This document discusses gender identity and sexual orientation. It defines key terms like gender identity, sexual orientation, transgender, cisgender, and more. It explores how gender identity may differ from biological sex and can be shaped by both nature and nurture. It also addresses obstacles faced by transgender individuals like access to healthcare and discrimination. The document aims to increase understanding of diverse identities and lifestyles.

1. Gender Identity
and Sexual
Orientation
By: Tina Bouvier

2. Gender Identity is the internal sense of yourself as a
male, female or other, regardless of your sex.
A person’s gender identity does not always match the
sex of their physical body.

3. Gender identity is often established by hormonal
influences in the womb, but is often affected by social
and cultural factors.
Society often dictates how we should look and act as
a male or female, but it does not always match how
we feel internally.

4. Terms Used to Describe
Gender Identities:
 Gender Expression: How a person looks;
the physical appearance of a person’s
gender identity, expressed through
clothing, mannerisms, and chosen names.
 Gender Nonconforming: This term refers
to people whose gender expressions are
not clearly feminine or masculine. People
who do not conform to mainstream
society’s expectations of gender roles.

5.  Genderqueer: Someone who rejects the two
gender system. Someone who blurs, rejects, or
break the rules of gender norms.
 Transgender: An umbrella term referring to people
whose gender identity or expression, does not fit
their sex assigned at birth. Groups often included
under this tem include transsexuals, genderqueers,
people who are androgynous, and people who
identify with more than one gender.
 Transsexual: A person who lives and/or identifies as
a different sex from the one assigned at birth. The
process of this change may include changing of
name and /or use of pronouns, undergoing
hormone therapy, and possibly sex change surgery.
 Trans: Transgender or transsexual. Often used to
mean both.

6.  Trans Man: A person who was born biologically female,
and identifies and portrays his gender as male. Also
known as female-to-male (FTM) transsexual.
 Trans Woman: A person who was born biologically male,
and identifies and portrays her gender as female. Also
known as male-to-female (MTF) transsexual.
 Cisgender: refers to people whose gender identity and
presentation fit traditional norms for the sex they were
assigned at birth.
 Cissexual: a person who lives and identifies with the sex
assigned at birth.

7. Transsexual Experience
 The American Psychiatric Association’s
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM), diagnoses transsexuals has
having a gender identity disorder (GID). This is
diagnosed as a mental condition. GID is also
referred to as gender dysphoria.
 In order for a transsexual to obtain the proper
surgeries or hormones needed to live
successfully in their preferred gender, they
need to be diagnosed with GID or gender
dysphoria under current medical guidelines.

8.  Many transsexuals will take cross-sex hormones to
help achieve the female or male physical
expression of gender that they desire.
 Other
transsexuals will go through one or more
gender affirmation surgeries.
 Thesemedical interventions are often very
expensive and are not covered by health
insurance. They often carry health risks and require
ongoing medical care.

9.  Many transsexuals live in their preferred gender
without undergoing surgery or hormone treatment.
 Without these medical procedures, they are unable
to legally get their identification documents
changed. This increases their risk of being a victim
of violence from anti-trans

10. There are many obstacles and health issues
that transsexuals face, including:
 The Side Effects and Risks of Hormone
Treatments
 Insurance Exclusions
 Health Screenings for Reproductive Organs
 Fertility Issues
 Medical Intervention for Transsexual Teens
 Trans Educations for Health-Care Providers

11. Side Effects and Risks of
Hormone Treatments
Estrogen Testosterone
 Elevated risk of  Elevated risk of
stroke, blood clots,
and breast cancer. liver damage.
 Side effects may  Side effect of
include reduction
of libido, reduction testosterone
in erectile function, may increase
and decrease in
ejaculation. libido.

12. Insurance Inclusions
 U.S . Health insurance doe not cover hormone treatment
or gender affirmation surgeries for trans people.
 This leaves many trans people looking for cross-sex
hormones on the street or on line.
 This is a dangerous route to take due to lack of quality
control of the drugs, and the lack of screening and
follow up care by a medical professional.
 Needle sharing is often the case when street hormones
are used causing a risk for HIV and Hepatitis B.
 Oral testosterone preparations are also available on the
street. These preparations are frequently used by body
builders and can lead to fatal liver disease.

13. Health Screenings for
Reproductive Organs
 Trans people that do not have surgery to remove
their reproductive organs still need to have these
organs screened on a regular basis.
 Transmen may need to have pap tests and breast
tissue exams.
 Trans
female have very few reports of prostate
cancer probably due to the fact that estrogen is
one of the treatments for it.

14. Fertility Issues
 Cross-sex hormones will reduce fertility
and it can become permanent.
 Trans woman will sometimes choose to
bank sperm before hormone treatments
or surgery are done.
 Trans men may continue to ovulate even
after testosterone therapy has stopped.
Pregnancy is still a risk, although a
reduced chance.

15. Medical Interventions for
Transsexual Teens
 Transsexual teens are often at a higher risk of
depression, drug and alcohol use, self-
mutilation, and suicide.
 This is due to the lack of access to
appropriate medical treatment programs,
specifically for trans teens.
 There is a temporary hormonal treatment to
halt puberty, for teens that have been
diagnosed with gender dysphoria.
 This gives a teens a couple of years to decide
if they want to proceed with hormone
treatment and surgery.

