2.6 Your sexual identity
Your unique identity
Everybody is different. You develop your own unique identity. Your sexual identity is not unique. You develop this based on the aspects of the genderbread cookie. The recipe of your sexual identity is thus based on your sex, our gender identity, your gender expression and your sexual orientation.
LGBTI or SOGIESC?
To point to gender diversity and sex diversity, we use the acronym LGBTI. It is also possible to add the ‘Q’, which then refers to ‘queer’. Sometimes a ‘+’ is added at the end. The plus resembles all the people and groups who fall outside of the (cis)gender- and heteronorm, maar are not part of one of the letters. The choice of which letter to use depends on the group of people you are referring to. This can be a well thought-out choice or sometimes people use the entire acronym to refer to the entire community.
A more broad term is SOGIESC. This international term stands for Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression and Sex Characteristics. SOGIESC can be used as an alternative for LGBTIQ+, because this acronym can refer to the entire spectrum more efficiently, without continuously having to add extra letters.