Sexuality is a complex term comprised of elements including sexual identity, sexual orientation and sexual behaviour. Sexual identity is how we perceive and what we call ourselves regarding our own sexuality. It can develop through a person's lifetime and it may be related both to a person's identity with their sexual characteristics and their sexual orientation, though this is the subject of some debate. Sexual identity can be a core component of a person's sense of self along with other elements such as culture, ethnicity, gender and personality.
Sexual orientation is an enduring emotional, romantic or sexual attraction that people feel towards others. Even though many people are exclusively heterosexual or homosexual, it is increasingly accepted that sexual orientation occurs along a continuum: that is, "someone does not have to be exclusively homosexual or heterosexual, but can feel varying degrees of attraction" to people who are male, female or mixed-gender.3 Sexual orientation is generally a favoured term over sexual preference as the latter implies a degree of voluntary choice about sexual affinity that is not substantiated by anecdotal or scientific research.
A person's sexual orientation can develop throughout their lifetime, with different people realising at different points in their life that they are heterosexual, gay, lesbian or bisexual. Realising sexual identity may or may not be the most important influence on a person's personality or behaviour.
Sexual identity and sexual orientation are not the same as sexual behaviour. For example, many adolescents (and adults) may identify themselves as heterosexual, gay, lesbian or bisexual without having had any sexual experience. Other people may have had sexual experiences with a person of the same gender but might not consider themselves gay, lesbian or bisexual.
'Coming out' is often used to describe the process of acknowledging to oneself one's gay, lesbian or bisexual attractions and disclosing this to significant others. The process of disclosure is different for everyone but often occurs in the following general order: other gay, lesbian and bisexual peers; close heterosexual peers; close family members; parents; and then others.4 For most gay, lesbian and bisexual people the process of coming out continues throughout their lifetime. This is because there is a presumption of heterosexuality in most social and work environments.
Homosexuality
Homosexual was a term originally developed by medical researchers in the 1860s to describe people whose primary sexual and emotional attraction is towards members of the same sex. For some people, the term retains a medical or pathological - and negative - connotation and the words gay and lesbian are often used in its place.
3. Policy Institute of the National gay and lesbian task force et. al., Just the Facts about sexual orientation and youth: A Primer for Principals, Educators and School Personnel, 2006, p. 3
4. Ryan and Futterman, 1997 quoted in Just the Facts, p. 4
Medical and health care
Supportive school communities
Introduction