16. Trans Education for Health-
Care Providers
 Many medical practitioners have not yet
learned how to treat trans people with
appropriate understanding and respectful
care.
 They need to have protocols that are
followed, to ensure a sensitive and
courteous approach is used when caring
for their transsexual patients.

17. Sexual Orientation
 Sexual
orientation describes who
we are attracted to emotionally,
romantically, and sexually.

18. Terms Used to Describe a
Person’s Sexual Orientation:
 Asexual- a person who does not experience sexual
attraction ever, or a for a period of time.
 Bisexual- a person who is romantically/sexually
attracted to both men and women.
 Gay/Homosexual- men who are
romantically/sexually attracted to men. Sometimes
used to describe women attracted to women.
 Lesbian- women who are romantically/sexually
attracted to women.

19.  Pansexual- a person who is attracted to people
across the range of genders. Often used by those
who identify as transgender or genderqueer.
 Queer- used to describe an open, fluid sexual
orientation and/or gender identity/expression.
 Straight/Heterosexual-women who are
romantically/sexually attracted to men, and men
who are attracted to women.

20.  The terms Gender Identity and Sexual
Orientation often lead to confusing
misunderstood stereotypes.
 If someone considers themself a lesbian, it does
not mean that they have a masculine
expression.
 If a person is transgender, they can identify as
straight, lesbian, bisexual, gay, pansexual or
queer.
 People who transition gender sometimes find
that their sexual orientation changes during the
process.

21. Bisexuality
 Bisexualitymay reflect a sense that sexual
orientation is a fluid aspect.
 Bisexuals are often misunderstood and
stereotyped.
 They can be labeled as confused,
opportunists, not ready to come out, and
inherently promiscuous.

22. Lesbian and Bisexual Women have
Special Health Issues
 Cancer screenings- Lesbians tend have three times
longer intervals between their pap tests compared to
heterosexual women.
 Stress- The stresses that are associated with being a
lesbian maybe a contributing factor that lesbians have
higher rates of heart disease than heterosexual women.
 Smoking-30% of lesbians smoke compared to 23% of
heterosexual women.
 Alcohol Use- There is an increased rate of problem
drinking among lesbians that does not dramatically
decrease with age as it does in the general population.
 Sexually Transmitted Infections- Women who have sex
with other women can get sexually transmitted diseases.

23. Coming Out to Ourselves,
Family, Friends, and the World
 Coming out is the process of accepting and
affirming our sexual orientation or gender identity
and deciding how open we will be about it.
 Coming out to ourselves can be an extremely
challenging process, but once out a huge relief.
 Coming out to friends and family is also quite
challenging and life-changing.
 Some family members and friends may be very
accepting of your sexual orientation, while others
may not.

24. Multiple Identities
 Other factors that contribute to the
experience and possible discrimination of
being a lesbian include: class, gender,
race, religion, and disability.
 An example of this would be a black
lesbian who not only has to face the
challenges of being accepted as a
lesbian, may also be subjected to racial
discrimination in the society in which she
lives.

25. Countering Homophobia,
Heterosexism, and
Transphobia
 Heterosexism is the assumption that
heterosexuality is the only normal orientations.
 Homophobia is fear and hatred of people who
are attracted to the same sex.
 Transphobia is fear and hatred of gender-variant
people.
 All of these contribute to laws and practices that
deny LGBTQ people legal, religious, and social
privileges that heterosexuals and cisgender take
for granted.

26. Homosexuals and Transgenders
often face discrimination on many levels
 Job and Housing
discrimination
 Unable to marry in They may also face:
most states
 Misrepresentation and
 Violence
being ignored by the
media  Homelessness
 Essential safer-sex  Police brutality
educational materials  Chronic underemployment
omitted for same-sex  Poverty.
relationships at schools.

27.  Many activists are working hard to make positive
change against homophobia and trans phobias.
 The Think Before You Speak campaign raises
awareness in schools about the prevalence and
consequences of anti LGBT bias.
 The Policy Institute of the National Gay and Lesbian
Task Force works to advance equality and train
young leaders for the future.
 The National Black Justice Coalition works to
eradicate racism and homophobia, and advocates
for the LGBT African Americans.

28. This chapter on Gender Identity and Sexual
Orientation gave me the knowledge that I need to
understand these different lifestyles better. It
allowed me to understand what transgender and
homosexual people have to go through to feel at
peace within their own bodies. It can not be an
easy life to live with all of the challenges,
discrimination and lack of support that they receive
from our society. The first hand accounts, given
from individuals facing these issues, were very
interesting and insightful. It gave personal
perspectives allowing the reader to feel directly
connected to these individuals and their struggles.

29. One quote that stood out to me in this
chapter was “Whenever I encounter trans-
positive sexual health resources I breathe a
deep sigh of relief.” This quote made me
feel great empathy towards transgender
individuals when it comes to accessing
healthcare. It can be stressful enough for a
cisgender individual to seek treatment for
healthcare. I can not imagine the added
amount of stress that a trans has to face in
order to find a facility that is open,
accepting and knowledgeable of his or her
lifestyle.

30. Discussion
Why do you think people are homophobic
and transphobic in our society and how
can we as individuals and as a nation stop
the discrimination against LGBTQ?