Whats the deal with sexuality and gender?
In a word, it’s complicated. Let’s get some basic terms out of the way: sex = biological and based on physical characteristics (e.g., male, female, intersex) • Gender = social construct that comes with expectations of behavior (e.g., man, woman; masculine, feminine) • Sexuality or sexual orientation = a description of a person’s romantic/sexual attractions based on the sex of the person relative to the sex of the people to whom they are attracted (e.g., straight, bisexual, gay) Remember, the queer community isn’t just about sexuality, it’s also about gender identity. While sexuality and gender play off one another, they are not dependent on one another. For example, a woman who people consider masculine (based on how she dresses, talks, or behaves) isn’t necessarily a lesbian. Likewise, there are gay men who are as masculine as a lumberjack. Now let’s take this up a notch. There are a couple of gender-related terms that you will probably hear in the community that haven’t gained much m
