Sexes list

68 Terms That Describe Gender Identity and Expression

It’s astonishing that gender — something many people thought was a simple concept — is actually so personal, nuanced, and complex. For that reason, it’s totally OK if this list is a lot to digest!

Just remember: Gender is an essential part of health and well-being for everyone.

Becoming familiar with language that helps you to talk about this part of individuality and society is a great way to protect for yourself and be an ally to others.

Mere Abrams is a researcher, writer, educator, consultant, and licensed clinical social worker who reaches a worldwide audience through public speaking, publications, social media (@meretheir), and gender therapy and support services practice onlinegendercare.com. Mere uses their personal experience and diverse professional background to support individuals exploring gender and assist institutions, organizations, and businesses to increase gender literacy and identify opportunities to demonstrate gender inclusion in products, services, programs, projects, and content.

Sian Ferguson is a freelance writer and editor based in Grahamstown, South Africa. Her writing covers issues

There are many different terms, descriptions and labels for types of gender identities. Here we describe some of these terms in case you were unsure what they mean.

Don’t create assumptions about someone’s gender based on the way they dress as it might not reflect their gender identity.

Agender 

Not having a gender or identifying with a gender. They may describe themselves as entity gender-neutral or genderless. 

Bigender 

A person who fluctuates between traditionally “male” and “female” gender-based behaviours and identities.

Cisgender

A person whose gender identity and biological sex assigned at birth are the similar. For example, they were born biologically as a male, and express their gender as a man. 

Coming Out

When a person tells someone about their LGBTQI+ identity.

Cross Dresser

Is someone who dresses in clothes typically associated with another gender. Many cross-dressers dress in clothes not typically associated with their gender but may not identify with a diverse gender.

Deadnaming

A term usually related with transgender people who have changed their label. Deadnaming is when someone is referred to using the name they were given at birth rath

The Gender Bread Person

The Genderbread Person, popularised by comedian, writer and award-winning activist Sam Killerman – is an approachable model for comprehending the social construction of gender that we frequently utilize in our EDI training.

This powerful, deceptively simple doodle explains gender identity in terms of gender identity, gender statement, biological sex, and attraction (both sexual and romantic). It visually untangles these complex ideas by breaking them into four main components:

Gender Identity: How you see yourself internally (e.g., as a man, woman, both, neither, or something else)
Gender Expression: How you present your gender to the world through clothing, behavior, and appearance
Biological Sex: The physical traits you are born with (e.g., male, female, intersex), including anatomy and chromosomes
Attraction: Who you are romantically or sexually attracted to, which can be separated into sexual and romantic attraction

The Genderbread Person effectively demonstrates that each component exists on a spectrum, not a binary, and that they run independently-meaning a person’s gender identity, for example, doesn’t dict

Glossary of Terms

Many Americans refrain from talking about sexual orientation and gender identity or expression because it feels taboo, or because they’re scared of saying the wrong thing.

This glossary was written to help give people the words and meanings to serve make conversations easier and more content. LGBTQ+ people utilize a variety of terms to recognize themselves, not all of which are included in this glossary. Always heed for and respect a person’s self identified terminology.

Ally | A term used to describe someone who is actively supportive of Queer people. It encompasses straight and cisgender allies, as good as those within the LGBTQ+ people who support each other (e.g., a lesbian who is an ally to the bisexual community).

Asexual | Often called “ace” for brief, asexual refers to a complete or partial lack of sexual attraction or lack of interest in sexual exercise with others. Asexuality exists on a spectrum, and asexual people may exposure no, little or conditional sexual attraction.

Biphobia | The shrink from and hatred of, or discomfort with, people who affectionate and are sexually attracted to more than one gender.

Bisexual | A person emotiona

A list of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity terms
Asexual
The lack of a sexual attraction or desire for other people.
Bigender
A gender persona which can be literally translated as ‘two genders’ or ‘double gender’. These two gender identities could be male and female, but could also include non-binary identities.
Bisexual
A person emotionally, romantically or sexually attracted to more than one sex, gender or gender identity though not necessarily simultaneously, in the same way or to the same degree.
Cisgender
A person whose gender identity is aligned with their sex assigned at birth.
Demigender
A person who wears clothing, accessories, jewellery or make-up not traditionally or stereotypically associated with their assigned sex. People who crossdress may be comfortable with their assigned sex, although some people may go on to identify as transgender.
Drag Queen
A performer, typically one who was assigned male at birth, whose operate involves a stylized and exaggerated interpretation of femininity that plays with stereotypical gender themes.
Gay
A person who is emotionally, romantically or sexually attracted to members of the same gender. Men, women and non-bina