Pride Month is here and it’s incredibly easy, for a lot of us, to get caught up in the celebrations and the joys of promoting equal rights across the board. It is vital, however, that we, as a collective pillar of support, are mindful of the fact that Pride Month essentially comes from decades of political and social activism. Rendering these years of work and activism to a mere superficial display of solidarity would be irresponsible on our parts.
While the rich history behind the actual movement, and the manner in which the Stonewall Uprising served as a catalyst for it, is one that merits a deeper exploration on its own, it is important that, as a preliminary gesture, we take the time to understand some of the important concepts surrounding the movement and the LGBTQIA+ community, itself.
Consider, for example, the terms ‘sex’, ‘gender’ and ‘sexuality’. The definitions for each of these terms are separate from one another. Essentially, ‘sex’ is biological and ‘gender’ is social and ‘sexuality’ is to who we feel sexually or physically attracted to and are interested in.
Let’s take a deeper dive into these three terms and attempt to understand their implications a little better.
SEX
University of California, San Francisco, defines sex as “a categorization based on the appearance of the genitalia at birth.”
‘Sex’, being a relatively fixed category, is rooted in our biological attributes like chromosomes, sex characteristics, hormone levels. The sex assigned at birth can either be ‘Male’, ‘Female’ or ‘Intersex’. Intersex people are the ones whose sex characteristics, or biological attributes, can’t be categorized as male or female.
GENDER
GLAAD defines gender identity as, “A person’s internal, deeply held sense of their gender” and gender expression as, “External manifestations of gender, expressed through a person’s name, pronouns, clothing, haircut, behavior, voice, and/or body characteristics.”
In simpler words, gender identity is what we feel about ourselves and gender expression is how we choose to express ourselves to society. It is not limited to merely being a ‘girl/woman’ and ‘boy/man’. There are more than just these two ways of identifying yourself and neither of them makes you any less valid. Gender, rather than being static, is a fluid spectrum.
SEXUALITY
GLAAD defines sexual orientation as, “The scientifically accurate term for an individual’s enduring physical, romantic and/ or emotional attraction to members of the same and/or opposite sex, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and heterosexual (straight) orientations.”
A person’s sexuality refers to their orientation. Sexuality is entirely about a person experiencing sexual or romantic attraction towards others or, in some cases, not experiencing it entirely . In essence, the sexuality, of an individual, is totally independent of their gender and sex. The labels of sexuality go beyond gay, lesbian or bisexual, all of which we shall discuss in our next article.
While, to some, the establishment of these terms may seem like a novel concept, there has been a long standing history of gender not being viewed as binary. For instance, many cultures, outside the West, have a history of welcoming third-gender, non-gendered and transgender people in society. This includes the ‘Two-Spirit’ folk from Indigenous American cultures and the ‘Hijra’ in South Asian cultures.
To the uninitiated, navigating the implications of terms may seem a little confusing at first. And, that is okay. Yes, it truly is. What is far more important is the idea that you are taking the time to learn and understand the larger scope of things. There is no greater appreciation, for anything, than the willingness to accept and understand something that exists outside of what you know.
As we go forward, it is important that we recognize and accept, as a collective, the experiences and identity of others. The validity of one’s identity and orientation is not always based on whether they fit the right label, after all.
