ISSUES
: Sexuality and Gender
41
Glossary
or discomfort as they feel they are “trapped” inside a body
that doesn’t match their gender identity. Gender dysphoria
is recognised medical condition, for which treatment
is sometimes appropriate (for some people this means
dressing and living as their preferred gender, for others it
can mean taking hormones or having surgery to change
their physical appearance). It’s not a mental illness.
Gender identity
The gender that aperson ‘identifies’ withor feels themselves
to be. This is not always the same as the sex assigned to
them at birth (see Gender dysphoria or Transgender).
Heterosexual
Someone who is attracted exclusively to people of the
opposite sex to themselves. Heterosexuality is the most
common sexual orientation. It is often referred to as ‘straight’,
although some people feel that this is not the best term to use
and has the potential to be offensive – it may imply negative
connotations for other sexual orientations which may then
be seen as ‘crooked’ in contrast and therefore negative.
Homophobia/transphobia
Homophobia is the irrational fear or hatred of homosexuality
(an aversion towards lesbian, gay or bisexual people).
Transphobia is the irrational fear or hatred of transpeople.
This fear can lead to behaviour that discriminates against
LGBT people and consequently advantages heterosexuals.
Such discrimination is illegal under the Equality Act (Sexual
Orientation) Regulations 2007.
Homosexual
Someonewhodefinesthemselvesashomosexualisattracted
exclusively to people of the same sex as themselves. People
of this sexual orientation may prefer to call themselves
gay, or a lesbian if they are female. While some gay people
may use other words such as ‘queer’ or ‘dyke’ to describe
themselves, these are not considered universally acceptable
and other gay people may find them offensive.
Intersex
An intersex person is born with sexual anatomy,
reproductive organs and/or chromosome patterns that do
not fit the typical definition of male or female. This may
be apparent at birth or become so later in life. An intersex
person may identify as male or female or as neither.
Kinsey scale
A ‘sexuality scale’ invented in the 1940s by Alfred
Kinsey. The Kinsey scale plots individuals on a range of
sexual dispositions from exclusively heterosexual at 0
through to exclusively homosexual at 6 (and in between
these numbers represents a range of bisexuality).
LGBT/LGBTI/LGBTQ+
LGBT stands for ‘lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender’,
and is often used as a shorthand way of referring to
sexual orientations other than heterosexual. As language
and terminology evolve, there are now several other
variations of this acronym: the I refers to intersex; Qstands
for queer; and the + represents asexual, pansexual,
transsexual, intersex, questioning and intergender.
Non-binary
If someone is non-binary this means that they do not
exclusively identify asonegender. This canbeapersonwho:
identifies as both masculine and feminine (androgynous);
identifies between male and female (intergender); or as
neutral or don’t identify with a gender (agender).
Pansexual/pansexuality
A person who is emotionally and/or sexually attracted
to people of more than one gender or regardless of
gender. Some people use the term pansexual rather
than bisexual in order to be more explicitly inclusive of
non-binary gender identities.
Rainbow Flag
Gilbert Baker, an artist and drag queen, first created
the Rainbow Flag in 1978. With the benefit of being
a natural and universal symbol that works in any
language, the rainbow became a symbol of gay pride.
Historically, bright colours always played a strong role in
gay identification, such as Oscar Wilde pinning a green
carnation to his lapel. Before that, the symbol of the
gay movement was a pink triangle, which had originally
been used by the Nazis in concentration camps to
denote gay people and other ‘sexual deviants’. The
gay movement had reclaimed the pink triangle during
the 1970s, but some felt the symbol still had disturbing
connotations.
Russo test (also known as the Vito Russo
Test)
Patterned after the well-known Bechdel test for the
representation of women, the Russo test is used to
measure LGBT representation in media such as film or
television. The Russo test looks for characters who are
identifiably LGBT, who are not solely defined in terms
of their sexuality/gender and whose removal from a
film would significantly affect its plot.
Sexual orientation/sexuality
Sexual orientation refers to a person’s physical,
romantic and/or emotional attraction towards other
people. Sexual orientation is usually defined either as
heterosexual or ‘straight’ (attraction to the opposite
sex); homosexual or ‘gay’/’lesbian’ (attraction to the
same sex); or bisexual (attraction to both sexes).
Transgender (sometimes shortened to trans
or trans*)
A transgender person is someone who identifies as the
opposite gender than that into which they were born,
and who has chosen to live their life in that gender. They
may or may not have gone through gender reassignment
surgery. Someone’s gender identity is separate from
their sexual orientation: however, issues concerning
transgender people and their rights tend to be discussed
in relation to debates about sexuality, as they often suffer
similar kinds of discrimination to LGB people. These
issues do also cross over into debates concerning equal
gender rights, however.
