Terminology on gender identity and sexual orientation is fluid and ever-changing. The list below serves as a starting point when learning more about gender and sexuality. We highly encourage Pratt faculty and staff members to take the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion Allies Training Certificate Program “Gender and Sexuality” course.
Terms are pulled from the Safe Zone Project, GLAAD, and the Human Rights Campaign vocabulary guides. If the words are pulled from another source, their links are provided.
Some members of the LGBTQIA+ community may not be comfortable with other members, allies, and those who identify as heterosexual using some of the words in this guide. For further reference on how to properly use language on gender and sexuality, refer to the Pratt Inclusive Language Resource Guide.
Asexual: Experiencing little or no sexual attraction to others and/or a lack of interest in sexual relationships/behavior. Asexuality exists on a continuum from people who experience no sexual attraction or have any desire for sex, to those who experience low levels, or sexual attraction only under specific conditions. Many of these different places on the continuum have their identity labels (see below). Sometimes abbreviated to “ace.”
Gray-asexuality: The space between asexuality and other sexual orientations. People who identify with this label can include (but are in no way limited to), people who do not normally experience attraction but do sometimes, people who experience attraction but have a low sex drive, and people who can enjoy and desire sex or romantic relationships but under very limited and specific circumstances.
Demi-sexuality: Little or no capacity to experience sexual attraction until a strong romantic connection is formed with someone, often within a romantic relationship.
Biological Sex/Assigned Sex: A medical term used to refer to the chromosomal, hormonal, and anatomical characteristics that are used to classify an individual as female or male, or intersex. Often referred to as simply “sex,” “physical sex,” “anatomical sex,” or specifically as “sex assigned at birth.”
Bisexual: A person who experiences attraction to some people of their gender and another gender. Bisexual attraction does not have to be equally split or indicate a level of interest that is the same across the genders an individual may be attracted to.
Butch: A person who identifies themselves as masculine, whether it be physically, mentally, or emotionally. ‘Butch’ is sometimes used as a derogatory term for lesbians, but is also claimed as an affirmative identity label.
Cisgender: Someone who identifies as the gender that society assigns to them; someone who is not transgender. “Cis” is a Latin prefix meaning “on the same side”. You are cisgender if you do not feel conflict with the gender assigned to you at birth. Cis people can still be gender nonconforming.
Cisnormativity: The assumption, in individuals and institutions, that everyone is cisgender, and that cisgender identities are superior to trans* identities and people. Leads to the invisibility of non-cisgender identities.
Closeted: An individual who is not open to themselves or others about their (queer) sexuality or gender identity. This may be by choice and/or for other reasons such as fear for one’s safety, peer or family rejection, disapproval and/or loss of housing, job, etc. Also known as being “in the closet.” When someone chooses to break this silence they “come out” of the closet.
Coming Out: A lifelong process of self-acceptance. Coming out can be a continuous process as you encounter new people and gain a new understanding of your own identity. In mainstream American culture, people tend to assume that you are heterosexual and cisgender unless you tell them otherwise. This is why LGBTQ+ people tend to “come out” and heterosexual and/or cisgender people do not.
Drag: The term "drag" refers to the performance of masculinity, femininity, or other forms of gender expression. A drag queen is someone who performs femininity and a drag king is someone who performs masculinity.
Femme: Someone who identifies themselves as feminine, whether it be physically, mentally, or emotionally. Often used to refer to a feminine-presenting queer woman or people.
FTM: 1. “female to male”; a person who was assigned female at birth and identifies as a man. 2. Some trans* people use “FTM” to describe their medical transition goals; they want their body to lose some “female-typical” sex characteristics and gain some “male-typical” sex characteristics.
Gay: A person who is romantically and sexually attracted to other people of the same gender. “Gay” is usually used by men, but not always.
Gender Assigned at Birth: When a baby is born, a cursory inspection of their genitals leads a doctor to declare "it’s a boy" or "it’s a girl". Infants who have an intersex condition sometimes undergo surgery on their reproductive organs to make them look more "typical" of the gender they were assigned. Often used acronyms: AFAB/FAAB: Assigned Female at Birth, AMAB/MAAB: Assigned Male at Birth.
Gender Binary: A system in which gender is constructed into two strict categories of male or female. Gender identity is expected to align with the sex assigned at birth and gender expressions and roles fit traditional expectations.
