Gender and sexuality

Being attracted to someone means having romantic or sexual feelings for them.

People can be attracted to people of any gender.

Gender is who you feel you are, for example, a girl, boy, or another gender.

Some people are not attracted to anyone.

There are lots words used to describe sexual orientations.

Some common words are:

• Heterosexual
• Lesbian
• Gay
• Bisexual
• Asexual

Heterosexual means being attracted to people who are the opposite gender:

• a man who is attracted to women
• a woman who is attracted to men.

Lesbian means a woman who is attracted to other women.

Gay means being attracted to people who are the same gender:

• a man who is attracted to men
• a woman who is attracted to women.

Bisexual means being attracted to more than one gender.

Asexual means not feeling sexually attracted to other people.

Some asexual people still enjoy having romantic relationships.

Your sexual orientation can stay the same your whole life, or it can change.

You may be questioning your sexual orientation, and whether you are gay, lesbian, bisexual or fit under another identity.

If you would like help with your sexual orientation get support from LGBT Youth Scotland.

Move down the page to learn more about gender identity.

Sometimes this matches the sex you were given as a baby. Your sex is decided by the private parts you were born with.

Some people feel their body or sex does not match how they feel about their gender identity.

People who feel this way might use words like trans, transgender, or non-binary to describe themselves.

Non-binary means a person feels like they are not a boy or a girl.

Transgender means a person feels like they are a different gender than the one given as a baby.

This could be someone who was told they were a girl when they were born, but feel like a boy.

Or someone who was told they were a boy when they were born, but feel like a girl.

Gender expression is how people might show their gender identity to the world.

It might be how they dress, how they behave and how they want their bodies to look. 

People might use words like ‘she, ‘he’, or ‘they’ to describe themselves. These are called pronouns.  

Learn more about pronouns.

They might use a different name that they feel matches their gender identity better. 

There are more words people use to describe their gender and gender identity.

Learn more.

If you would like help with your gender identity you can get support from LGBT Youth Scotland.

Move down the page to find more resources and support.

Easy read leaflet

You can learn more about the ‘you being you’ video by reading this leaflet.

You can download it here.

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Supports people with learning disabilities.

Find more easy read information here.

Get support from LGBT Youth Scotland.

Learn more about their the services.

Move down the page to find out more