The 2022 queer dictionary – from allosexual to transmisogyny

Allosexual

A term used to describe anyone who experiences sexual attraction to someone who can be of the same or a different gender. This term normalises the experience of people on the asexual spectrum and provides a more specific term to describe those who are not.

Androsexual

Sexual or romantic attraction to men, males or masculinity regardless of biology, anatomy or the sex assigned at birth.

Aromantic

The lack of romantic attraction to others, or low or completely absent desire to engage in a romantic relationship.

Bicurious

A term that refers to persons who are questioning or exploring their sexual orientation, often as a result of curiosity about romantic and sexual attraction to people of the same or different genders.

Bisexual erasure/invisibility

Refers to the tendency to ignore, remove, falsify and/or re-explain evidence of bisexuality in history, academia and media. In extreme cases it can also include the denial of the existence of bisexuality

Cisnormativity

Cisnormativity is the assumption that all, or almost all, individuals are cisgender. It is a combination of the prefix cis-, as in cisgender, and the suffix -normativity, as a complement to heteronormativity

Demisexual

Usually considered to be on the asexual spectrum, this term refers to people who experience sexual attraction only under specific circumstances such as after establishing a romantic or emotional connection with a partner.

Gender non-conforming

Describes gender expression that differs from a given society’s norms for males and females.

Genderqueer

Describes a person who would typically reject the notions of static categories of gender and embrace fluidity within gender identity. Genderqueer people see their gender identity to fall outside the traditional gender binary.

Gynesexual

Sexual or romantic attraction to women, females or femininity regardless of biology, anatomy or the sex assigned at birth.

Heteronormativity

Refers to the set of beliefs heterosexuality is natural and privileged over other sexual orientations and as such reinforces heterosexuality as a norm. It implies that people’s sexual orientation is by nature, and therefore heterosexuality is the only conceivable sexuality and the only way of being ‘normal’.

Internalised oppression

The process by which an oppressed person comes to believe, accept, or live out the inaccurate stereotypes and misinformation about their group

Intersectionality

The interconnected nature of social categorisations such as race, class, sexual orientation, disability and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.

Manosexual

A broad term that includes within it anyone that only experiences romantic and/or sexual attraction to people of one sex and/or gender. This typically includes those who identify as exclusively heterosexual, gay or lesbian.

Non-binary

A person whose gender identity falls outside the traditional gender binary. Other terms for people whose gender identity falls outside the gender binary include gender variant, gender expansive, gender fluid gender queer, etc. Gender expression may or may not differ from a society’s norms for males and females.

Pansexual

A person who expresses sexuality in all its forms, or is romantically, emotionally and/or sexually attracted to people regardless of their gender. A person may experience this attraction in differing ways and degrees over a lifetime.

Polyamorous

The simultaneous participation in more than one romantic, emotional and/or sexual relationship with the knowledge and consent of all involved partners.

Pomosexual

A term used to describe persons who reject the idea of labelling their sexuality, or do not identify with any label. Pomosexual itself is not necessarily seen as an identity but rather a rejection of one.

Pronouns

This is an expression used to describe the third-person personal pronouns that people want others to use when talking about them. You may have come across preferred pronouns on name tags or on social media. Typically, pronouns are written as follows: • he/him • she/her • they/them

Sapiosexual

A term used to refer to persons who experience romantic and/or sexual attraction based on a partner’s intelligence together with, or rather than sex and/or gender.

Skoliosexual

A term used to describe persons who are attracted to those with a non-cisgender gender identity, typically including anyone in the trans community (trans men, trans women, non-binary, genderqueer, etc.).

Transitioning

Refers to a series of steps a person may choose to take to live in the gender they identify with. Transitioning can be social and/or medical, and steps may include coming out to family, friends and colleagues; dressing and acting according to one’s gender; changing one’s name and/or sex/gender on legal documents; medical treatments including hormone therapies and possibly one or more types of surgery. There is no one set timeframe or mandatory steps a person has to take to have one’s gender recognised or legitimised.

Transgender and gender diverse (TGD)

Describes members of the many varied communities globally of people with gender identities or expressions that differ from the gender socially attributed to the sex assigned to them at birth. This includes people who have culturally specific and/or language-specific experiences, identities or expressions, and/or that are not based on or encompassed by Western conceptualisations of gender, or the language used to describe it.

Transmisogyny

The intersection of transphobia and misogyny. It can be expressed through negative attitudes, expressed through cultural hate, individual and state violence, and discrimination directed toward trans women and trans and gender non-conforming people on the feminine end of the gender spectrum.

Source: www.lgbtiq.gov.mt