#2: What do the Letters mean?

Before jumping into the topic, it's good to start out with some definitions. So, what do these terms mean?

What is Trans*?

The term Trans* applies to people who where assigned a gender at birth (born male and raised male, for example) but feel that this is not their true gender.* Some trans* people will identity as the opposite gender, whereas others may feel that neither of the more commonly accepted genders (boy and girl) applies to them. Many transgender people will transition physically with the help of clothing choices, hormones and surgery. However, others will 'grow into' the gender they feel inside with only some of these measures, or even with little physical changes.

Why the asterisk? The experience of trans* people is really varied, and the * indicates that there is a lot of diversity within the group. It functions as an umbrella term.


What are Bisexuality and Pansexuality?

Bisexuality is an attraction to both men and women (or same and different genders) , though not necessarily to the same degree or in the same way. Many people "do not believe in bisexuality"; however, it has been proven to be a stable and legitimate orientation. The Kinsey Scale, which measures sexual attraction from completely heterosexual to completely homosexual, is an easy way to understand how some people can fall on the spectrum of attraction.

Similar to Bisexuality is Pansexuality, which is an attraction to all genders, or attraction regardless of gender. Some people prefer this term because they feel it more clearly includes non-binary genders (that is, people are not the commonly accepted boy and girl identities), however bisexuality is now more commonly understood as attraction to similar and dissimilar genders.


What does queer mean?

Queer is an umbrella term for people who are unwilling to define their sexual or gender identity by a more specific term, or prefer the more general name. Many younger people use this term as the older generation experienced it more as a slur. An example: 

" Danielle Flink says, “When I first came out, I identified as bisexual. Over time, I realized that I really was way more attracted to women so I identified as a lesbian. Then the person I fell in love with came out to me as transgender.  I wasn't sure where I fit anymore.  I was confused. I asked myself a million questions before I came to a self understanding that my sexual orientation wasn't fixed.  It never had been.  Even before I placed a label on myself upon coming out, I didn't feel like I belonged in any "group" or "box" or "label" that society currently had to offer me. So then I came across queer. At the time, I was pretty gender nonconforming as well so it really seemed to fit everything I wanted into a word that I could tell people when they asked.” 

What is Asexuality?

Asexuality is a lack of sexual attraction** (NOT celibacy, which is a choice to abstain from sex). However, asexuality can also be considered an umbrella term for others identities, including grey-asexual and demisexuals. 

Grey-Asexuals feel sexual desire very occasionally, or have a low sex drive, or only enjoy sex under very limited circumstances. They are the "grey area" between sexual people and fully asexual people.

Demisexuals only feel sexual desire in the context of a strong emotional connection.

Asexuals also have romantic orientations, for example, someone could be asexual homoromantic or asexual aromantic. Asexuals who also fall under specific romantic identities will often identify with the umbrella term of that identity. For example, a homoromantic asexual may consider himself part of the gay umbrella. Often associated with asexuals are  aromantics; however, this is a distinct and separate identity. 

Aromantics do not feel romantic attraction. This does not mean that they are emotionless robots that cannot love, it simply means that they primarily feel familial and platonic types of love. Note that being aromantic is independent from being asexual, some asexuals feel romantic love and some aromantics feel sexual attraction.

What does intersex mean? 

Intersex people are born with bodies that are physically between the usual definitions of male and female. Intersex people also exist on a spectrum, much like the ones for asexuality and bisexuality***. Some may never know that they deviated from the classical male and female bodies. Others are more clearly in the middle.  For example:
 "a girl may be born with a noticeably large clitoris, or lacking a vaginal opening, or a boy may be born with a notably small penis, or with a scrotum that is divided so that it has formed more like labia. Or a person may be born with mosaic genetics, so that some of her cells have XX chromosomes and some of them have XY."

What is or isn't defined as intersex usually ends up depending on doctors and other people who decide to make a judgment. There are many ways that people could be outside the traditional male and female body definitions. The intersex community focuses on making sure that people do not receive unwanted "corrective"surgeries but instead have free will over their own bodies.

Do these terms ever overlap?

Of course! It's important to understand that human diversity doesn't just apply to one area. Someone can belong to several of these identities at once. There is a lot more to this topic than just gay and straight, and the problems and issues associated with each of these identities are different. 

Works Cited: [x] [x] [x]

*The opposite of trans* is cisgender. Someone who is cisgender is someone born as the gender they identify as. 

**Even if asexuals do not feel sexual attraction to another, they can become aroused. 


***As an aside, its important to note that the human experience is more often in shades of grey than binaries. Many things simply cannot be shoved into neat little categories. This can be hard for neophytes to understand, but it is not only important to the study of gender and sexuality, but really to understand a lot of the natural world and the world of sociology!