Questions tagged [sexual-minorities]
The sexual-minorities tag has no usage guidance.
57 questions
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How do I refer to my daughter's wife in context to our relationship? mother in law / not daughter in law
My daughter is getting married this spring to a wonderful non-binary person. They will refer to me as their mother-in-law but I don’t want to be introducing them as "my daughter's wife".
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Another way to say "I identify as"
I was hoping this group of educated people could help me find another phrase for "I identify as". Ideally I'm looking for a phrase to replace this one that's used in the transgender ...
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What on God's green earth are "pulley shoes"?
I keep running into sources talking about pulley-shoes, pulley-toe shoes, pulley-toes, &c. even though they don't always play well with Google OCR and are basically invisible to vanilla searches.
...
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What does "are nines" mean in this context?
I stumbled upon some conversation on the TV show Desperate Housewives (Season 4, Episode 10) and I do not understand what the "nines" and "a three" indicate in the following ...
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Inclusive word/expression for couples that aren't man-woman
I want to refer to all couples which aren’t man-woman couples.
One expression would be “same-sex couples”. But even "same-sex" doesn't cover everything, as it reaffirms the idea of binary ...
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What's a word for ensuring certain categories play certain roles?
There is discussion sometimes about whether Jews, black people, gay people etc should be the only people allowed to play Jews, black people, gay people etc in film, TV or plays. What is a good word to ...
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Is it possible to simplify "a person born as an X"?
The title is already clear, but I think I should give my reason why I ask this question. I found this word "woman-born" which means "a human who is born from a woman". Even though ...
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What do you call a person who is opposed/hates the entirety of LGBTQ+? [closed]
Someone who hates homosexuals is a homophobe, someone who hates trans people is a transphobe, but I don't know a good word to describe the people that just hate anything related to progressive gender/...
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Does the term “gay” refer to bi-sexuality as well, or is it explicitly referring to homo-sexuality? [closed]
The reason I am asking is because I am touching upon answering a question elsewhere which would debunk the claim that said person is gay on the grounds that he would most likely only be bi-sexual due ...
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Gay and straight are to sexual orientation as transgender and cisgender are to ______? [duplicate]
Gay and straight are to sexual orientation as transgender and cisgender are to ______
What word would fit best in the blank here? Some options that don’t quite seem to fit:
Gender orientation: Doesn'...
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Is the origin of "butch" really from Polari?
I've been researching the origin of the term "butch" and noticed that sources tend to be split on whether they mention it originating from Polari.
OED, Green's Dictionary of Slang (adj., ...
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Is the term "sexual preference" generally considered offensive now, and has it always been?
In American politics, Judge Amy Barrett used the term "sexual preference" during her confirmation hearing. This was criticized as offensive by writers at publications such as CNN, USAToday, ...
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When talking to the child of a same sex couple, is it more standard to say "your parents" or "your fathers"/"your mothers"? [closed]
When talking about an opposite sex couple, it's standard to talk about "your parents", because it's a lot less wordy than "your mother and father". But what's more standard for a same sex couple? "...
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What is a gender-neutral word(s) for the word "maternity"? [closed]
The word maternity as in the sentence "the maternity wear is over there. If you'd like to follow me..." is typically the go-to language when describing, talking with, or about pregnant persons' wear, ...
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Is there a politically correct way to speak about reproductive health, justice, etc., which doesn't unnecessarily gender the issue?
Most cisgender women, some intersex people of different variations, most transgender men, some AFAB non-binary people, and most people who are assigned females on the whole are usually the ones who ...
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Why is 'lavender' used to reference homosexuality?
I am aware of Lavender Linguistics, which is a form of Polari and was used by gay men a lexicon 'used in the 1950s and early 1960s by gay men as a secret language which concealed their homosexuality ...
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Transgender but not transitioning?
Inspired by this question on CSE
I am asking is there a term to describe a transgender individual who chooses not to physically transition to how they identify?
Lots of terminology is offered in ...
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Expression for straight male who prefers the company of gay men
We used to call women who preferred the company of gay men as
"fag hags"
What are straight men who prefer the company of gay men called? I found nothing on the internet, unless you count Urban.
4
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What are the origins of "gender confirmation" surgery?
TLDR: What was the first use of the term "gender confirmation surgery"? Was it used before, after, or contemporaneously with the term "sex reassignment surgery"?
An NPR article ...
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Is there a name for the category containing the words trans and cis?
Gender is the name of the category that contains the words male, female, and others. The words trans and cis are not genders, rather they describe the state of one's gender: i.e. trans refers to one ...
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Alternative to "queer the deal"?
The phrase queer attitude used to be commonplace, simply meaning
a strange attitude or unhelpful behavior.
Unfortunately in the present era, I once used that phrase and sadly
offended ...
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Does the word "sympathizer" have a negative connotation?
Recently, at my work, there was an email which talked about the "LGBT sympathizers" community. What the author wanted to say is the "friends of the LGBT community".
Technically speaking it seems ...
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I am a pansexual trans/gender-fluid person
There's a risk of me potentially offending someone but I am an outsider trying to get to grips with this terminology. Online, I read someone who identified themself as a
pansexual trans/gender-...
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What does "queer" really mean these days?
Once upon a time, queer simply meant strange*.
Then it came to be used as a derogatory term for homosexual (adjective or noun).
Later it came to be worn as a badge of honor by the Lesbian/gay ...
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Would it be a mistake to use the word "gay" in business or academical writings? [duplicate]
This is a post by NiceTryDad on instagram.
Son: "What does the word "gay" mean?"
Me: "It means happy."
