How is sexual diversity different?

Tuesday, June 29, 2021 – 22:35

Today we will talk about “gender names”, which are very numerous! You can see from the abbreviation LGBTQIA and there are also +. But today we will talk about the meaning of the gender that is well-known, including the names of genders that may be repeated and confusing. What are the differences? But believe me, these names were created because there are some groups of people who want a definition for their gender that is true to their reality. Let's take a look together.

Image from cdc.gov/lgbthealth/transgender.htm

Image from www.marieclaire.com/culture

Starting with LGBTQIA+ in order

Image from www.marieclaire.com/culture

Lesbian

Thais may be familiar with the words “Tom” and “Dee”, but that is only part of the word “Lesbian”. In fact, in English, if a woman says that she is gay, that means she is a lesbian. She is a woman who likes women, regardless of who is the top or bottom, who plays the male or female roles, but only two women (or more) who love each other. For those who follow foreign entertainment, you should know Ellen DeGeneres, or the host of The Ellen Show, who calls herself a lesbian, marries women, and mostly dresses in men’s clothes, but has not undergone a sex change.

Image from www.rd.com/list/lgbtq-flags

Gay

Gay is a man who likes men. I believe that when talking about gays, many people are already familiar with them. In Thai society, people may be familiar with the role-playing, such as this person is the top, this person is the bottom. But that is a minor detail because these days, some people can switch between both roles (or what some people call both). The main point is that two men (or more!) feel good about each other. I will not give examples of people because the TestBKK page and website have many examples to show! Try clicking to see www.testbkk.org/th/news

Image from www.marieclaire.com/culture

Bisexual

Bi or bisexual, which has a root word meaning 2 (e.g. bilingual = someone who speaks 2 languages), may allow us to guess the meaning, that is, someone who likes both women and men, such as being a woman, trying to date a man, can have sex with no problem, but deep down, feeling good when being with a woman, trying to have a girlfriend, feeling good and being able to have sex without feeling disgusted, such as Kristen Stewart, the heroine of the vampire sequel Twilight, who even though she didn't come out to announce it, it's clear that she is Bisexual from the fact that she dates both men and women in the media without hiding anything. If you want to know more about Kristen's boyfriends, try listening to the Youtube channel Eve KK youtu.be/IeSxkSYlreo. Kristen herself doesn't have an Instagram, but try looking at the fan club's Instagram.

Image from pointofpride.org

Transgender

Trans, a word that is often paired with other words, means to transfer, transform, cross, such as translation = language translation, transportation = transportation, and in this case, transgender = transgender, used to refer to people who have male or female gender identity who discover that their mental life does not match their gender identity and have changed their appearance to match their identity, such as Trans woman, which is changing their gender identity from male to female (which Thai people are very familiar with) or Trans man, which is changing their gender identity from female to male. Thai transgender people should be very familiar with them, such as Ms. Poy Treechada or Ms. Mo Jiratchaya. As for transgender men in Thailand, there may not be many famous people, but that does not mean there are none, such as Ms. Jib Yanicha or Mr. Sam Ranakrit, the boyfriend of the famous transgender woman, Ms. Nok Yalda.

Photo from instagram.com/nokyollada

Queer (Questioning)

This is a very broad gender definition because it refers to a gender that is still unsure of what gender they are. This does not include the gender they were born into, but rather their preferences, such as being born into a man’s body and having a girlfriend, but feeling that men are sexy and cute and wanting to talk to them. This makes the term Queer very similar to gay, bisexual, and transgender. The difference is that they are not sure what they like more (which they don’t necessarily have to choose, really). Meanwhile, the genders mentioned above have already chosen.

Image from www.marieclaire.com/culture

Intersex

A person born with a body that has 2 sexes, meaning that they have both female and male genitals due to a chromosomal pairing that is different from XY or XX (as shown in the illustration). People who are intersex will choose for themselves which gender they are comfortable with. However, sometimes parents of children who are born with 2 sexes will choose a gender for their child and have doctors perform surgery to remove the organs that the parents did not choose so that the child can live a life of a true male or female. The medical illustration may look a little scary, but on the outside, people who are intersex will have a normal male or female body.

Picture from srishtimadurai.blogspot.com

Image from the 2013 Third International Intersex Forum from Wikipedia.

Image from www.marieclaire.com/culture

Asexual

A person who is not sexually attracted to others, likes people, likes to hang out, but does not want to have sex. Most of them may have tried sex and found that sex is not important in life or in a relationship. Asexual people will have a partner and will live together and take care of each other. They may cuddle, hug, kiss, and caress each other just to feel good, but do not want to go as far as penetrative sex. Or they may have it only once in a while. A famous person in Thailand who came out to share knowledge about sexual diversity and said that he is Asexual is Khun Kuen Pattaradanai or Khun Kaotic. Try reading the interview in a day Khun Kuen to understand more at this link: adaymagazine.com/koen-pattaradanai
Khun Kuen's Instagram www.instagram.com/koendanai

Photo from instagram.com/koendanai

Image from www.marieclaire.com/culture

Demisexual

This is a term used to describe people, regardless of gender, who will only feel sexual arousal when they have good interactions, conversations, and emotional connections. Otherwise, they won’t feel sexual arousal. Therefore, a one-night stand might not be suitable for this group of people (I use the word “might”). This group is similar to Asexual.