Gender-expansive: A person with a wider, more flexible range of gender identity and/or expression than typically associated with the binary gender system. Often used as an umbrella term when referring to young people still exploring the possibilities of their gender expression and/or gender identity.
Gender Expression: The visual, interpersonal, and behavioral methods that people use to express their gender identity. This can include personal grooming, clothing, body language, vocabulary, intonation, vocal pitch, and other behaviors. Be aware there are some gender expression identities like 'two-spirit', 'hijra', and 'kathoey' that are specific to people of certain cultures. If your cultural background does not include these terms, it is offensive to appropriate them for your use.
Gender Identity: One's innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both or neither – how individuals perceive themselves and what they call themselves. One's gender identity can be the same or different from their sex assigned at birth.
Gender Non-conforming: 1: a gender expression descriptor that indicates a non-traditional gender presentation (masculine woman or feminine man). 2: a gender identity label that indicates a person who identifies outside of the gender binary. Often abbreviated as “GNC.” Sometimes this is used to suggest that there is something wrong with people who do not fit gender roles, which there is not.
Gender Role: A set of behaviors and expectations that society associates with a gender.
Genderqueer: 1 a gender identity label often used by people who do not identify with the binary of man/woman. 2 an umbrella term for many gender non-conforming or non-binary identities (e.g., agender, bigender, genderfluid).
Agender: Defined as not having a gender. Some agender people describe it as having a “lack of gender,” while others describe themselves as being gender-neutral.
Bigender: Bigender people experience exactly two gender identities, either simultaneously or varying between the two. These two gender identities are usually male and female, but bigender could also include non-binary identities.
Gender-fluid: A person who does not identify with a single fixed gender or has a fluid or unfixed gender identity.
Heterosexual: A person who is romantically and sexually attracted to people of the other binary gender; “straight”.
Homosexual: A person primarily emotionally, physically, and/or sexually attracted to members of the same sex/gender. This [medical] term is considered stigmatizing (particularly as a noun) due to its history as a category of mental illness and is discouraged from common use (use gay or lesbian instead).
Homophobia: An umbrella term for a range of negative attitudes (e.g., fear, anger, intolerance, resentment, erasure, or discomfort) that one may have toward LGBTQ people. The term can also connote a fear, disgust, or dislike of being perceived as LGBTQ. homophobic – adj. : a word used to describe actions, behaviors, or individuals who demonstrate elements of this range of negative attitudes toward LGBTQ people.
Intersex: A term for a combination of chromosomes, gonads, hormones, internal sex organs, and genitals that differs from the two expected patterns of male or female. Formerly known as hermaphrodite (or hermaphroditic), these terms are now outdated and derogatory.
Lesbian: Typically, a woman who is romantically and sexually attracted to other women. Some trans* people who were assigned female at birth (AFAB) who are attracted to women also identify as lesbians due to their connection to that community and/or due to the lack of terminology for “non-binary gendered person who is attracted to women”.
LGBTQ+: An acronym for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, and others. It refers to a population of people united by having gender identities or sexual orientations that differ from the heterosexual and cisgender majority. Other names for this population include GSM (Gender and Sexuality Minorities), and GSD (Gender and Sexuality Diverse). The plus stands in recognition of all non-straight, non-cisgender identities. This acronym can be represented in extended forms, such as LGBTQQIAP2S, which stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, Pansexual, and Two-Spirit.
Mx. (“mix” or “schwa”): An honorific (e.g. Mr., Ms., Mrs., etc.) that is gender-neutral. It is often the option of choice for folks who do not identify within the gender binary. Ex: “Mx. Smith is a great teacher.”
Non-binary: An adjective describing a person who does not identify exclusively as a man or a woman. Non-binary people may identify as being both a man and a woman, somewhere in between, or as falling completely outside these categories. While many also identify as transgender, not all non-binary people do. Non-binary can also be used as an umbrella term encompassing identities such as agender, bigender, genderqueer, or gender-fluid.
Outing: Involuntary or unwanted disclosure of another person’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or intersex status.
Pansexuality: A person who experiences sexual, romantic, physical, and/or spiritual attraction for members of all gender identities/expressions. Often shortened to “pan.” Pansexuality is often confused with bisexuality (attraction to 2+ genders).
Passing: 1. Trans* people being accepted as, or able to “pass for,” a member of their self-identified gender identity (regardless of sex assigned at birth) without being identified as trans*. 2: an LGB/queer individual who is believed to be or perceived as straight.
