General Gender and Sexuality Information (from the mighty internet)
Sex vs. Gender
Sex = male and female
Gender = masculine and feminine
So in essence:
Sex refers to biological differences; chromosomes, hormonal profiles, internal and external sex organs.
Gender describes the characteristics that a society or culture delineates as masculine or feminine.
So while your sex as male or female is a biological fact that is the same in any culture, what that sex means in terms of your gender role as a 'man' or a 'woman' in society can be quite different cross culturally. These 'gender roles' have an impact on the health of the individual.
In sociological terms 'gender role' refers to the characteristics and behaviors that different cultures attribute to the sexes. What it means to be a 'real man' in any culture requires male sex plus what our various cultures define as masculine characteristics and behaviors, likewise a 'real woman' needs female sex and feminine characteristics. (http://www.med.monash.edu.au/gendermed/sexandgender.html)
Some examples of sex characteristics
Women menstruate while men do not
Men have testicles while women do not
Women have developed breasts that are usually capable of lactating, while men have not
Men generally have more massive bones than women
Some examples of gender characteristics :
In the United States (and most other countries), women earn significantly less money than men for similar work
In Viet Nam, many more men than women smoke, as female smoking has not traditionally been considered appropriate
In Saudi Arabia men are allowed to drive cars while women are not
In most of the world, women do more housework than men
(http://www.who.int/gender/whatisgender/en/)
Sexualities
Heterosexuality- Is the sexual attraction between members of the opposite sexes such as man attracts to woman and woman attracts to man sexually.
Homosexuality- is the sexual attraction between members of the same sexes such as man to man and woman to woman.sexually.
Bisexuality- Is the sexual attraction to both the opposite and same sexes such as man to man and man to woman, woman to woman and woman to man.
Asexuality- Is also known as nonsexuality which is the lack of sexual attraction and sexual interest towards others.
Polysexuality- Is the sexual attraction to more than one gender but do not wish to be known as bisexual as it implies that their are only two binary sexes, do not confuse this with pansexuality (Pan meaning All) and (Poly meaning many).
Pansexuality- Is the sexual attraction towards people regardless of gender also known as omnisexuality, some pansexuals refer to themselves as gender blind as to them gender is insignificant in determining whether they will be sexually attracted to others.
Transexualism - Is when a person identifies themselves with a physical sex that is different to their own biological one, A medical diagnosis can be made if a person experiences discomfort as a result of a desire to be a member of the opposite sex. for example a person may be born male, and is uncomfortable with their gender as a male and changes to a female, or a female may change to a male. It is a long process that they will go through and an expensive one too.
Demisexuality - a person who doesn't experience sexual attraction unless they form a strong emotional bond.