Towards a TS dictionary -- the letters Xx, Yy, Zz

  BOLD=cross reference, see item when appropriate letter posted

X

An indicator of gender inclusivity, e.g. Latinx, Mx, Womxn, etc.   These terms are written but not always pronounceable.   X is also the third option specified by the International Civil Aviation Organization in addition to M or F.  Some countries permit this on their passports.

Xanith خنيث‎

An assigned male third gender in Oman, who are socially accepted as female e.g. at weddings.   In later life some go back to living as male.  Also spelt Khanith, and as such related to the word Mukhannathun.

Xenoestrogen

Estrogen Imitators including widely used industrial compounds, such as PCBs, Bisphenol A, and Phthalates, which have estrogenic effects on living organisms.  In some fish species they induce sex changes.   They have reduced sperm counts and induced precocious Puberty.  They are certainly acting Epigenetically and are probably affecting the frequency of Transgender.

Xenovestity. 

Dressing as a foreigner,

Xier/xies .. xiem/xien

A German gender neutral pronoun.

X-Jenda Xジェンダ

A Japanese term for gender queer / non-binary.

Xtravaganza, House of

An initially Latinx LGBTQ New York ballroom house founded in 1982 by Hector Valle.  One of the first to join was Angie Xtravaganza, who assumed the role of house mother.  It was later opened to other racial groups.   Several members of the House of Xtravaganza of this period went on to become pioneers and icons within the ballroom community. The House was also known for its stable of “impossible beauties”, Trans women who reigned in the ballrooms and worked as professional models and entertainers.

XO

See Turner’s Syndrome.

XX

The designation for standard female sex chromosomes in mammals.  See Homogametic.

XXY

See Klinefelter Syndrome (KS).

XY

The designation for standard male sex chromosomes in mammals. See Heterogametic.

 

Yard

An old term for a Penis, cf. the French Verge which if masculine, le verge, means a yard (=3 feet) and if feminine, la verge, means penis.   In 18^th century usage, anal sex would be the introduction of a Yard into another’s Fundament.

Ycleptance

Naming and being named. An important process during Transition when a new name is taken and accepted by others.  From the early modern verb ‘to clepe’=to name or to style.  A term revived by John Money.  Ycleptance can also occur in marriage and in religious conversions

Yearning

A feeling of intense longing for something.   A trans woman has or had an intense yearning to be a woman. This is a philosophically neutral term that does not imply choice, social construction or biological causation. 

Yimpininni

Trans and gay indigenous persons on the Tiwi Islands off the coast of Australia’s Northern Territory.  They are estimated to be as many as 5% of the population.  Crystal Love, the entertainer, is Yimpininni.  Sometimes called Sistergirls.

Yirka'-la'ul

Yirka'-la'ul (=soft man) were assigned male shamans among the reindeer-herding Chukchi in the very far east of Siberia, who forfeited their masculinity and gained esteem.  The yirka'-la'ul had a choice of the young men from whom she took a husband, a marriage that would last until the death of one of the partners.

Yogyakarta Principles

A document about human rights in the areas of sexual orientation and gender identity, published as the outcome of an international meeting of human rights groups in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in November 2006. The Principles were supplemented in 2017, expanding to include new grounds of gender expression and sex characteristics, and a number of new principles.  The Principles and the supplement contains a set of precepts intended to apply the standards of international human rights law to address the abuse of human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons.

Yonkers Professional Hospital, New York

Located at 27 Ludlow St, Yonkers, New York, and partly owned by Dr Benito Rish, who was also president of its board.  Rish did Transgender Surgery on patients referred by Harry Benjamin and Leo Wollman. Transgender surgery was also done by Dr David Wesser, who had done 200 sex-change operations by 1980, mainly using Burou’s technique.

From 1972 Dr Rish was sued for malpractice several times. Yonkers Professional Hospital was closed down after a surprise inspection by the state in 1980, and the next year Dr Wesser was charged with negligence by a panel that was hand-picked to be partial against him. 

The building stood empty for almost a decade, and was then converted into apartments.

The Yuga Ball, Metairie, New Orleans

The first gay 'krewe' – of the krewes that put on the New Orleans Mardi Gras celebrations – was the Yuga Krewe, founded in 1958. The fourth and fifth Yuga Balls were held in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie in a school that had a large dance studio, and was surrounded by a wooded area close to the lake. The second gay krewe, that of Petronius, held its first ball in 1962 at the same location. However, the Yuga Ball a week later was raided by the Parish Police. Some managed to flee, but many were arrested in what the police dubbed a ‘lewd stag party’. Those arrested had their names printed in the newspapers and thus most lost their jobs.

Yūsei Hogo Hō 優生保護法 Japanese Eugenic Protection Law 1948

While this law permitted sterilisations and abortions, even without the consent of the persons involved, it also forbade any unnecessary operations that resulted in sterilisation.   This was the charge in the Buru Boi Saiban trial 1965-6 in which a sex-change doctor was found guilty of removing otherwise healthy sex organs.  There were no more sex change operations in Japan until 1998. 

 

 

Zee Zee

A word for Penis favoured by April Ashley.

Zenana

A term in Pakistan for a Kothi.

Zie, Hir

Gender-neutral pronouns popularised by Leslie Feinberg.   As in Zie and hir friends have arrived.

Zeitschrift für Sexualwissenschaft (=Journal of Sexology)

The first scholarly Sexology journal.  It was first published in 1908 by Georg H. Wigand's Verlang, Leipzig, edited by Friedrich. Krauss & Herman Rohleder, with help from Magnus Hirschfeld.  It was then merged with Hirschfeld’s Jahrbuch für sexuelle Zwischenstufen. It was later revived and published 1914-28 by A. Marcus & E. Webers Verlag of Bonn.

Zoovestity

Dressing as an animal.

Zwischenstufen

The term used by Magnus Hirschfeld for homosexuality, transvestism and other intermediate stages.   See also Geschlechtsübergänge.

Zwittertum

A German term for Intersex is use in the early 20^th century.

ZW

The designation for standard female chromosomes in birds, fish, insects, reptiles etc. See Heterogametic.

ZZ

The designation for standard male chromosomes in birds, fish, insects, reptiles etc. See Homogametic.