To capture the evolving ways in which we describe ourselves, we asked readers to tell us who they are. More than 5,000 people responded. The words they used show us that ‘the human experience is infinite.’
Marta Peters had always known that she liked both boys and girls, but growing up, she had no interest in actually kissing anyone. She had trouble relating to her friends when they talked about their crushes, and she could not relate to movies in which characters jumped into bed together.
In high school, Ms. Peters began using the website Tumblr, a social media platform popular with teenagers who post about everything from anime to feminism. There, she discovered a language that went far beyond the familiar labels for gender identities and sexual orientation. She learned about asexuals, who do not experience sexual attraction, and gender dysphoria, the distress people feel when their gender identity is different than the sex they were assigned at birth.
Ms. Peters, who recently graduated from Penn State University, today identifies as biromantic and demisexual. She can fall in love with more than one gender, but does not experience any sexual attraction unless she has first formed a strong emotional bond.
“There are a lot more of us than you might think,” said Ms. Peters, 22. “We make all these labels to try to describe the human experience, but that’s kind of impossible because the human experience is infinite.”
From those who responded to our callout, here are the most commonly used words by each generation.
Baby Boomer
gay
lesbian
straight
queer
bisexual
heterosexual
cisgender
transgender
bear
asexual
dyke
butch
open
nonbinary
gender-fluid
Generation-X
gay
queer
lesbian
bisexual
straight
pansexual
cisgender
nonbinary
femme
transgender
dyke
butch
heterosexual
asexual
bear
Millennials
gay
queer
bisexual
nonbinary
lesbian
pansexual
transgender
asexual
straight
cisgender
femme
heterosexual
genderqueer
gender-fluid
bear
Generation-Z
bisexual
gay
queer
nonbinary
lesbian
pansexual
asexual
transgender
straight
cisgender
genderqueer
heterosexual
bear
gender-fluid
femme
[Tell us who you are: We want to know how you identify yourself.]
Less than two decades ago, those who struggled to understand their sexuality and gender identity had only a few mainstream adjectives to describe themselves — straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. But for the generation of Americans who are coming of age amid social media, marriage equality and a growing understanding of gender fluidity, today’s descriptors are far more wide-ranging... (nyt continues)
Marta Peters had always known that she liked both boys and girls, but growing up, she had no interest in actually kissing anyone. She had trouble relating to her friends when they talked about their crushes, and she could not relate to movies in which characters jumped into bed together.
In high school, Ms. Peters began using the website Tumblr, a social media platform popular with teenagers who post about everything from anime to feminism. There, she discovered a language that went far beyond the familiar labels for gender identities and sexual orientation. She learned about asexuals, who do not experience sexual attraction, and gender dysphoria, the distress people feel when their gender identity is different than the sex they were assigned at birth.
Ms. Peters, who recently graduated from Penn State University, today identifies as biromantic and demisexual. She can fall in love with more than one gender, but does not experience any sexual attraction unless she has first formed a strong emotional bond.
“There are a lot more of us than you might think,” said Ms. Peters, 22. “We make all these labels to try to describe the human experience, but that’s kind of impossible because the human experience is infinite.”
From those who responded to our callout, here are the most commonly used words by each generation.
Baby Boomer
gay
lesbian
straight
queer
bisexual
heterosexual
cisgender
transgender
bear
asexual
dyke
butch
open
nonbinary
gender-fluid
Generation-X
gay
queer
lesbian
bisexual
straight
pansexual
cisgender
nonbinary
femme
transgender
dyke
butch
heterosexual
asexual
bear
Millennials
gay
queer
bisexual
nonbinary
lesbian
pansexual
transgender
asexual
straight
cisgender
femme
heterosexual
genderqueer
gender-fluid
bear
Generation-Z
bisexual
gay
queer
nonbinary
lesbian
pansexual
asexual
transgender
straight
cisgender
genderqueer
heterosexual
bear
gender-fluid
femme
[Tell us who you are: We want to know how you identify yourself.]
Less than two decades ago, those who struggled to understand their sexuality and gender identity had only a few mainstream adjectives to describe themselves — straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. But for the generation of Americans who are coming of age amid social media, marriage equality and a growing understanding of gender fluidity, today’s descriptors are far more wide-ranging... (nyt continues)
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