third-gender or gender variant individual |
|
M2F or MTF |
A person assigned male at birth who identifies as female or has a feminine gender identity (Male to Female) |
|
F2M or FTM |
A person assigned female at birth who identifies as male or has a masculine gender identity (Female to Male) |
|
Sexual minority |
A group whose sexual identity, orientation, or practices differs from the majority of the surrounding society |
|
Trans spectrum |
An umbrella term for people whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth; a continuum that accounts for every variation of gender identity |
|
Gender minority |
A group whose gender identity or expression differs from the majority of the surrounding society |
|
Gender queer |
A person whose identity falls outside of the gender binary, or an umbrella term to describe identities outside of the gender binary (e.g., agender, genderfluid) |
|
Genderqueer |
A person whose identity falls outside of the gender binary, or an umbrella term to describe identities outside of the gender binary (e.g., agender, genderfluid) |
|
Gender fluid |
Nonbinary gender identity that’s not fixed and is capable of changing over time |
|
Non-binary |
Individuals that do not define or describe themselves according to a binary female and male gender spectrum. |
|
Agender |
Individuals that do not define or describe themselves as having or belonging to a gender. |
|
Gender variant
|
A term noting an individual whose gender identity or expression does not conform to dominant or socially accepted gender norms. Other related terms include gender fluid, gender non-conforming, gender expansive, gender diverse, and gender creative. |
|
Gender non-conforming |
A person whose behavior or appearance does not conform or match masculine or feminine gender norms. |
|
Gender expression |
How a person performs gender within a spectrum of femininity and masculinity. |
|
Gender expansive |
Used for individuals who broaden their own culture’s commonly held definitions of gender. |
|
Gender diverse |
Describes an ever-evolving array of labels people may apply when their gender identity, expression, or even perception. |
|
Gender creative |
People, often children, who don’t conform to traditional gender norms. |
|
Transvestite |
Outdated terminology relevant for historical and/or archival research. |
|
Transsexual |
Outdated terminology relevant for historical research in medical and psychological subject areas. |
|
Third gender |
Characterizing one’s gender as neither male nor female. |
|
Transphobia |
Discrimination against trans-identified people. |
|
Trans |
Short for transgender; keep in mind that truncating this term (e.g., trans*) will also retrieve results such as transportation, transdisciplinary, transnational, transglobal, etc. |
Health/Clinical Terms
|
Gender confirmation surgery |
Various medical interventions to enable individuals to present in the gender as which they identify. Synonyms include sex affirmation surgery, gender confirmation surgery, or sex reassignment surgery. |
|
Sex realignment surgery |
Various medical interventions to enable individuals to present in the gender as which they identify. Synonyms include sex affirmation surgery, gender confirmation surgery, or sex reassignment surgery. |
|
Gender reassignment surgery |
Various medical interventions to enable individuals to present in the gender as which they identify. Synonyms include sex affirmation surgery, gender confirmation surgery, sex realignment surgery. |
|
Gender affirmation or affirming |
Various medical interventions to enable individuals to present in the gender as which they identify |
|
Sex reassignment |
Clinical and/or surgical treatments used to change one’s physiological characteristics to reflect their gender identity. Most widely used in medical and psychological literature. |
|
Gender dysphoria |
Discontent or distress with one’s gender assigned at birth |
Search Hedges
Hedges are tested and standardized search strategies that can be used to retrieve articles on specific concepts (e.g., randomized controlled trials, resource poor countries, transgender populations). To apply these filters, click on the link we've provided (the links will only work for UMN affiliates, except for PubMed), copy and paste the strategy into the relevant database, or recreate the strategy we've provided in the relevant database. Hedges are not a guarantee of retrieving quality research; you still need to critically appraise results for quality and relevance.
