Sexual Health- Gender, Sexuality, and more…

Gender terminology

  • Gender Identity- An individual’s internal sense of self and awareness.
  • Gender expression- How a person publicly expresses their gender.
    • This can include behaviors, clothes, hair, body language, voice, name, pronouns*.
    • Pronouns- Words used to narrate an individual’s identity. I.e. He/his, she/her
      • Gender neutral pronouns are pronouns that do not position someone within the gender binary. I.e. They/them, he/they, she/they
  • Gender attribution- Categorizing someone’s gender and pronouns based on a variety of assumptions. This behavior leads to mis-gendering people.
  • Gender affirmation – the process a person may take to bring themselves and/or their
    body in alignment with their gender identity

Gender Unicorn in all languages; Source- TSER

Source- GLSEN

Activity instructions; Source- Action Canada

Sex terminology

  • Sex Binary- belief that there are only two distinct and opposite sexes- Man and woman
  • Sex assigned at birth- based on the appearance of external genitals and chromosomal testing

Categories used for sex assigned at birth:

  • Female: vulva, with known or assumed XX sex chromosomes.
  • Male: penis, with known or assumed XY sex chromosomes.
  • Intersex: When external or internal anatomy that are not all “male” or “female,” and may/may not have variation in sex chromosomes
    • It’s up to the individual to decide if the term resonates for him/her/them
    • Note- Sex label (M/F/X) does not tell you about the gender of a person.

Sexuality terminology

  • Sexual orientation- a person’s sexual, emotional, physical, and psychological attraction to other people. It is completely independent from someone’s gender identity.
  • Sexual identity- refers to how one thinks about themselves in terms of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attraction to other people.
  • Sexual behavior- refers to the broad spectrum of activities in how someone expresses their sexuality. It may not align with their sexual orientation or identity.

Different types of sexuality-

  • Heterosexual (“hetero”)- Attracted to people of a different gender. Aka “straight.”
  • Gay- Attracted to people of the same gender. An umbrella term used in the queer community.
  • Lesbian- Attracted to people of the same gender. Most often used for women attracted to women.
  • Pansexual (“pan”)- Attracted to people regardless of gender.
  • Asexual- Refers to people who generally do not feel sexual attraction or desire to any group of people.
  • Bisexual (“bi”)- Attracted to people of the same, different, or multiple genders.
  • Queer- Umbrella term to describe different sexual orientations other than “straight.” Can also describe gender identities other than “cis.”
  • Questioning- Refers to when a person is exploring their sexuality and/or gender identity.

Source- Action Canada

LGBTQ terminology

  • LGBTQ: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/questioning
  • LGBTQIA: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/questioning, Intersex, Asexual
  • LGBTQIA+: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/questioning, Intersex, Asexual. The plus is an acknowledgement that there are many more identities.
  • LGBTQIA2SP+: This version makes sure to include two‐ spirit and pansexual folks.

Resources

International and National
Local
Reading material
  • You Know, Sex: Bodies, Gender, Puberty, and Other Things by Cory Silverberg and Fiona Smith
  • The Every Body Book by Rachel E. Simon
  • Trust Kids! by Carla Joy Bergman (editor) and Matt Hern (foreword)
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