Definition of Terms and Concepts Related to
Sex, Gender, and Sexual Orientation*
Understanding how certain terms are used is
essential to understanding LGBTIQ individuals. It is important
to recognize the difference between sexual orientation and
sexual behavior as well as the differences among sexual
orientation, gender identity, and gender role.
Sexual
orientation is the affectional or loving attraction to
another person. It can be considered as ranging along a
continuum from same-sex attraction only at one end of the
continuum to opposite-sex attraction only at the other end.
Heterosexuality is the attraction to
persons of the opposite sex; homosexuality, to persons
of the same sex; and bisexuality, to both sexes. Sexual
orientation can be seen as part of a continuum ranging from
same-sex attraction only (at one end of the continuum) to
opposite-sex attraction only (at the other end of the
continuum).
Sexual behavior, or sexual activity, differs
from sexual orientation and alone does not define someone as
an LGBT individual. Any person may be capable of sexual
behavior with a person of the same or opposite sex, but an
individual knows his or her longings—erotic and affectional—and
which sex is more likely to satisfy those needs.
It is necessary to draw a distinction between
sexual orientation and sexual behavior. Not every person with
a homosexual or bisexual orientation is sexually active. A
person’s sexual orientation does not tell us if she/he is
sexually active nor does it define her/his specific sexual
behaviors.
Similarly, sexual behavior alone does not
define orientation. A personal awareness of having a sexual
orientation that is not exclusively heterosexual is one way a
person identifies herself or himself as an LGBT person. Or a
person may have a sexual identity that differs from his or her
biological sex—that is, a person may have been born a male but
identifies and feels more comfortable as a female.
Sexual orientation and gender identity are two
independent variables in an individual’s definition of himself
or herself. Sexual identity is the personal and unique way
that a person perceives his or her own sexual desires and
sexual expressions. Biological sex is the biological
distinction between men and women.
Gender is the concept of maleness and
masculinity or femaleness and femininity. One’s gender
identity is the sense of one’s self as male or female and does
not refer to one’s sexual orientation or gender role.
Sex refers to the biological characteristics
of a person at birth, while gender relates to his or her
perception of being male or female and is known as the gender
role.
Gender role refers to the behaviors and
desires to act in certain ways that are viewed as masculine or
feminine by a particular culture.
A culture usually labels behaviors as masculine or feminine,
but these behaviors are not necessarily a direct component of
gender or gender identity. It is common in our culture to call
the behaviors, styles, or interests shown by males that are
usually associated with women “effeminate” and to call the
boys who behave this way “sissies.” Women or girls who have
interests usually associated with men are labeled “masculine”
or “butch,” and the girls are often called “tomboys.”
Transgender is a general term that is used by
individuals that do not conform to the gender role
expectations of their biological sex. It is also used by
persons who may clearly identify their gender as the opposite
of their biological sex. Transgender can also be used as a
general term to include transsexual people.
Transsexuals are people with the biological
characteristics of one sex who identify themselves as the
opposite gender and have had some type of surgical alteration
and/or hormone treatments that changes their bodies’ appearance in
alignment with their identity.
Cross dressers or
transvestites wear clothes
usually worn by people of the opposite biological sex. They do
not, however, identify themselves as having a gender identity
different from their biological sex or gender role. The
motivations for cross dressing vary, but most transvestites
enjoy cross dressing and may experience sexual excitement from
it. The vast majority of transvestites are heterosexual.
Drag queens (i.e., gay men who dress in female
clothing) and female impersonators (who perform in clubs or
cabarets) are not transgender individuals. The choice that
these individuals make to dress in the clothing of the
opposite sex is not a matter of gender identity.
The same is true of
drag kings (i.e., women
who dress in men’s clothing) and male impersonators.
Bigendered, transgender individuals may identify with both
genders, or as some combination of both, while androgynous
transgender individuals usually do not identify with either
gender; that is, they identify as neither male nor female.
Gender identity disorder (GID) was introduced
in the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
of Mental Disorders (DSM–IV) (American Psychiatric
Association, 1994).
Although GID is listed as a mental illness,
most clinicians do not consider individuals who are confused
or conflicted about their biological gender and their personal
sense of their gender identity to be mentally ill.
Considerable work needs to be done to augment the small amount
of research available on the development of a transgender
identity—that is, how a person becomes aware of a sexual
identity that does not match his or her biological sex or
gender role.
Intersexed people are born with aspects of
both female and male genitalia, often referred to as
“ambiguous biological sex characteristics.”
These people have often been put through
genital surgery as infants, their sex having been decided by
the doctor. Historically, this was frequently done without the
parents’ consent, though this practice is changing.
Intersexed
people may later grow up to have gender identities that are
the opposite of the manufactured sex constructed for them at
birth and have feelings similar to transgender individuals.
An
international organization has been formed to help and
advocate on behalf of individuals who are born intersexed or
with ambiguous sexual characteristics.
Top of Page
*Adapted from the definitions provided in “A
Provider’s Introduction to Substance Abuse Treatment for LGBT
Individuals."
|
