Sexual Identity
Sexual identity describes the pattern of feelings of attraction, emotional, romantic, or sexual attitude that a person has toward men, women, both, or neither of these two sexes. According to the APA ( American Psychological Association ), sexual identity also refers to a person’s sense of identity, based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of other people who share these attractions.
What are sexual identity, gender identity and sexual orientation?
Sexual identity is the biological sex given at birth. It is usually associated with our genitals, as male or female. Sometimes, for this reason, there is a certain ambiguity in the genitals, to such an extent that it is not so clear to know if it is a boy or a girl, for example hormonal causes during pregnancy. In that case they are classified as intersex. In addition to internal and external sexual organs, biological sex is also indicated by chromosomes (XY for men and XX for women) and hormones.
Do not confuse sexual identity with gender identity . Gender identity is the sex you identify with, whether female, male, or androgynous. It is expressed through our appearance, how we act, how we relate to ourselves, and how we feel. Gender has a strong cultural and social influence. Sexual orientation is related to attraction and sexual desire. The causes that make us feel attracted to one sex are unknown.
Types of sexual identity
The types of sexual identity are:
- Female: has female sex organs and XX chromosomes
- Male: have male sex organs and XY chromosomes
- Intersex : It is not clear if male or female genitalia is predominant
Types of gender identity
Broadly speaking, when a person identifies with the assigned biological sex, they are called cisgender, when not, they are called cisgender. transgender. It may also be that he does not identify with any. According to the New York City Human Rights Commission, the list can be expanded with:
- Bigender: Person who moves between two genders.
- Androgynous: Gathers the two sexes in the same individual.
- Gender Bender: A person who changes, mixes, or combines the male and female genders.
- Third Sex: Person who does not define himself or herself with the masculine gender, neither with the feminine nor with those without gender
- Genderqueer (Intermediate): People who have neither male nor female gender identities.
- Pangender: A person whose gender identity is made up of many gender identities.
- Agender (Without gender) : That does not identify with any gender.
- Fluid gender: A person who identifies with one or the other sex as they feel.
What are the types of sexual orientation?
The types of sexual orientation are:
- Heterosexuality: Attraction towards people of the opposite sex, exclusively.
- Homosexuality: Sexual attraction directed exclusively towards people of the same sex.
- bisexuality: Sexual attraction towards people of the same sex and of the opposite sex. The intensities may not be the same.
- Pansexuality: Person who feels physical, emotional and/or romantic attraction towards people of more than one gender and/or sex
- Demisexuality: Sexual attraction appears only in some cases in which a strong emotional or intimate bond has previously been established.
- Lithsexuality: Attraction to other people, but do not feel the need to be reciprocated. In fact, he doesn’t look for the desire to be reciprocal, he prefers a platonic attraction rather than a conventional relationship.
- Autosexuality: The attraction is experienced towards oneself, without this having to be synonymous with narcissism.
- Antrosexuality: This concept serves so that people who experience their sexuality can identify with it without knowing which category to identify with and/or without feeling the need to classify themselves in any of them.
- asexuality: Puts a name to the lack of sexual attraction.