Queer: 1. An umbrella term for the LGBTQ+ community (ex: the queer community). 2. A sexual orientation that is intentionally left vague. Many people identify as queer because they feel that no other sexual term applies to them. People who identify as queer might also do so for political reasons: to specifically and publically reject society’s prevailing view of sexuality. Some people experience “queer” as a slur, so use this term with care.
Questioning: Being unsure of your gender identity, sexual orientation, or both. Many people go through a stage of questioning during their lives, sometimes several times. This can be because they learn new words that fit them better, or it can be that their actual feelings of gender or attraction change over time.
QPOC / QTPOC: Initialisms that stand for queer people of color and queer and/or trans people of color.
Romantic Orientation: A person’s romantic orientation has to do with who they tend to form romantic bonds with, based on gender. For many people, romantic and sexual orientations overlap considerably. But for some people, their sexual orientation and their romantic orientation are not equivalent. These people may use several words to describe their orientation instead of only one. Ex: bi-romantic asexual, or homo-romantic bisexual.
Aromantic: Not experiencing romantic attraction.
Biromantic: Being romantically attracted to two or more genders.
Heteroromantic: Being romantically attracted to people of a gender other than your own.
Homoromantic: Being romantically attracted to people of your gender.
Panromantic: A romantic attraction to people regardless of their gender.
Sexual Attraction: A capacity that evokes the want to engage in physically intimate behavior (e.g., kissing, touching, intercourse), experienced in varying degrees (from none to little to intense). Often conflated with romantic attraction, emotional attraction, and/or spiritual attraction.
Sexual Orientation: A person’s enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction to another person. Sexual orientations can include heterosexual (straight), lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, asexual, and other orientations. People need not have had specific sexual experiences to know their sexual orientation; in fact, they need not have had any sexual experience at all.
Sexual Preference: The types of sexual intercourse, stimulation, and gratification one likes to receive and participate in. Generally, when this term is used, it is being mistakenly interchanged with “sexual orientation,” creating an illusion that one has a choice (or “preference”) to who they are attracted.
Stealth: A trans* person is said to “go stealth” if they are out as their preferred gender, but not out as trans*. Many trans* people “go stealth” for safety reasons, but some do it because they do not feel a connection to the trans* community and thus do not want to be associated with it.
Third Gender: A person who does not identify with either man or woman, but identifies with another gender. This gender category is used by societies that recognize three or more genders, both contemporary and historic, and is also a conceptual term meaning different things to different people who use it, as a way to move beyond the gender binary.
Trans*: This is an umbrella term derived from a contraction of “transgender” or “transsexual”.
* (Asterisk): The asterisk is a “wildcard” that stands for the multitude of ways that trans* people identify. The prefix “trans” can mean beyond, across, between, through, transcending, or changing. Many trans* people have a gender identity that is different from the one they were assigned at birth. Some people identify as trans* if their gender expression is different than what is expected for their gender.
Transgender: Transgender people have a gender identity or expression that differs from the one they were assigned at birth or are expected to exhibit in adulthood.
Transition: The process of changing one’s gender presentation to match their internal sense of gender. Transitioning can include some or all of the following: coming out, change in wardrobe, change in name, change in pronoun usage, surgery, hormone treatments, change in body language, change in the pitch and manner of speech, and personal grooming changes.
Social Transition: Telling family, friends, and co-workers, using a different name, using different pronouns, dressing differently, starting or stopping wearing make-up and jewelry, etc.
Legal Transition: Changing your name and/or sex marker on documents like a driver's license, passport, Social Security record, bank accounts, etc.
Medical Transition: Hormone replacement therapy and/or one or more surgical procedures.
Transphobia: The fear of, discrimination against, or hatred of trans* people, the trans* community, or gender ambiguity. Transphobia can be seen within the queer community, as well as in general society. Transphobic – adj. : a word used to describe an individual who harbors some elements of this range of negative attitudes, thoughts, and intents, towards trans* people.
Transsexual: An older term for people whose gender identities don’t match the sex that was assigned at birth and who desire and/or seek to transition to bring their bodies into alignment with their gender identities. Some people find this term outdated and offensive, others do not. Only refer to someone as transsexual if they tell you that’s how they identify.
Two-Spirit: A term for LGBTQ members of the Native American community, first coined in 1990 by a Native American group in Winnipeg. The term references a tradition common to several tribes, where some individuals possessed and manifested a balance of both feminine and masculine energies, making them inherently sacred people.