Ovid Medline Search Hedge
Last reviewed: May 13, 2019
|
# |
Search Statement |
|
1 |
exp Transgender Persons/ |
|
2 |
exp Transsexualism/ |
|
3 |
exp Sex Reassignment Procedures/ |
|
4 |
transgender*.tw. |
|
5 |
transsexual*.tw. |
|
6 |
("trans m#n" or "trans wom#n" or "trans person*" or transpeople or "trans male*" or "trans female*").tw. |
|
7 |
((gender adj3 (non-binary or agender or fluid* or trans* or non-conform* or nonconform*)) or gender-nonconform*).tw. |
|
8 |
gender dysphori*.tw. |
|
9 |
(sex reassignment* or gender reassignment* or gender affirm*).tw. |
|
10 |
(transfeminine or transmasculine).tw. |
|
11 |
(AFAB or AMAB).tw. |
|
12 |
(gender adj (expression* or transition*)).tw. |
|
13 |
(transvestite* or transvestism).tw. |
|
14 |
or/1-13 |
Link: Link to search in Ovid MEDLINE
Notes:
The following terms were excluded due to too few or irrelevant results
Trans girl
Trans boy
Trans guy
Trans youth
Trans folks
Trans folx
Cross gender
Gender change
Gender minority
Sexual minority
Two spirit
M2F and F2M
Gender diverse
Gender creative
Gender expansive
Trans spectrum
Ovid PsycINFO Search Hedge
Other official terms of possible interest:
Intersex Conditions
LGBTQ
Sexual Minority Groups
(APA scope note, “Individuals whose sexual orientation, practices, or gender identity differ from the majority”)
Notes:
-
In line 14 do not explode Gender Identity/ as relevant narrower headings included elsewhere
-
Dropped (MTF or FTM or m2f or f2m) as it introduced too much noise without additional good matches.
-
Cross gender*.tw. - included as a few (mainly unindexed) additional articles found. Many of the potentially irrelevant articles are around gender identity formation, so may be warranted, depending on topic.
PubMed Search Hedge
Last reviewed: May 13, 2019
("Transsexualism"[Mesh] OR "Transvestism"[Mesh] OR "Sex Reassignment Procedures"[Mesh] OR "Transgender Persons"[Mesh] OR "Gender Identity"[Mesh] OR "Health Services for Transgender Persons"[Mesh]) OR (transgender*[tw] OR transsexual*[tw] OR "gender identit*"[tw] OR "sex reassignment*"[tw] OR "gender dysphori*"[tw] OR "trans men"[tw] OR "trans man"[tw] OR "trans women"[tw] OR "trans woman"[tw] OR "cross gender*"[tw] OR crossgender*[tw] OR "trans people"[tw] OR "trans person*"[tw] OR "gender reassignment*"[tw] OR "gender change*"[tw] OR "gender transition*"[tw] OR "trans male*"[tw] OR "trans female*"[tw] OR "gender non-conform*"[tw] OR "two spirit*"[tw] OR "gender fluid*"[tw] OR "non-binary"[tw] OR agender*[tw] OR "gender varian*"[tw] OR "gender queer"[tw] OR genderqueer[tw])
Link: Link to search in PubMed
EBSCO CINAHL Search Hedge
Last reviewed: May 13, 2019
|
# |
Search Statement |
|
S1 |
(MH "Transgender Persons+") |
| S2 | (MH "Transsexuals") |
| S3 | (MH "Transsexualism") |
| S4 | (MH "Sex Reassignment Procedures+") |
| S5 | TX transgender* |
| S6 | TX transsexual* |
| S7 | TX "trans m#n" or "trans wom#n" or "trans person*" or transpeople or "trans male*" or "trans female*" |
| S8 | TX gender* N3 (non-binary or fluid* or trans* or non-conform* or nonconform* or queer*) |
| S9 | TX gender dysphori* |
| S10 | TX sex reassignment* or gender reassignment* or gender affirm* |
| S11 | TX transfeminine or transmasculine |
| S12 | TX AFAB or AMAB |
| S13 | TX gender N2 (expression* or transition*) |
| S14 | TX transvestite* or transvestism |
| S15 | TX gender minorit* or gender diver* |
| S16 | S1 OR S2 OR S3 OR S4 OR S5 OR S6 OR S7 OR S8 OR S9 OR S10 OR S11 OR S12 OR S13 OR S14 OR S15 |
Ovid Embase Search Hedge
Last reviewed: July 11, 2019
|
# |
Search Statement |
|
1 |
