Gay sex terms

For example, a man who transitions from male to female and is attracted to other women would be identified as a lesbian or a gay woman. Cross-dressers are usually comfortable with the sex they were assigned at birth and do not wish to change it. Cross-dressing is a form of gender expression and is not necessarily tied to erotic activity. Cross-dressing is not indicative of sexual orientation.

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This practice has become increasingly controversial as intersex adults speak out against the practice. The term intersex is not interchangeable with or a synonym for transgender. Transgender An umbrella term adj. The term may include but is not limited to: Transsexual also Transexual An older term which originated in the medical and psychological communities. Unlike transgender , transsexual is not an umbrella term, as many transgender people do not identify as transsexual.

Avoid overemphasizing surgery when discussing transgender people or the process of transition. Such descriptions are defamatory and insulting. Often transgender people cannot afford a legal name change or are not yet old enough to change their name legally.

They should be afforded the same respect for their chosen name as anyone else who lives by a name other than their birth name e. Whenever possible, ask transgender people which pronoun they would like you to use. A person who identifies as a certain gender, whether or not that person has taken hormones or had some form of surgery, should be referred to using the pronouns appropriate for that gender.

For example, if a person wears a dress and uses the name Susan, feminine pronouns are appropriate. When describing transgender people, please use the correct term or terms to describe their gender identity. For example, a person who is born male and transitions to become female is a transgender woman , whereas a person who is born female and transitions to become male is a transgender man.

Lesbians, gay men and bisexuals are diverse in the ways they lead their lives. Such claims, innuendoes and associations often are used to insinuate that lesbians and gay men pose a threat to society, to families, and to children in particular. Someone whose gender identity is the same as the sex they were assigned at birth. Non-trans is also used by some people. Calling someone by their birth name after they have changed their name. This term is often associated with trans people who have changed their name as part of their transition. Also a generic term for lesbian and gay sexuality - some women define themselves as gay rather than lesbian.

Often expressed in terms of masculinity and femininity, gender is largely culturally determined and is assumed from the sex assigned at birth. Used to describe when a person experiences discomfort or distress because there is a mismatch between their sex assigned at birth and their gender identity. How a person chooses to outwardly express their gender, within the context of societal expectations of gender. A person who does not confirm to societal expectations of gender may not, however, identify as trans.

To undergo gender reassignment usually means to undergo some sort of medical intervention, but it can also mean changing names, pronouns, dressing differently and living in their self-identified gender.

Gender reassignment is a characteristic that is protected by the Equality Act , and it is further interpreted in the Equality Act approved code of practice. It is a term of much contention and is one that Stonewall's Trans Advisory Group feels should be reviewed. This enables trans people to be legally recognised in their affirmed gender and to be issued with a new birth certificate. Not all trans people will apply for a GRC and you currently have to be over 18 to apply. You do not need a GRC to change your gender markers at work or to legally change your gender on other documents such as your passport.

This episode sent the signal that time was ripe for promoting gay rights in the United States. Many pejorative labels that had been used against LGBT people then began to be openly questioned by the community, leaving room for a renewed and re-interpreted gay speech. Paul Baker himself, who has conducted interviews among the British LGTB population, researched gay archives and decoded gay and lesbian chats on the internet, released Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang in 42 , with 1, entries derived from interviews, archives, and gay and lesbian web chats What is more, the partial decriminalization of homosexuality challenged the necessity of a secret language.

In the mids and s, however, the divisions between homosexuals deflated, strengthening the cohesion of the community as well as a new approach of homosexuality which was defined in terms of oppressed minority identity: Simultaneously, this new cohesive attitude encouraged the development of the modern queer theory movement, part of which attempted to analyze the secreted content of the gay and lesbian language. Since the late s, the identity-based model of homosexuality has been in its turn challenged, for being excessively focused on respectability, thus excluding some marginal lifestyles—sadomasochists, working-class femme lesbians, African-American drag queens, and bisexuals—within the gay community itself.

In an effort to reawaken the spirit of activism from the post-Stonewall era, Queer Nation adopted a somewhat confrontational approach and purposely used the word queer for its shock value while rejecting the term gay , which for some had become too mainstream Plus, there is an annual Queer Prom that I was lucky enough to be on campus for as a prefrosh.

