Sexuality is an expression of who we are that involves the mind and the body and includes all the feelings, thoughts, and behaviours associated with being male or female, being attracted and being in love, as well as being in relationships that include sexual intimacy and sexual activity. Sexuality is a broad term and it includes: Sensuality, sex, gender, sexual orientation, sexual identity and sexual behavior.
Sexual orientation: Is the preferred term used when referring to an individual’s physical and/or emotional attraction to the same and/or opposite gender e.g. straight, gay or lesbian. A person’s sexual orientation is distinct from a person’s gender identity and expression.
Gender expression refers to all the external characteristics and behaviours that are socially defined as either masculine or feminine. These including dressing, grooming,mannerisms, speech patterns and social interactions. A person’s gender expression is usually guided by their gender identity but influenced by their social and cultural perspectives and the environment in which they live in. (Gideon,2016)
Queer refers to anything other than straight and cisgender, or, more generally, breaking the mold of what society teaches us are the default options for gender and sexuality.
Cisgender is someone identifying with the physical gender that they were born with.
Sexually fluid is feeling attracted to different genders at different times in one’s lifetime, or open to sexual relationships with a gender that one is not normally attracted to. For example, a heterosexual women who occasionally is attracted to women might identify herself as sexually fluid.
