Aromantic

   The society we live in is in love with the very idea of love. We have entire holidays devoted to love (i.e. Valentine’s Day). It is often assumed that a strong and lasting romantic relationship will be near the top of each person’s list of life goals. Although, some people just don’t feel these impulses. Some people do not experience romantic attraction. This orientation is called aromantic. People that are aromantic are completely capable of caring for other individuals or having emotional connections, but these relationships are purely platonic. 

   There is however a whole spectrum of romantic orientations that are similar, but not necessarily interchangeable with aromanticism. To name a few, there are demiromantics (people that only experience romantic attraction after a close bond has been formed), grayromantics (people who rarely experience romantic attraction), akoiromantics (people that experience romantic attraction but lose the attraction once it is reciprocated), WTFromantics (people that are unsure where they stand on the spectrum between aromanticism and romanticism or they cannot differentiate between platonic attraction and romantic attraction), and romance-repulsed (they experience romantic feelings, but some or all romantic gestures are repulsive to them). 



https://lgbtq.unc.edu/asexuality-attraction-and-romantic-orientation

Asexual/Demi/Gray

Someone who identifies as asexual would be uninterested in entering into a sexual relationship. This could be for a number of reasons, including being sex-repulsed, having no sex drive, or having a physical sex drive but having no sexual desire directed towards anyone.

A demisexual individual only feels sexual attraction once a close bond or relationship has been formed. Prior to forming the bond, a demisexual person would have no sexual desire towards the other.

Gray-asexuality is the absence of sexual attraction, except on rare occasions. Unlike demi-sexuality, a gray-asexual person does not need to form a close bond with the object of their attraction. There is no special circumstance for attraction with gray-asexuals. Attraction may occur with a stranger walking down the street, or with a coworker, but the important aspect of gray-asexuality is that it is a very occasional occurence.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/f2/ee/cd/f2eecdfd65ada8fff0cd6a7f96cef8d5.jpg

Fraysexual

Individuals who identify as fraysexual/romantic are only romantically and/or sexually attracted to someone they are less familiar with. They lose interest when they get to know the person more. The flag has 4 strips. The blue and Cyan (a shade of greenish-blue) represent a less familiar relationship with other people. The white represents a lack of attraction and the grey represents a grey-area or confusion when with fraysexual/romantic feelings. The prefix fray comes from the Olde English word for stranger. Fraysexual/romantic is another identity to help individuals understand how they are feeling and though there is not much information on this identity it is a valid way for an individual to identify. 
Image: 
http://media.tumblr.com/6627d3b21b6c27d6ce3cebfb8554d338/tumblr_inline_n9dz64gNam1sk6dye.png

Bisexuality

Bisexuality is an umbrella term used to describe individuals who are sexually attracted to more than one gender. 
Bisexuality itself is attraction of one individual to 2 genders, the same gender as them and the opposite. 

Pan-sexual Pride Flag

2 of the main terms used under the bisexuality 
umbrella are Pan-sexuality and Poly-sexuality. 
Pan which means all, is the attraction to all genders, this includes cis, trans*, and non-binary individuals. 
Poly meaning many is the attraction of an individual to many genders. This person may be attracted to more than just 2 genders but may not be attracted to all such is the case with pan-sexuality. 

Poly-sexual Pride Flag

Bisexuality as well as the other poly-sexual identities often get erased when a person enters into a relationship with a person or persons based on that person(s) gender. This is known as Bisexual Erasure and that's something that Lyndsey Fought address strongly in her article Bisexual Erasure: What Is It and How To Avoid It

Images: 
http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/biflag_com.png
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/Pansexuality_flag.svg/2000px-Pansexuality_flag.svg.png
http://ih0.redbubble.net/image.16384631.2621/flat,550x550,075,f.u1.jpg

Homosexuality

Homosexuality is probably the sexual identity that people are most familiar with, aside from heterosexuality. It gets a lot of attention in the media, unfortunately often at the expense of erasing other identities. Homosexuality is the sexual attraction to someone of the same sex or gender as yourself. A homosexual man would be sexually attracted to other men, and identify as gay. A homosexual woman would be sexually attracted to other women, and would identify as lesbian or gay. Although "gay" is the term used for men attracted to men, it is also an umbrella term used for anyone attracted solely to the same gender as themselves.

