AP Photo/Aimee Maude Sims Stefan Diaz, who was born a girl.

"Gender nonconformity" is a term used to identify such people, who are particularly at risk of name-calling — or worse — if they're going through their teenage years.

Riki Wilchins, executive director of the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition, or GenderPAC, says it's a matter of "gender identity" and "gender expression." The topic is sensitive and a matter of considerable debate, but generally speaking, "gender identity" is defined as an inner sense of being male or female while "gender expression" is how we all manifest our masculinity or femininity.

In other words, how a person experiences and expresses gender come together as part of the fine art of being human.

For some, failing to match people's expectations about gender can put them at serious risk.

GenderPAC released a report called "50 under 30: Masculinity and the War on America's Youth," documenting the deaths of 50 gender nonconformists under the age of 30 from 1995 to 2005. The youngest, Sakia Gunn, was 15.

According to the report, which used Web sites, hate crimes reports, newspaper accounts and online databases to compile the data, most of the victims were people of color who died particularly violent deaths. All of the assailants are believed to be male.

Though the report methodology states that it's "impossible to determine with complete confidence" whether gender was a factor in the crimes, there's no question that young people who "transgress" gender lines often experience persecution for presenting themselves in a way that's too feminine to be "manly" or too masculine to be "ladylike."

This podcast aims to explore the reasons behind the humiliation and harassment many gender nonconforming youth face on a daily basis, and tries to unravel why these conflicts sometimes end in murder.

Download the podcast here.

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asap contributor Aimee Maude Sims works at the AP National Desk.

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