Vocabulary
MINI-LESSON: LGBTQ Vocabulary
45 min
Asexual
A term given to those who are not sexually/erotically attracted to anyone.
Biological Sex
This can be considered our “packaging” and is determined by our chromosomes, our hormones, and our internal & external genitalia.
Cross-dresser
Individuals who occasionally or regularly wear the clothing socially assigned to the other gender, but are usually comfortable with their birth-assigned gender and do not wish to change it.
Gender
A socially constructed system of classification that ascribes qualities of masculinity and femininity to people.
Heterosexism
An overt or tacit bias against non-heterosexuals based on a belief in the superiority, or sometimes, the omnipresence of heterosexuality.
Homophobia
Refers to a fear or hatred of homosexuality, especially in others, but also in oneself.
Intersex
A person who is born with chromosomes, genitalia and/or secondary sex characteristics that are considered neither exclusively male nor female.
Sexual Behavior
This is what we do sexually and with whom.
Sexual Identity
This is what we call ourselves in terms of our sexuality.
Sexual Orientation
Refers to a person’s emotional and sexual attraction to others based on the gender of that person.
Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS)
A complicated, multi-step process by which individuals who do not identify with their birth-assigned sex alter their bodies surgically and/or hormonally.
Transgender
A broad, “umbrella” term that can be used to describe people whose gender expression is non-conforming and/or whose gender identity is different from their birth assigned gender.
Transition
Refers to the myriad of actions a person may take as a transgender person.
Transphobia
A fear or hatred of transgender people.
Transsexual
People whose gender identity
is different from their birth biological sex.
Sometimes they change their bodies hormonally and/or
surgically to more fully match
their gender identity.
Gender Expression
The ways in which people externally communicate
their gender identity.
Gender Attribution
This is the gender we
assign people when we
first meet them.
Gender Role
The socially constructed and culturally specific behavior, appearance and expectations imposed on females (“femininity”) and males (“masculinity”).
Gender Identity
An individual’s internal, deeply felt sense of being either “male,” “female,”
or something other or
in-between.
