Gender Identity

Your gender identity refers to the label (or labels) that you are most comfortable using to describe your gender, part of your conception as being male, female, something in-between, or something different altogether. Cultures around the world have many different ways of defining gender for themselves.

Mainstream Australian society typically divides gender into two categories – male and female. The reality is that gender is actually much more diverse than this. Some people who are gender diverse identify as transgender.

Web: Transgender youth

Sexual Identity

Your sexual identity refers to the label (or labels) that you are most comfortable using to describe your sexuality (e.g. lesbian, gay, bisexual or queer). A number of different things contribute to your sexual identity, such as your own gender identity, who you’re attracted to (i.e your sexual orientation), who you tend to have sex with (i.e your sexual behaviour) and who you form relationships with.

It can sometimes take people a while to figure out which label (or labels) they are most comfortable using. This is totally okay and normal! There’s no reason to rush into deciding on a label to describe your sexual identity. In the meantime, phrases like 'unsure' or 'same-sex attracted' might be helpful to use. Also, you may feel that none of the available labels accurately describe your sexual identity, and you may prefer not to label yourself at all! Nobody should be forced to call themselves anything they do not want to.

Components of your sexual identity may also change over your lifetime, as sexuality can often be fluid or changing. For example, later in life you might find yourself attracted to someone of a gender you haven’t been attracted to before. Just because a component of your sexuality might have changed, this doesn't mean that you have to change your sexual identity or the label that you use. This is totally okay and nothing to be ashamed of at all - it’s common for parts of your sexuality to change over time.

Some labels… LGBTIQWHAT?!

Sometimes, it can all be very confusing! Here is a short list of what each letter means.

• Lesbian - A term used to refer to women who are primarily or exclusively same-sex attracted.
• Gay - A term used to refer to men who are primarily or exclusively same-sex attracted.
• Bisexual - A term used to refer to people who may be attracted to people of ‘both’ (or more than one) gender. Some bisexual people consider themselves more attracted to one gender than another, or feel that they are attracted differently to people of different genders.
• Transgender - An ‘umbrella term’ that is broadly used to refer to people whose gender identity does not conform with the expectations associated with the sex assigned to them at birth. Some transgender people choose to undergo medical procedures to change their bodies to fit their conception of their gender, but this is not true for all transgender people. Click here for more info about trans-identity.
• Intersex -  Intersex people are people who, as individuals, have genetic, hormonal and physical features that may be thought to be typical of both male and female at once. Click here for more info about intersex people.
• Queer - A word that originally means “odd” or “unusual.” In modern times, it is also used as an ‘umbrella term’ broadly to refer to people who do not feel they fit into mainstream categories or values of gender/sexual identity. Some LGBT people do consider this an offensive term to refer to themselves, but we have included it here as there are many people who identify quite strongly with being ‘queer’ as a form of self-empowerment. 
• Asexual -  Broadly describes someone who lacks or does not experience sexual desire, interest or attraction toward other people. Some people who consider themselves asexual still have sex. Click here for more info about asexual people.

More info

Contact: ACON's Fun & Esteem Project (for guys) or the Young Women's Project

Tel: (02) 9206 2000
Free Call: 1800 063 060
Hearing Impaired: (02) 9283 2088

E-mail: youth@acon.org.au

Contact: Gay & Lesbian Counselling Service

Tel: 02 8594 9596
Freecal: 1800 184 527

(don’t be fooled by their name – this service is for all same-sex attracted people, you don’t have to identify as gay or lesbian)