Gender Terms
Hormones: This refers to the Gonadal hormones. Male gonadal hormones are called Androgens and are mainly confined to testosterone which produces all the readily identifiable Secondary Sex characteristics. The main female hormone is oestrogen with progesterone as a secondary one. A MtF will usually need to use an anti-androgen to suppress testosterone. The effects of gonadal hormones are often quite significant but it is reported that the effectiveness of the hormone treatment decreases with the age at which a person starts taking them.
Primary Sex Characteristics: The Genitals are the primary sex characteristics. The usually definitively identify a person as either male or female.
Secondary Sex Characteristics: These include the existence of breasts (or not), hairline, facial shape, body shape (the hour-glass figure is typically female) and the distribution of body hair. Since these characteristics are more visible, they are used as cues when people identify gender. Other cultural cues include length and style of hair, fingernail length, and use of makeup. These are not really body characteristics but a culturally determined set of gender clues that can be quite easily changed.
Primary Transexual: A term that was used to describe those who strongly identified feelings of being transgendered at an early age. It was highly regarded by the medical profession for a person to have "felt like this since I first talked". These days, it is not often used for diagnosis.
Secondary Transexual: A term used to indicate that a person identified transgender feelings at a later age.
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