Son: "Oh, are you gay?"
Me: "No, son, I have a wife."
Later then, I googled up the ...
user242745
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How to specify a lover's gender
Can you recognize that her lover is a woman from this part of the sentence?
A doctor’s daughter hides her lover--
I am afraid you cannot, or you automatically think it is a man.
In my language, ...
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4
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What is a trans step-parent called?
Caitlin Jenner, when she was Bruce Jenner, was married to Kris, the widow of Robert Kardashian and the mother of Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, and Rob. Thus Bruce Jenner was Kim Kardashian's stepfather.
But ...
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Use of gender-specific and gender-neutral words together
These are sample sentences we usually come across:
This is a husband's provision for his spouse.
This is a wife's provision for her spouse.
One may find a similar sentence reading "A ...
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Etymology of "butthurt"
What is the etymology of the term butthurt?
This link suggests an allusion to victims of anal rape. But the reference is not explicitly described as etymological, but merely suggestive. And the ...
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Specific meaning of term "nail-biters" in context of mid-1970s America
The phrase in question revolves around a rather odious quote, so I beseech all reading to please suppress your political leanings and focus instead on the meanings of the phrases employed.
In around ...
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Word that is to "sexual orientation" as "racism" is to "race"?
The widely used word "homophobia" clearly doesn't fit the criteria. For example, "racism" can mean discrimination towards any race, black, white, Asian, etc. Similarly, the word we are looking ...
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Like "sexist" or "racist," but in reference to being gay?
Is there a term that is similar to sexist or racist but refers to gay people? "Homophobic" comes to mind, but that's more a fear or disgust of homosexuals versus discrimination based solely on sexual ...
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Are androphilic males persons with a homosexual erotic development?
I come across the following piece and don't understand the last sentence in the light of the first one.
This suggests that the resulting proportion of true pedophiles among persons with a ...
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"Homosexual" or "Gay and Lesbian"? [closed]
I have faced a problem with my writing which I could really do with some clarification on. My question applies to both British and American English (which is fairly standard on the internet).
...
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What's the term for not specifying race or gender when it is the majority?
In one of my English literature courses, my professor talked about how minority writers are often "marked" by a qualifier, while majority writers are unmarked. For example, Langston Hughes is often ...
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When did "lesbian" become well-known as a noun, not an adjective?
A friend asked me earlier why it was that "gay" is an adjective, but "lesbian" is a noun. I've been doing some searching online because it's an interesting question. According to ...
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Does the word "out" carry sexual-minority flavour?
My NGO and partners are producing a feature film about Russian speakers in the world, and to explain its point as bias-breaking, we came up with the name out, that's nicely expanded in the slogan as ...
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Is the term "setting someone straight" offensive to queer people?
I replaced "Thanks for setting me straight" with "Thanks for correcting me" when editing an email to a recipient who is queer. Is the term "setting [someone] straight" inappropriate if the writer/...
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A way of describing the lesbian parent that is not pregnant?
A friend of mine is in a long term relationship with her female partner. After deciding they wanted a family, my friend's girlfriend got pregnant.
Normally when talking about a couple expecting a ...
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Is the word "queer" an accepted and polite word for lesbian?
I was reading an article on the promulgation of the dental dam as a means of preventing sexually transmitted disease. Article here. The author of the article Arielle Duhaime-Ross consistently refers ...
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How do married gay couples address each other?
I know that non-married lovers address each other by saying “This is my girlfriend/boyfriend.”
I know that married couples address each other by calling “my wife/husband”.
I also know that gay lovers ...
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What do you call a heterosexual who wonders what it would be like to have a relationship with a gay person?
In "Perfect Zen" by E. A. St. Amant it is written:
“You're a breeder voyeur,” Paulo remarked. “She loves the explicit gay
porno stuff, like at the Barn.”
I found that a breeder voyeur is 'A ...
user51029
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Is calling a homosexual person “gay” offensive?
My native language is German but I’ve been watching a lot of TV in English. During a conversation about the English language, a question about the term gay came up. Is calling a homosexual person gay ...
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If we use "fairy" in our band name, will people think of sprites or gay men?
Seems like a really weird question but here's what it's about:
Me and my band are currently searching for a bandname which seems to be very hard. We recently (finally) found one name that we all ...
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Revealing that someone else is gay — counterpart to "come out"
If I reveal to my friend that I am gay, I'd say
I came out to my friend.
How would I say that my friend told his friend (without asking me for permission) that I am gay?
My friend [insert verb ...
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What is the difference between “Gay” and “Homosexual"? Is it only by gender?
I was interested in the line “...most Americans use the word 'gay' now instead of 'homosexual'” in Maureen Dowd’s article titled “Happily Never After?” in today’s (April 2) New York Times:
I’m ...
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In the sexuality domain, are "heterosexual" and "straight" exact synonyms?
Even though heterosexual and straight are interchangeable in most contexts, there are times when I find myself wanting to distinguish between an attraction to the opposite sex which is exclusive and ...
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Usage and acceptability of the word "queer"
This dictionary.com definition pretty much sums up my understanding of what the word queer is supposed to mean. However, in modern times (at least here in the US, perhap someone else can speak for ...
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Does "gay" necessarily mean male homosexual?
I was under the impression that gay always refers to a male homosexual, though sometimes I see this term used to describe female homosexuals (i.e. lesbians) as well. Is it correct usage? Does it ...
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Why "homophobia" and not "sexualism" or similar?
A phobia is an irrational fear of something. An intolerance to something is usually an -ism, not a -phobia, as in
sexism
racism
ageism
Yet people who object to homosexual practices or discriminate ...
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