Gender and sexuality

Are you

NORMAL?
Who gets to decide what’s normal, anyway?
Spectrum
● Assigned Sex — how doctors
categorize you based on which
reproductive organs you have

● Gender Identity — how you

personally think of yourself (boy, girl,
other)
● Sexual Attraction — who you get
excited about on a physical level
(boys, girls, other, both, neither)

● Romantic Attraction — who you get

all in your feelings for, independent of
the physical

● Gender Expression — How you

present yourself (feminine, masculine,
somewhere in between)
 Sex characteristics

• Based on reproductive organs noticeable at birth

• Physical features – chromosomes, hormones, genitalia and other reproductive
anatomy, secondary features emerging from puberty
• At birth, a person is observed and classified with either male or female as their sex
• Endosex – someone whose innate sex characteristics fit normative ideas for
male/female bodies
• Intersex – variations of sex characteristics that differ from social norms for
male/female bodies
 Sexual orientation
• About who you are or are not attracted to and who you feel drawn to romantically,
emotionally and sexually
• Your sense of being lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, pansexual, queer, heterosexual,
homosexual etc.
 Language
• Heterosexual/straight – a person who is sexually attracted to people of a gender
other than their own
• Lesbian – non-men who experience sexual and/or romantic attraction to non-men
• Gay – people who primarily experience romantic and/or sexual attraction to people
of the same gender or non-heterosexual attraction
• Bisexual – people who experience sexual and/or romantic attraction to more than
one gender
• Queer – an umbrella term or individual identity for non-normative sexualities
• Asexual – people who experience little or no sexual attraction. May experience other
forms of attraction but may not need to express that attraction sexually
• Pansexual – an orientation for which gender is not a boundary to attraction. Can
experience sexual attraction to a person of any or no gender
 Activity 1: Name the flag
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Intersex, Asexual, Pansexual, Non-binary, Agender &
Progressive pride

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10
 Genders

• Characteristics that are socially constructed and includes associated norms, behaviours and
roles
• As a social construct, gender varies from society to society and can change over time
• How a person identifies- boy, girl, other
• How a person represents themselves – feminine, masculine, in-between
• Influenced by a person’s society and culture
• Not always binary (either/or); exists along a spectrum
• Doesn’t determine a person’s sexuality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i83VQIaDlQw
 Language+ pronouns
• Boy / Man (Referred to as HE or HIM)
• Girl / Woman (Referred to as SHE or HER)
• Cisgender — A person whose gender “matches” their sex – aligns with society’s
expectations on the sex they were assigned at birth
• Other — Neither, both, somewhere in between; genderqueer / genderfluid (Might be
referred to as HE/HIM, SHE/HER, or THEY/THEM)
• Transgender — A person whose gender does not “match” their sex
○ Transman/Transboy — A person with female organs who identifies as a boy/man

○ Transwoman/Transgirl — A person with male organs who identifies as a girl/woman

 Trans girls
• Girls and women who
were assigned or
observed as male at
birth
 Trans boys
• Boys and men who
were assigned or
observed as female at
birth
 Gender identity
• Our internal experience and naming of our gender
• Inherent aspect of a person’s make-up
• The words someone uses to communicate their gender identity may change over time
 Gender expression
• Refers to the way a person presents their
gender to the world
• Encompasses: how someone dresses,
hairstyles, body features, voice,
mannerisms etc.
• A person’s gender expression may be
different to what people expect of a
person’s gender identity
 Gender roles
• Society often has a set idea about how we expect men and women to dress, behave
and present themselves
• Social norms / expectations
• The media represents can both reinforce or challenge stereotypical gender roles