        People tend to focus on the sex part of homosexuality … that's what they picture. They don't understand          that there is love involved, too. Whoever you fall in love with, that is normal sexuality. Normal is in the eye        of the beholder.

Kristine, Michigan, age 16

The above is an excerpt from an Advocates for Youth brochure, written by and for young women who are questioning whether or not they identify as lesbians. The brochure includes many quotes from lesbian teenagers, as well as advice on how to deal with what it is like to be a teenage lesbian, how to deal with coming out, and learning to accept themselves for who they are. These are all things that are on the Heterosexual Checklist we read for class, as things that heterosexual people do not have to worry about, because heterosexuality is the accepted norm in our society. Other things that the brochure deals with that are not problems for straight teens are wondering if you are normal because of your sexuality, finding other people who are like you,

http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/storage/advfy/documents/lesbian.pdf

Sexual vs. Romantic Attraction

Many people do not realize that there is a difference between romantic and sexual attraction/orientation. If you are sexually attracted to someone, then you want to have a sexual relationship with them, while if you are romantically attracted to someone, you want to have an intimate romantic relationship with them. This is most easily understood in the instance of someone who is asexual, but not aromantic. This person would have no sexual attraction, or no desire to have sex with anyone, but still feel happy and content in a romantic relationship without sex. Just like there are many sexual orientations, so are there many romantic orientations. A woman may feel sexual attraction to both men and women, but only have the desire to enter into a serious relationship with women. In that case, she would be bisexual and homoromantic.

https://thethinkingasexual.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/sexual-and-romantic-orientations-chart.jpg

Androgynous

The short article by sexuality expert Cory Silverberg, provided by the link below, brings to light the definition of the term androgynous. He elaborates on how androgynous is often used in multiple ways, such as, in explaining an individual's physical appearance as containing both feminine and masculine qualities, and as a term to describe gender identity. Androgynous does not conform to the gender binary.

Silverberg's article:
http://sexuality.about.com/od/glossary/a/Androgynous.htm

Androgynous models are making a name in the fashion industry. James Michael Nichols' (2015) article, "Rain Dove, Androgynous Model, Is Breaking Barriers in Fashion" features this non-gender-conforming model.

This is the androgynous pride flag. The blue and pick stripes represent masculinity and femininity, where as the gray represents the "gray area" between these. The formation of the equal sign is meant to symbolize equality between the two.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/04/rain-dove-androgynous-model_n_6993640.html?cps=gravity_2246_-2520367656289394762

http://pride-flags-for-us.tumblr.com/genderspffu

Non-binary

                The prevailing idea out there is that gender consists of two categories, man and woman, and that gender expression is either masculine or feminine. This is an intense oversimplification though. As Lorber states in her 1994 piece “Night to His Day”, “Gender is so pervasive that in our society we assume it is bred into our genes.”  The binary system splits the overarching concept of gender into two pieces, when it is actually a whole spectrum. Categorizing people as either men or women overall excludes a large portion of the population that do not identify as one of those two genders. Some individuals identify as non-binary, which means that they are either somewhere in the middle on the spectrum or they do not identify with any gender. Non-binary is the umbrella term for this, but there are many identities across the spectrum that are more specific.

http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2014/oct/15/non-binary-transgender-teacher-closeted

Agender/bigender

    Gender is a person’s sense of being a man or a woman, and their private understanding of their gender is their gender identity. Non-binary and transgendered are two umbrella terms which cover a large continuum of gender identities. Someone who is bigender can exist exclusively and simultaneously at two distinct points on the spectrum. They experience two genders in one body and may move between the two genders. Someone that is bigender may identify with being a boy and/or a girl, they may identify with being a boy and/or gender neutral, or they may identify with two of the many genders along the spectrum. 

Bigender pride flag

    Somewhat in the opposite direction are people that identify as agender (gender-blank/genderfree/genderless/non-gendered). Some agendered people feel as though they have no gender identity, while others feel that they simply have a neutral gender identity and that agender is an identity within itself. 