There are gay houses on campus that have parties a lot, too. There is definitely no lack of social activities for queer people or any student on campus The term Fag or faggot has been retrieved by gay men in a defiant or self-mocking way It was possibly derived from the French fagot , a bundle of sticks and twigs bound together, used for burning heretics and witches at the stake, or from an abusive term for women, or in reference to younger boys who performed duties for seniors in British public schools, where homosexuality was viewed as endemic.

GLAAD Media Reference Guide - Lesbian / Gay / Bisexual Glossary Of Terms | GLAAD

A term like camp , which characterized an effeminate man, was also recaptured in by the American writer Susan Sontag who coined two new phrases, high camp sophisticated, tongue-in-cheek wit, and self-aware and low camp showing a lack of sophistication and self-awareness As this reclaimed terminology evidences, there is a continuous need to define the complex identities and sexual categories of the LGBT community. While searching to free themselves, representatives of all sexualities have actually been liberating themselves from a language of oppression.

Yet, although Kertbeny coined Homosexualisten for gay men, and Homosexualistinnen for gay women, homosexuality was primarily understood as a male, rather than female phenomenon. Even today, people tend to use the word homosexuality when thinking about male same-sex relationships.

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The existence of the term lesbian probably accounts for such perception, as does the deep-rooted belief that homosexuality was mostly a male phenomenon studies and repressive legislations have been mostly about gay men. Homosexuality is therefore identified as a female phenomenon when qualified as such, i. Yet, even though lesbian is the oldest and clearest term to designate female homosexuals, today a majority of them define themselves as gay as much as lesbians.

Whereas in the nineteenth century gay designated male and female prostitutes 65 , it is now advantageously displaying LGBT flamboyance, with less technicality than the term homosexual and with an assuredly less explicit link between sexual activity and gay identity regardless of the gender Gay and bisexual women who chat on the Internet or post personal ads do it on sites with names such as Gay-Women.

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As PlanetOut , the online gay site, explained a few days before the public outing of DeGeneres,. Over the millennia, gays and lesbians have come up with many ways to announce their sexual identities, from code words to pinkie rings, but darned few have issued press releases. As a likely result of a generation divide, a younger group of women responded by reclaiming the phrase dyke for themselves, the way the LGBT community has retrieved the once-defamatory queer.

It was only in the not too distant past that it began to be used by lesbians as a token of pride to mean a strong, independent lesbian. Among heterosexuals, however, it has remained a pejorative qualifier In Judy Grahn gave a definition of the word in reference to the s:. For all our boyish clothes and mannerisms… we women did not pass as men or boys. She may identify with traditionally dyke figures: Masculine lesbians proudly identify themselves as butches , a label that dates back to the s.

Yet, after the low-profile both the term and lifestyle adopted in the late s and s—a consequence of lesbian-feminists who viewed butches and their soul fem me mates as a retrograde legacy of patriarchy and heterosexual roles—, butches have recovered their place within a larger lesbian culture Some, however, argue that the scientific, almost technical character of these acronyms make them resemble life-devoid linguistic automatons whose austerity is so unlike the gay spirit.

LGBT A-Z (Glossary)

Yet, for all their flaws, these designations promote a visibility and a better understanding of the GLBT population, correcting past hurtful medical and psychological definitions of homosexuality. In an interview published in the San Francisco Chronicle Feb. With the s came the advent of bisexual political power. Giving way to an enhanced visibility, such perceptions and labelling might, eventually, be history Gay or straight men who hang around lesbians Dutch girls are nicknamed Dutch boys or Sappho Daddy-Os Cyber Pink talk, like other Internet languages, is highly coded.

In other words, the lexicon used by gays who chat or post personal ads on the Internet does not escape a drift towards abstraction. Yet, it is not uncommon for logged-on chatters to meet actually with members of the Union gay men or women. The way queers define themselves might be puzzling for many heterosexuals and even older homosexuals. In the United States the presence of increasingly conspicuous LGBT communities has also encouraged the younger generations to reflect on communal as well as personal identities