Sexual Orientation Vs Gender Identification
When you look at sexual orientation and gender identification, a lot of people tend to confuse the two as they think that they are one and the same. However, there is a difference between the two. In order to understand sexual orientation and gender identification, one first has to understand that what is gender. |
Every person is born with a biological sex that makes the person a male, female or inter-sex. This is known as gender. Based on the person's biological sex, he or she is accorded his biological, legal as well as social statuses in the society. Sexual orientation is quite different from gender. The former describes whether a person is sexually attracted to people from the same gender or opposite gender.
Again sexual orientation is different from gender identification. These 2 terms are also often confused by people. We already know what sexual orientation is. On the other hand, gender identification refers to a person's feelings about his or her gender. A person expresses his or her gender identity by the way he or she acts. A person can act feminine, masculine, both feminine and masculine or neither feminine or masculine. Some people call themselves transgenders. These are people who have one gender biologically, and have gender identification of another gender. For instance, a man is biologically a male, but when it comes to gender identification, he may consider himself to be a female.
When a person's sexual orientation is taken into consideration, he or she can have one of the 3 kinds of orientation -- heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual. Many people are confused about their sexual orientation and gender identity. This can result in a lot of confusion, depression and feelings of shame. However, the more a person understands his or her sexual orientation and gender identification, the closer he or she gets to understanding themselves.
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Usually when a person enters his or her teenage years, they begin to get sexually aware. They start experiencing sexual feelings due to the physical and hormonal changes in the body. The changes affect not just the body, but also the mind and bring about sexual feelings, which can be quite intense. It is during these years, that teenagers begin pondering about their sexual orientation.