INTERSEX A term for someone born with biological sex characteristics that aren’t traditionally associated with male or female bodies.
Male-assigned at birth/female-assigned at birth/unassigned at birth. GENDER-NEUTRAL Someone who prefers not to be described by a specific gender, but prefers “they” as a singular pronoun (the American Dialect Society’s 2015 Word of the Year) or the honorific “Mx.,” a substitute for “Mr.” or “Ms.” that entered the Oxford English Dictionary in 2015. Sometimes these individuals may identify or express themselves as more masculine on some days, and more feminine on others. GENDER FLUID A term used by people whose identity shifts or fluctuates. They may exhibit both traditionally masculine and feminine qualities or neither. GENDERQUEER Another term often used to describe someone whose gender identity is outside the strict male/female binary. One notable example: Taylor Mason, a financial analyst on the show “Billions,” who is believed to be the first gender nonbinary character on television and is played by the nonbinary actor Asia Kate Dillon. NONBINARY A person who identifies as neither male nor female and sees themselves outside the gender binary. Not all gender-nonconforming people are transgender, and some transgender people express gender in conventionally masculine or feminine ways. One who expresses gender outside traditional norms associated with masculinity or femininity. TRANS* OR TRANS+ Two umbrella terms for non-cisgender identities. TRANSGENDER A wide-ranging term for people whose gender identity or gender expression differs from the biological sex they were assigned at birth. GRAYSEXUAL Someone who occasionally experiences sexual attraction but usually does not it covers a kind of gray space between asexuality and sexual identity.ĬISGENDER Someone whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth. The terminology is similar: homoromantic, heteroromantic, biromantic and so on.ĭEMISEXUAL Someone who generally does not experience sexual attraction unless they have formed a strong emotional, but not necessarily romantic, connection with someone. More generally, some people (asexual or otherwise) identify as having a romantic orientation different than their sexual orientation. But some people also argue that the prefix “bi” reinforces a male/female gender binary that isn’t inclusive enough. The musical television show “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” which features a bisexual male character, had an entire song refuting this.Īs advocates speak out more about what they see as “bisexual erasure” - the persistent questioning or negation of bisexual identity - the term has become resurgent. The stereotypes around bisexuality - that it’s a transitional stage or a cover for promiscuity - have been at the center of fraught conversation within L.G.B.T.Q. It is not a way station from straight to gay, as it had once been described. Corporate World: What is it like to transition while working for Wall Street? A Goldman Sachs’ employee shares her experience.īISEXUAL Someone who is attracted to people of their gender or other gender identities.She shared some thoughts on what she saw. Transgender Youth: A photographer documented the lives of transgender youth.Elite Sports: The case of the transgender swimmer Lia Thomas has stirred a debate about the nature of athleticism in women’s sports.But with a steep rate of complications, it remains a controversial procedure.
Phalloplasty: The surgery, used to construct a penis, has grown more popular among transgender men.Others declared it was for “queer,” a catchall term that has shed its derogatory origins and is gaining acceptance. Some insisted this stood for “questioning,” representing people who were uncertain of their sexual orientations or gender identities. Take, for example, the addition of “Q” that became increasingly popular as the 20th century turned into the 21st. abbreviation has acquired a few extra letters - and a cluster of ancillary terminology around both sexuality and gender. Times and attitudes have changed, and the language used to discuss sexual orientation and gender identity has also changed. These letters were an evolution toward inclusion - an expansion of the language used to represent a disparate group that had often just been called “the gay community.”ĭespite their intent, the letters proved to be limiting. When I came out as gay more than 10 years ago, there were only four letters commonly used to group various sexual and gender minorities: L, G, B and T.