Gender vs Sexuality
This Pride Month let us educate our-selfs and raise awareness about the LGBTQA+ community.
In honour of pride month, I’m hoping to raise awareness on the LGBTQIA+ community. “Awareness” is a pretty ambiguous term. Let us start with the absolute basics. What does it stand for?
LGBTQIA+ or Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans Queer Intersex Asexual (no the A does not and will not stand for Ally).
Now I’d like to start by pointing out that gender identity and sexuality is vastly different.
What is gender you ask?
Is it nothing but a construct of social and cultural expectations of how we present ourselves in a society; defined by our sex.
While sex is based on biology, chromosomes, and what doctors assign at birth and write on the birth certificate, gender is a social construct, meaning something that was created by humanity, complete with its own set of "rules" and expectations.
What is gender identity?
Gender identity means a person’s internal sense of whether they’re male or female, both, or neither. Gender identity may be the same as the sex they were assigned at birth (cisgender) or not (transgender).
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Today there are over 58 known gender identities. Let’s list some of the more common ones.
First, we have cisgender. Under which come men and women who choose to identify with the sex they were assigned at birth.
The word transgender is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity and/or gender expression differs from what is usually associated with the sex they were given at birth. Not all people identify as transgender and some people may describe themselves using a variety of terms. Transgender people may be straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer. For example, a transgender woman who is attracted solely to men would typically identify as a straight woman.
A genderqueer person may identify as neither gender, both, or a combination. They do not subscribe to the traditional gender binary.
Someone who is genderfluid feels that their gender is fluid and can change and vary over time.
Non-binary is an umbrella term for people whose gender is not just male or female. And (staying on the theme) this word may have different meanings to different people.
People who are intersex are born with ambiguous genitalia. For instance, someone might be born with genitals that appear female on the outside, but have male-typical anatomy internally,
While we’re here on the topic of gender,
What is gender expression?
While gender identity is internal, gender expression is how a person publicly presents their gender. From their behaviour and outward appearance to the way someone dresses, wears their hair, whether they use make-up, to their body language and their voice. A person’s chosen name and pronoun are also common ways of expressing gender. A cis woman may choose to express her gender through traditionally feminine behaviour while another cis woman may choose to embrace the more masculine part of her personality.
On to what y’all are really hear for: Sexuality.
What is Sexual orientation?
Sexual orientation refers to a person’s emotional and/or sexual attraction to others. Sexuality is complex and attraction can manifest very differently for different people. Sexuality is on a spectrum and a single category cant hope to define the vastness of expressions and experiences that makes up human sexuality. But language regarding sexuality is constantly evolving and I’ve taken it upon myself to educate you on some of the common ones.
Today there are 46 known words for different sexualities. I can’t hope to list them all out in this single articles so let’s go over the most common ones.
Heterosexuality/ Straight-
People who are attracted to the opposite sex.
Gay-
The adjective used to describe people who are physically, romantically, and/ or emotionally attracted to people of the same gender. Its a term usually used to refer to men but sometimes women prefer to use this term too. Consider this a PSA to stop identifying people as homosexual. Talk about outdated!
Bisexuals-
A person who has the capacity to form enduring physical, romantic, and/ or emotional attractions to those of the same gender or to those of another gender. People may experience this attraction in differing ways and degrees over their lifetime. Bisexual people need not have had specific sexual experiences to be bisexual; in fact, they need not have had any sexual experience at all to identify as bisexual.
Pansexuals-
A person who has the capacity to form enduring physical, romantic, or emotional attractions to any person, regardless of gender identity.
Queer-
An adjective used by some people, particularly younger people, whose sexual orientation is not exclusively heterosexual.
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Asexual-
An adjective used to describe people who do not experience sexual attraction.
Allosexual-
An adjective used to describe people who do experience sexual attraction and are not asexual.
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Aromantic-
An adjective used to describe people who do not experience romantic attraction.
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Demisexual-
People on the asexual spectrum who do experience some sexual attraction, but only in certain situations, like after they’ve formed a strong emotional or romantic connection with a partner.
Now that you’ve managed to get to the end of this article, CONGRATULATIONS! You now have enough basic information to not be a total ignorant prick if your friend comes out to you.
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As much as I’d like to think that my own prowess at writing is enough to change the stigma and pre-existing notions surrounding the LGBT community, the sad truth is that I’ve really only done the bare minimum. If you really want to educate yourself more in terms of the LGBT experience (a beautiful thing really) you could always start with a google search. Ask your friends about their opinions regarding the community. Watch a few documentaries and movies. Educate yourself because there is no way you’ll go through life without meeting a single queer person.