transgender*.tw. |
| 2 | transsexual*.tw. |
| 3 | ("trans m#n" or "trans wom#n" or "trans person*" or transpeople or "trans male*" or "trans female*").tw. |
| 4 | ((gender adj3 (non-binary or agender or fluid* or trans* or non-conform* or nonconform*)) or gender-nonconform*).tw. |
| 5 | gender dysphori*.tw. |
| 6 | (sex reassignment* or gender reassignment* or gender affirm*).tw. |
| 7 | (transfeminine or transmasculine).tw. |
| 8 | (AFAB or AMAB).tw. |
| 9 | (gender adj (expression* or transition*)).tw. |
| 10 | (transvestite* or transvestism).tw. |
| 11 | exp transgender/ |
| 12 | exp transsexualism/ |
| 13 | exp sex reassignment/ |
| 14 | exp sex transformation/ |
| 15 | OR/1-14 |
EBSCO Women's Studies International Search Hedge
SU ( Transsexualism OR transsexuals OR “transgender people” OR transgenderism OR “Male-to-female transsexuals” OR “Female-to-male transsexuals” ) OR SU “Gender identity” OR SU ( “Sex change” OR “sex reassignment surgery” OR “gender transition” OR “genital surgery” OR “Genitourinary organs -- surgery” ) OR ( genderqueer OR "gender fluid" OR "Gender dysphoria" ) OR ( trans m*n” OR “trans wom*n” OR transm*n OR transwom*n )
Proquest GenderWatch Search Hedge
su(("gender identity" OR "transgender persons" OR transsexuality OR "gender nonconforming")) OR (genderqueer* OR "gender fluid" OR "trans m*n" OR "trans wom*n" OR transm*n OR transwom*n OR "gender reassignment surgery" OR "sex change" OR (transgender* AND surgery) OR "gender dysphoria" OR "gender identity disorder")
EBSCO Education Source Search Hedge
SU ( Transgenderism OR Transsexualism OR "sexual minorities" ) OR SU ( "transgender identity" OR Transgenderism OR Transsexualism OR "sexual minorities" ) OR SU ( "Sex reassignment surgery" OR "gender transition" OR "genital surgery" ) OR SU ( "gender identity in education" OR "transgender youth" OR "Gender identity" OR "Transgender students" ) OR SU ( "gender expression" OR "gender bending (gender expression)" OR "gender-nonconforming people" OR "transgender people" ) OR ( genderqueer OR "gender fluid" OR "Gender dysphoria" OR "trans m*n” OR “trans wom*n” OR transm*n OR transwom*n )
EBSCO LGBT Life with Full Text Search Hedge
SU ( ( "TRANSGENDER people" OR TRANSSEXUALS OR" OR "GENDER-nonconforming people" OR Transgenderism OR "GENDER benders (Gender expression)" ) OR ( "GENDER identity" OR "GENDER nonconformity" ) OR ( "GENDER transition" OR "GENDER expression" OR ) OR ( "MALE-to-female transsexuals" OR "FEMALE-to-male transsexuals" ) OR SU ( "hormone therapy" OR "sex reassignment surgery" OR ) OR SU "STANDARDS of care (Transgenderism)" ) OR ( ( genderqueer OR "gender fluid" OR "Gender dysphoria" ) OR ( trans m*n” OR “trans wom*n” OR transm*n OR transwom*n ) )
EBSCO ERIC Search Hedge
Simple search (will retrieve vast majority of relevant records):
SU Sexual Identity OR TX (transexual* OR transgender*)
Complex search (this is a more sensitive search, with more articles about cysgender difference, bias, conformity, etc.)
SU Sexual Identity
OR
TX (transsexual* OR transgender* OR “gender minorit*” OR "trans m?n" OR "trans wom?n" OR “trans male” OR “trans female” OR “trans girl*” OR “trans boy*” OR “trans youth” OR transmasculine OR transfeminine OR "trans person*" OR "trans people" OR (gender N3 (non-binary OR fluid* OR trans* OR non-conform*) OR “gender non-conforming” OR "gender identit*" OR agender OR genderqueer OR “gender queer” OR “gender ambigui*” OR “gender divers*” OR “gender expansiv*” OR transvest* OR Gender reassign* OR “sex change” OR “gender dysphor*”) NOT SU (“Sex Role” OR “Gender Differences”)