Language is one of the key paths to awareness, acceptance and empowerment, but, honestly, it can be confusing for many people. There can be a lot to get to grips with, especially as society still has a long way to go in representing everyone within it. So, we’ve compiled this list of some common terms you may have heard, but may not have understood, to help introduce you to some of the essential terminology surrounding gender, sexuality and LGBTQ+ identity.
This is not an exhaustive list, and language does change over time. The below are commonly accepted definitions for a selection of LGBTQ+ terms in popular usage at the time of writing.
Queer: An umbrella term for sexual and gender identities that are not heterosexual or cisgender. The word queer has a long and storied use with regards to sexual and gender minorities. For a long time it was used as an insult for non-heterosexual people, but around the 1980s academics and people in the LGBTQ+ community started to reclaim it. It’s now considered a useful umbrella term that handily encompasses many non-conforming genders and sexualities.
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LGBTQIA+: An umbrella initialism that groups together the members of the queer community. The ‘true’ definition of the initialism, and which letters should be included, is highly debated. One common definition is:
L – Lesbian (a woman who is sexually and romantically attracted to other women.)
G – Gay (a man who is sexually and romantically attracted to other men.)
B – Bisexual
T – Transgender
Q – Queer
I – Intersex
A – Asexual
+ – A shorthand way to round up other queer identities to be included, such as pansexual or polyamorous.
Bisexual: Sexual attraction towards people of the same gender as well as people of other genders. Often used as an umbrella term to include biromanticism, although some bisexual people have sexual urges towards both male or female people but prefer to only be in romantic relationships with either male or female people.
Pansexual: A person who has sexual urges towards and is sexually attracted to people of any gender. At first glance the definition of pansexual is the same as that of bisexual. However, the use of the word ‘pan’ is intended to open up the definition past the binary ‘attracted to men and women’ of bisexual and include attraction to people who appear anywhere on the gender spectrum. Not everyone agrees that the bisexual identity has those limitations on gender identity: ultimately personal choice is the decision-maker when it comes to the language you choose to identify yourself.
Asexual: Someone who does not usually feel sexual attraction or a sexual urge towards other people. Asexuality works on a spectrum, like sexuality; some people who consider themselves to be asexual never feel sexual attraction or urges; others do on occasion. Some are averse to any sexual touch or interaction, others engage in it on occasion to please their partners or themselves. An asexual identity doesn’t have to stem from a revulsion against sex; some asexual identities simply don’t find sex interesting, fulfilling or important.
Polyamory: A relationship consisting of more than two participants or the lifestyle in which someone could have multiple partners at the same time. A polyamorous relationship can take many forms, depending on the desires of the participants. However, a polyamorous relationship is only such if all parties involved have all the information they wish to and have
Cisgender: A cisgender person is one whose assigned-at-birth gender matches their gender identity. Using this term avoids establishing a default or ‘normal’ and acknowledges that everyone has a relationship between their birth gender and gender identification.
Dysphoria: The feeling of discomfort or unease. Gender dysphoria is the feeling that your body’s gender doesn’t match your true gender. People with gender dysphoria often feel trapped inside a body that isn’t ‘theirs’.
Transgender: Someone whose true gender is different to the gender they were assigned at birth based on their sex. This can mean they are gender binary; they were assigned male/female at birth and identify as female/male. Or they might identify as genderfluid and their body does not fully represent their gender identity. As gender is an internal experience and not a person’s sex characteristics, someone might identify as transgender and have only partial or no surgery to alter their sex characteristics. A commonly used abbreviation for transgender is ‘trans’.
Intersex: A person who is born with sex characteristics that do not wholly belong in either category of male or female. Sex characteristics can include genitals, hormones, chromosomes or gonads. Some intersex babies and children are surgically or hormonally altered so they have ‘socially acceptable’ sex characteristics. However, this is increasingly being seen as a human rights violation. Some intersex babies are assigned a gender at birth and raised as that gender; some later assign their own gender and others continue to identify as that gender.
Genderfluid: Someone who has no fixed identity within the gender spectrum. They may identify as a different gender from one day to the next. Your gender identity would not have to change on a daily basis to identify as genderfluid; you may feel different from week to week or month to month, etc.
Deadnaming: The use of a transgender or genderqueer person’s birth name, if they have not kept that name on transitioning. Using the ‘dead’ name can be hurtful, as it ignores the person’s chosen name and often misgenders them.
From Ace to Ze: The Little Book of LGBT Terms by Harriet Dyer is available 10 May by Summersdale