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Ally

Is a straight gender, a real man or a real woman, a woman who likes men or men who like women, and understands and supports various matters of the LGBTQIA+ group, which is a different group from those who oppose or do not support, such as people who have Homophobia, which is the hatred of people who love the same gender. Ally is mentioned frequently in movies that talk about sexual diversity, such as Pose. An example of an Ally in the entertainment industry that is clearly visible is Lady Gaga and her song Born This Way, which is an inspiration and encouragement for people to see their own value. Read more in The People article thepeople.co/lady-gaga-stan-with-lgbtq-stonewall-ny

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As for the following names, there are quite a few overlapping meanings. Try reading them and tell us if you are confused or not.

Trans*

It is a short word used to refer to all genders that are not straight, whether it is a transgender woman, a transgender man, a queer, or anything that is not straight. We can use this word because in some cases we do not need to specify what they are. Because no matter what gender you are, you can still do the work that you want to do. This is except for some offices that may not be open, such as not being able to dress up as a woman to work.

Image from www.marieclaire.com/culture

Pansexual

Pansexual means liking all genders, regardless of gender identity. Having feelings of liking without limitations. If compared to bisexuals in terms of liking, people who are bisexual may not like black or red, but pansexuals like all colors, whether black, gray, red, purple-red, whatever, more than the colors of the Pride flag.

Image from www.marieclaire.com/culture

Non-binary

It is very similar to queer. Binary means two clear genders, real male and real female. Non-binary (=no) binary (female and male) means anything that comes out of that frame. I can be any gender that is not labeled as real male or real female. It does not mean that he is a woman or a man who was born in the wrong body. He still feels normal with his body. Some people may find themselves after living for a while and choose that they will be bi. Or they may switch their tastes according to the people around them at that time. Not everyone wants to listen to pop music, Britney Spears all the time. Sometimes they want to switch to rock or hip-hop, right?

Read more at Prachatai website

prachatai.com/journal/2018/01/74982

Gender non conforming

Some people use the term “third gender” in the same meaning as this term, which does not specify a gender. It is the same category as non-binary and queer.

Image from www.colorado.edu/lgbtq

For those who have to read academic papers about sexuality in English (or not in English), we have translations of the technical terms and abbreviations of gender that we mentioned above. There may be some slight differences, such as expanding from lesbian to F2M. Let's make your life easier! For example, at TestBKK, it is very often used as MSM. If you want to know what it means, scroll down to see the translation.

Image from www.marieclaire.com/culture

Sexual fluidity

Sexual fluidity means that preferences and practices in expressing one’s gender can change at any time, flowing like water, and does not always mean sex. For example, Mark Bryan is a husband and father of 3 who likes to wear skirts or dresses with high heels to work regularly. Check out Mark’s Instagram at www.instagram.com/markbryan911

https://www.instagram.com/p/CO3Ul8PqY4P/
Sexual orientation

Sexual orientation is the gender that a person chooses for themselves, which may not match their gender identity.

Gender identity

Gender is the type of genitals they were born with, or, in Thai, the gender according to the title on their ID card.

FtM/F2M

This means Female to male or transgender male. Born female but calls himself a man

If we talk about the most famous transgender man right now, it is Elliot Page who has just changed his gender this year. Before that, we might have known him as Ellen Page who starred in many famous series such as Juno or Inception.

www.macleans.ca/society/elliot-page-is-a-happy-guy-thats-the-important-thing/

GSM – Not GSM Advance (this joke is so old, you know how old the admin is). It is an abbreviation for Gender and sexual minority which means it covers all groups of people who do not identify themselves according to their birth gender.

MSM – It is an abbreviation for Men who have sex with men which means men who love men. It is different from gay in that the way of presenting oneself is not gay but presents oneself as a real man but has sex with men.

In the entertainment world, there are many famous stars who have come out in the past few years because of the law that America has allowed marriage. If we talk about MSM or WSW stars, we can't talk much, but we have a link for you to see. The LA Times has compiled famous celebrities in the Western world.

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-gay-celebrities-pictures-photogallery.html
WSW – Abbreviation for Women who have sex with women, which means women love women. The definition is the same as MSM but is a woman instead. That is, a woman who presents herself as a woman, not a lesbian, but has sex with women.

MtF/M2F – Male to female or a transgender woman who was born male but calls herself a woman.

If we talk about famous transgender women, many people probably think of them. For example, in foreign countries, there is Conchita Wurst who won Eurovision 2018. Marie Claire has a list of famous transgender women celebrities around the world.

https://www.marieclaire.com.au/transgender-celebrities
PGP – Preferred gender pronoun, which means the name you want to call yourself. (He/She/You/I)

QPOC/QTPOC – Queer People of Color and Queer and/or Trans People of Color, which means a group of people who are not clear about their gender who are multi-colored.

QUILTBAG – stands for Queer and/or Questioning, Undecided, Intersex, Lesbian, Trans*,

Asexual, Two-Spirit, Bisexual and/or Allied and Gay and/or Gender Queer, which is a combination of many words in the gender group.

SAAB – Sex assigned at birth, which means to adhere to the gender assigned at birth.

SGL – Same Gender Loving, which means to be homosexual, but this type of word is used by people of color because they do not want to use the word from the white group.

SOGI (Soji) – Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity, which means sexual orientation and gender identity, which is an acronym used in the official vocabulary of the UN to talk about gender diversity.

SOGIESC (Soji) – Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, Gender Expression, Sex Characteristics, which are additional acronyms from the above words. Recently added Gender Expression and Sex Characteristics to include gender expression and genital characteristics to capture a wider range of groups. Mostly used in non-profit organizations.

SRS – Sexual Reassignment Surgery means sex reassignment.

TGNC/TGNCNB – Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming means transgender people or genders that do not conform to their assigned sex.

Source: https://outrightinternational.org/content/acronyms-explained