Agender pride flag

http://queerhelp.tumblr.com/post/67017713918/whats-the-difference-between-agender-bigender

Queer Gender/ Gender fluid

Those who identify as genderqueer/gender fluid do not abide by societal expectations associated with sex, gender expression, and sexuality. They are sometimes used as an umbrella term due to their general nature given that it allows them to encompass many forms of non-conformity. Gender fluidity stems from the idea of moving between genders.

This is the genderqeer pride flag. The lavender strip represents androgyny, the white signifies neutrality, and the green stands for any identity outside of the gender binary.

This is the genderfluid pride flag.

Demelza Bush's (2015) article, "I am genderqueer - comfortable with my identity at last," discusses how the genderqueer identification gives Bush a sense of belonging. However, it is touched on that it is still difficult for people to be fully comfortable with this idea because of the focus put on the binary norms.

http://genderqueerid.com/what-is-gq

http://mashable.com/2014/06/13/lgbt-pride-symbols/

http://mg.co.za/article/2015-04-10-00-i-am-genderqueer-comfortable-with-my-identity-at-last

Gender Expression

Jaden Smith, son of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, recently wore a dress to Coachella, a music festival in California, and received a lot of backlash for it. This is not the first time he has worn a dress or a skirt. Jaden likes to challenge the gender norms, and his parents are very supportive of it. Padawer's article that we read for class, "What's so Bad About a Boy Who Wants to Wear a Dress?" talks about young boys who are genderfluid or who simply enjoy wearing dresses, and how their parents manage their identities, with school and other judgemental parents. Like Alex in the article, Jaden Smith still identifies as a boy and uses the pronouns "he", "his", and "him". He just likes to wear dresses, and does not like to feel constrained by society's rules for what boys can and cannot wear.

https://twitter.com/officialjaden/status/586263806935961600

https://instagram.com/p/1LqYjTS9Vp/?taken-by=christiaingrey

Trans*

Trans* is the umbrella term for

 individuals who deviate somehow
 from the societal gender norms.
These individuals include
transgender, two-spirit, bigender, agender, and many other individuals. There is often debate about who does and does not fall under the trans* umbrella, however the image above is the generally accepted example for what falls under the umbrella. When referring to Trans* individuals, many prefer the asterisk to be used because it is more inclusive of all the different identities housed under the one term. The most recognized trans* individuals in society are often those that stay within the gender binary such as MtF (male to female) or FtM (female to male), however there is several different ways to be trans* even within these 2 identities. Pronouns are very important within the Trans* community as well. Recently, there has been several trans* identified teens who have committed suicide. In response a trans* male wrote a letter to his teenage self. Trans* Letter

Trans* Pride Flag

Images:
https://transaustin.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/transumbrella.jpg
http://itspronouncedmetrosexual.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/trans-poster-900.jpg
http://castrobiscuit.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/trans-pride-flag.gif

10,000 Dresses

10,000 Dresses, written by Marcus Ewert and beautifully illustrated by Rex Ray, is a children's picture book that tells the story of a transgender young girl named Bailey. Every night Bailey dreams of fantastic dresses, but when she tries to tell her family about her dreams, they all reply with "You're a boy. Boys don't wear dresses!" Eventually, Bailey meets an older girl who likes to make dresses, and who recognizes Bailey as a girl. The story is told from Bailey's point of view, and always uses her preferred pronouns of "her" and "she", except when her family members are speaking. This book is a great resource for introducing children early to concept of being transgender. 

Amazon purchasing link: http://www.amazon.com/10-000-Dresses-Marcus-Ewert/dp/1583228500

Intersex

This light-hearted BuzzFeedYellow video features four intersex individuals who share their thoughts on what it is like to be intersex through their personal experiences and perspectives. The clip explains that intersex people "may have variations in their gonads, chromosomes, or genitalia" that lead them to not readily be classified as male or female. Emily, who embodies physical characteristics often associated with women i.e. long hair and wearing a pink blouse, has XY chromosomes and testes. In the video XXXY (2000), Kristi is also genetically male because she has XY chromosomes, despite her female genitalia. Doctors often perform "normalizing" surgery on intersex people at a young age, after which they are put on "hormonal treatment" to help them conform to their assigned gender even if they do not identify with it.

