Exploring your identity

Your sexuality/ sexual orientation and gender identity are part of what makes you, you! Some people confuse sexuality and gender, but they are completely different.

Sexuality: includes who you are sexually and/ or romantically attracted to (or not). These may be different. Sometimes people know from a young age who they are attracted to, for other people, it may take a while to work out.

Gender identity: Questioning your gender identity can be really confusing. When we are born, we are assigned a gender at birth, usually based on our sexual organs, however later in life, some people may feel that they do not identify with this assigned gender. It is also important to remember that gender isn’t just ‘male’ or ‘female’, some people identify as non-binary. This umbrella term may mean that someone doesn’t identify with any gender, or may identify as more than one. You can describe it however feels the most comfortable to you and remember, gender isn’t based on body parts. Click here to have a look at the genderbread person which helps explain gender. 

No matter how you’re feeling about your sexuality and/ or gender identity- there are people that you can talk to!