Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, and Queer (LGBTQ) Teens | ACOG

Contents:

• CALL ME BY MY PRONOUNS: WHY GAY MEN CALL EACH OTHER "GIRL"
• LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR – WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?
• LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, AND QUEER (LGBTQ) TEENS
• LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, QUEER, & INTERSEX LIFE
• HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR?
• WHY ARE THERE GAY WOMEN?
• A GAY GIRL’S GUI TO THE 2023 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP
• A GAY GIRL’S GUI TO THE 2023 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP

CALL ME BY MY PRONOUNS: WHY GAY MEN CALL EACH OTHER "GIRL"

The e of she/her pronouns by cisgenr gay men, along wh words such as "girl" or "honey, " is a long-standg and creasgly visible practice. For many gay men, g the words wh their iends is a way of embracg femy and showg vulnerabily or affectn to others who share their inti. Creatg a shared culture — cludg language — around femy n be a way of reclaimg the bas for opprsn many gay men have experienced, as well as disptg the harmful genr few if any lguistic practic are all one thg, all the time.

It may be time to reevaluate cis gay men’s e of words like "she" and "girl" to make sure they align wh ongog efforts to rpect nonbary genr inti, and avoid makg assumptns about people’s pronouns. Lguists, social scientists, and crics have observed and studied cis gay men’s e of “she, ” and their asssments pot to the multiple and often nflictg dimensns of the practice. So for even to make sense for gay men to e ‘she, ’ we have to have some kd of associatn wh ‘she, ’ and ually that associatn is femy, whatever that might mean to or our culture.

LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR – WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

“Men g women’s pronouns, and women g men’s pronouns, has got an enormo time pth Amerin lbian-gay English. It’s not a recent formatn at all, ” explas William Leap, an emer profsor of anthropology at Amerin Universy and pneerg expert on queer men llg each other "she" or "girl" was historilly a way of protectg themselv as well as buildg muny the ntext of homophobic and vlent mastream culture.

In the 1940s, ary censors were on the lookout for evince of homosexualy, which uld provoke a ary vtigatn. ”Usg words like "she" and "girl" n be a way for cis gay men to bond and embrace femy.

”Yet some women have experienced gay men g words like “girl” toward them ways that don’t feel all that different om the misogyny they have experienced om straight men. “I also saw beg negatively ed when whe gay men would say, like, ‘Oh girl, what are you talkg about, ’ and they would be talkg to a woman of lor, pecially a Black woman. ”Consirg misogyny wh gay men’s language practic rais the qutn of how g words like “girl” or “honey” is nnected to their e of other, more ntroversial words that have historilly been ed to mean women, such as “bch” and “cunt.

LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, AND QUEER (LGBTQ) TEENS

” Multiple terviewe referenced RuPl’s Drag Race as a show that has popularized the e of words associated wh femy among cis gay men. ”“Gay men are a large group of people wh a lot of different kds of relatnships to genr, and I thk there are absolutely gay men who operate relatn to feme language that really is a reflectn of their male privilege, whether ’s through g ways that nigrate or stereotype women, or whether ’s jt feelg license to e the language how they see f, ” says Zimman, the lguist om UC Santa Barbara.

“Of urse, gay men are men. Paris Is Burng, the 1990 documentary on Harlem’s drag ball scene, as well as Drag Race, have brought the e of words like "she" and "girl" between Black and Latx drag queens to a wir gay (and straight) dience; today this is somethg employed by gay men of all rac. Wealthy whe gay cis men llg each other "girl" may be drastilly different om Black or Latx gay cis men who ntue to be margalized very different is visible a film like Paris Is Burng, a few s ago there were more shared spac, language, and culture between cis gay men, trans women, and genr-nonnformg dividuals.

“This is the mastream gay ia of beg jt like straight people, except for whom one is attracted to. That kd of rejectn of genr nonnormativy also giv the suatn we fd today, where we have more of a spl between gay men and trans women, for stance, than we might have seen prev s.

LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENR, QUEER, & INTERSEX LIFE

“Wh ‘girl/she/her, ’” they say, “if I’m socializg wh cis gay men and that’s what they’re g to scribe each other and to scribe me, there is a ltle b of dissonance there, bee I’m not really sure if they’re g that to validate my genr, or if ’s beg ed as ’s ed wh other cis gay men.

Gay men’s tradn of playg wh pronouns and refg to abi by the genr bary n be a part of this effort. Not bee they are bad, or homophobic, or transphobic… but bee the reali are not their own lived experience, or bee workg alongsi the groups may be a newer experience for them. E., bisexual, gay, straight.

HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR?

GAY: Used some cultural settgs to reprent men who are attracted to men a romantic, erotic and/or emotnal sense. Not all men who engage same-genr sexual behavr intify as gay, and as such this label should be ed wh utn.

LGBTQ2S+ ALLY: Someone who nonts heterosexism, anti- LGBTQ2S+ bias, heterosexual and cisgenr privilege themselv and others; believ that heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia are social jtice issu. Increasg numbers of populatn-based surveys the Uned Stat and across the world clu qutns that allow for an timate of the size of the lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) populatn.

5% of adults the Uned Stat intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual and an timated 0. 7% who intify as lbian or gay).

WHY ARE THERE GAY WOMEN?

Conversely, gay men prise substantially more than half of gay and bisexual men seven of the ne surveys.

Unrstandg the size of the lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr (LGBT) populatn is a cril first step to rmg a host of public policy and rearch topics.

A GAY GIRL’S GUI TO THE 2023 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP

In measurg sexual orientatn, lbian, gay, and bisexual dividuals may be intified strictly based on their self-inty or may be possible to nsir same-sex sexual behavr or sexual attractn.

A GAY GIRL’S GUI TO THE 2023 WOMEN’S WORLD CUP

How many adults are lbian, gay, or bisexual? Fdgs shown Figure 1 nsir timat of the percentage of adults who self-intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual across ne surveys nducted wh the past seven years.

While the surveys show a fairly wi variatn the overall percentage of adults who intify as LGB, the proportn who intify as lbian/gay vers bisexual is somewhat more nsistent (see Figure 2). In six of the surveys, lbian- and gay-intified dividuals outnumbered bisexuals. In most s, the surveys were roughly 60% lbian/gay vers 40% bisexual.

The UK Integrated Hoehold Survey found the proportn to be two-thirds lbian/gay vers one-third bisexual. The Natnal Survey of Fay Growth found rults that were sentially the oppose of the UK survey wh only 38% intifyg as lbian or gay pared to 62% intifyg as bisexual. The Natnal Survey of Sexual Health and Behavr and the Atralian Longudal Study of Health and Relatnships both found a majory of rponnts (55% and 59%, rpectively) intifyg as surveys show even greater nsistency differenc between men and women associated wh lbian/gay vers bisexual inty.