The video also touches on the fact that intersex is often confused with transgender. Emily explains that intersex deals with biological characteristics, and transgender deals with gender identity and expression.

Pictured above is the intersex pride flag.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAUDKEI4QKI

http://mashable.com/2014/06/13/lgbt-pride-symbols/

Cisgender

Cisgender is when an individual believes that their gender identity correlates with the normative social expectations with that of the sex they were assigned at birth, they then present themselves as such physically. Schulman's (2013) article, "Generation LGBTQIA," defines cisgender as "someone whose gender identity matches his or her biology." This term can also relate to people of any sexual orientation e.g. gay, lesbian, or bisexual.

These insightful infographics explain cisgender from the atypical perspective of a transgender individual who sees normative gender expression as abnormal. They use satire to play on the idea of how non-dominant gender identities are discussed.

https://femaleeinstein.wordpress.com/2014/03/06/cisgender/

http://www.bilerico.com/2014/01/what_is_a_cisgender_person.php

Gender Unicorn

The Gender Unicorn is an updated version of the 
Genderbread Person v2.0, The Gender Unicorn allows a person to chart the way they feel about their gender identity, gender expression, sex assigned at birth, sexual attraction and romantic attraction. The unicorn gives an individual many more options to chart their personal feelings and create a more accurate representation of themselves. The unicorn also shows a difference in the romantic verses sexual attraction, it also gives people the ability to have no attraction. Rather than using a spectrum of
 male <-----------------> female, it has separate lines for each to describe a person attraction to males and then a separate lines to females. It also gives a line for other, recognizing that there are more genders outside of the standard binary
Images:
http://www.transstudent.org/genderunicornexample.jpeg
https://canterburyccq.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/genderbread-2_1.jpg

Pronouns

 For most people despite their gender identity/expression using the pronouns they identify with is very important. No one wants to be miss labelled or represented. An individual’s pronouns are their choice and should be respected. One should never assume another’s pronouns based off of appearance or perception. It is always polite to ask a person’s pronouns and to use gender neutral language when discussing someone whose pronouns you are unsure of. There are several different pronouns that can be used. The chart above shows the most commonly used. One pronoun not on the list is “it”. Using the “it” pronoun without the permission of the person being referred to can be seen as very rude and offensive and should be avoided. Some people like to use the “it” pronoun, in that case it is okay but always ask for preferred pronouns before using it.

Images: 
http://itgetsbetteryk.org/resources
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/dc/89/89/dc8989be7e493ac774f83129a59317b2.jpg\
https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTXv7mPsI8oqyAsSmovf_kcLx8QWsHkcVey5Gm4VPC8cvtrSb6V

Introduction

    According to the Ecology Global Network there are approximately 360,000 births per day in this world. When someone is born in a hospital one of the first things the doctors do is assign the child a sex based off of the biological parts present. From there the rest of the world takes over in making assumptions about the child’s gender based off of the assigned sex. As Sam Killerman said in The Social Justice Advocate’s Handbook: A Guide to Gender, “Gender identity is our internal response to a social construction that attempts to make a connection between a person’s biological makeup and their eventual role in society.” Gender is a socially constructed idea and often in this society it is assumed that one’s gender matches their assigned sex, or it is assumed that both of the previous match up with the individual’s gender expression. From there people also assume that one’s sexual or romantic orientations fit into neat normative boxes that coincide with gender expression and identity, and sex. In actuality though, these assumptions just are not reliable. With 360,000 births a day there will be some babies that are not born just male or female, there will be some babies that don’t identify as men or women, and there will be some babies that are not attracted to the opposite sex. The goal of this blog is to define and discuss a few of the many identities and orientations that people possess and to show that as a society we simplify topics we should not. There is beauty in diversity, so let’s shine a light upon it. 

http://www.ecology.com/birth-death-rates/