In a age of information it is a personal choice to stay ignorant.
I get it that people might find themselves a bit frustrated about al the overwhelming LGBTQIA+ messages, commercials of company’s that claim to be friendly to the alphabet maffia. Frustrated because we have a Pride to celebrate. I totally get it, as always there is a BUT…….
There are reasons for everything, some people are not attracted to the opposite gender, some like all genders, some just like others but not in a sexual way. Some just want to exist.
How did this become a issue/trend ?
Well that there are now so many flavors is not a trend, it has been there like ages. In a time of internet there could be more people found that you might have something similar with, you get in to a chat and find out that that is exactly how you felt all of your life, now you know your not the only one, and yesss, I’m getting confused sometimes to.
Simple are the gay, lesbian and bi-sexual terms but it’s getting a little more confusing when there is trans-(gender/sexual) involved, it’s getting even more complicated to have the bi-gender, genderfluid, gender-neutral, a-sexual or one of the others involved. And what are you when you are one of those. What is pansexual about or demi sexual, why do people feel the tendency to put up there pronouns?
I definitely have not all the answers and you can ask ten people and sure there will be some overlap in there answers but they will probably give a different explanation. There are some things documented for evaluation to see if you are Transsexual, if you are just somebody with a identity crisis, to see if you match certain criteria, others don’t need that, if you are gay… You don’t need a psychologist to tell you you are gay right? So some need a psychological assessment to find out what is going on and others you just can ask anyone and you will find yourself in a jungle of opinions. If you really like to know, Google it, read some documentation or talk with the people them self’s in a respectful way. Some are prone to be quite edgy if they feel they are not taking seriously, go over dramatic and will never look at you again… But not all of them, some understand that it might be very confusing to you, but that is a minority in my experience.
Some explanation:
What are the letters standing for?
(L)esbian, (G)ay, (B)i-sexual, (T)rans-gender/sexual, (Q)ueer, (I)ntersex, (A)sexual, + all other including disabled with one of the letters mentioned before.
I think we can skip the L,G and B… Well no let’s keep the B also, that is where we will start with.
Bi-sexual, does that mean you like to screw around with both?… Possible but not always the case, what it means in a different way is that you can fall in love with male or female, it means you do not have a hetero sexual preference.
Transgender or transsexual, this has nothing to do with sexual preference, this is called gender identity , you feel alien in your own body, your brain don’t align with your body and visa versa. The term you will come across a lot is Gender dysphoria.
“Gender dysphoria is the feeling of discomfort or distress that might occur in people whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth or sex-related physical characteristics.
Transgender and gender-diverse people might experience gender dysphoria at some point in their lives. However, some transgender and gender-diverse people feel at ease with their bodies, with or without medical intervention.”
Source: Gender dysphoria – Symptoms and causes – Mayo Clinic
As you can see some people want treatment and choose to transition, some don’t. Even transitioning is very personal and there are no standerds for that, It’s personal and partially medical. You might like to have a specific type of surgery but because of health conditions not able to do so, that doesn’t mean you can not transition, you still can live as the gender you feel like. Others don’t care about specific body parts and choose to keep them, just because it doesn’t bother them but have other issues with what they would like. Does it mean if you transition but don’t take surgery your not male/female? I don’t think so, but ignorant people will still say your still that boy/girl…
Queer, what does it mean, where does it stand for? Queer is mainly to say; Hey I’m part of the alphabet mob. Well that might be the shortest explanation you will find on the internet but it deserves a bit more context.
So here go’s the context. Queer is a word that describes sexual and gender identities other than straight and cisgender. Technically all the other letters we use can be put under the umbrella Queer. Queer is sometimes used to express that sexuality and gender can be complicated, change over time, and might not fit neatly into either/or identities, like male or female, gay or straight. Is it complicated? Depends who you will ask, I think it’s more easier to use Hey I’m Queer than to say Hey I’m part of the LGBTQAI++…. I’m transsexual and gay, or I’m gender neutral and pan-sexual… Yeah, I’m Queer and I’m cool with that.
Intersex, now it is getting a bit more complicated but good to look at. Intersex is a very obvious medical thingi thangi, you are born with body parts that are male and female, how the body evolves over time might very, some will turn in to a girl and others in you guessed it, a boy. Now the problem arises, what are you, the bottom line is how do you identify yourself, maybe you have a lot of testosteron but you feel like you are a girl or the other way around. Also the question is for a lot of parents should you intervene by doing surgery on a young age while you might not know how your kid is going to evolve, it’s quite some things you can break you brains over. So yes, that is complicated in my opnion.
Asexual, Asexuality is a broad term to describe a lack of sexual attraction to others, or a low interest in sexual activity. Some people consider asexuality to be their sexual orientation. Others prefer to describe asexuality as an absence of sexual orientation.
That has been a short one.
There is so many to learn or to educate yourself if you would like to. I mean I can go on for hours because I didn’t even mention terms like aromantic, polyamorous, genderfluid, crossdressing, non-binair… There is so much more to find and to talk about but I hope this will give you quite a decent insight.
Here are some sources you might find interesting.
Transgender and Nonbinary Identities (plannedparenthood.org)
Sex and Gender Identity (plannedparenthood.org)
What does queer mean? (plannedparenthood.org)
Asexual: What Does It Mean? (webmd.com)
Please leave me a command if you find this of any help or you have something to say about this subject