Feedback on the Diagram

 

I created an infographic for this series to represent the conceptual relationships between various LGBT identities.

Survey data and anecdotal examples informed how I chose to organize the diagram.

When I created the diagram, I tried to anticipate potential critiques people might have with how I organized it.

I included the diagram in several social media posts promoting articles in this series.

I have received some critical feedback on this diagram, almost all of which has been polite.

 

The critical feedback I have received came from critiques I hadn’t anticipated.

In this article, I will briefly discuss some of the critical feedback the graphic has received.

But I will only discuss the feedback I received that was polite.

 

I made one change to the diagram in response to feedback, which I discuss below. I went back and adjusted the diagrams in my earlier articles to incorporate this change.

 

In this article, I’m not going to include the user names of the people who provided feedback.

I don’t want any of my readers to seek them out and attempt to debate them on the finer points of LGBT identity.

I am interested in the substance of their comments, and I don’t want to start any internet drama.

 

As a reminder, here is the infographic I am referring to.

This is the original version, which I adjusted in response to feedback. 

You can click on the diagram to view a larger version of it.

 

 

The original version of the LGBT infographic, as it previously appeared in my articles.

 

 

I introduced the infographic in “The Big Picture,” where I included a few disclaimers.

The most important of which is that “other people might define these terms differently than I do. They also might organize the relationships between these identities differently.”

Initially, I didn’t include similar disclaimers in my social media posts where I also published the graphic.

In the future, I plan to add similar disclaimers anywhere I promote a related diagram.

 

I created two close up versions of this infographic, which I published in “Sexual and Romantic Orientation” and “Gender Identity and Biological Sex.”

These versions include pride flags next to the identities they represent. 

 

 

 

Critique: 

Not everyone who is genderqueer is nonbinary

  

A binary trans man who is genderqueer observed that someone who looked at my diagram and his identity labels would quickly become confused.

The trans man also identifies as a femboy in his social media profile.

 

Previously, I had only seen nonbinary people describe themselves as genderqueer.

Marilyn Roxie, the creator of the genderqueer flag, explained while there is significant overlap between the terms nonbinary and genderqueer, people with a binary gender could be genderqueer as well.

But until now, I didn’t know of anyone with a binary gender who identifies as genderqueer.

In my articles, I explained, “Someone who doesn’t identify as nonbinary could refer to themselves as genderqueer if they engage in gender expression in a non-conforming way, like drag queens do.”

But this was more theoretical than concrete, because I wasn’t aware of any examples of people with binary genders who identified as genderqueer.

Now I am.

 

I adjusted the infographic in earlier articles so genderqueer isn’t listed as a synonym for nonbinary, because genderqueer is an identity shared by people in other gender categories as well.

That is the same reason I didn’t include transmasculine and transfeminine in the diagram, because those identities are shared by both binary and nonbinary transgender people.

Here is what the updated diagram looks like. 

 

This is the updated infographic, with the change described above.

 

 

I also updated the diagram in “Gender Identity and Biological Sex,” which now looks like this. 

 

 

 

 

Critique: 

Biological sex can be a harmful concept

 

 

My gender analysis attracted another critical response.

A transgender woman said “’biological sex’ is not an expression that is accurate or welcomed by everyone.”

“I can say that it’s something I’m against, myself,” she added. “The brain is biological too after all. To give a start on why it’s not a good way to talk about sex. (And we are who we are as trans folk, not just psychologically).”

She said cisgender people can have physical traits different than usually occur, “since the biological reality can be more complex compared to what someone is assigned at birth.”

 

The trans woman’s comment led to a long discussion involving many people.

In response to one of my comments, she elaborated on her position.

“Too many people use 'biological sex' to make a false distinction and try to talk about it as if someone’s trans' biological sex is a specific and different thing while their gender identity is another. I'm just voicing my thoughts on it because I've seen it misused a lot including by people who don't understand or are transphobic (using 'biological' to imply that someone trans isn't how they identify).”

 

Certainly, biological sex is complex. It comprises chromosomes, hormones, secondary sex characteristics, as well as gender identity.

And transphobes have tried to use biological sex to legally define transgender people out of existence.

But I believe biological sex is a real and useful concept, particularly when explaining transgender identities to a general audience, some of whom are unfamiliar with these topics.

I also find the phrase "biological sex" useful, because if someone says "sex," many people will think about the act of having sex, rather than biological traits.

 

 

 

Critique: 

Not all asexual people identify as LGBT

 

An asexual woman said not all asexuals consider themselves to be LGBT.

This wasn’t technically a comment on the diagram. Instead, it was a reply to a social media post I made promoting an article in this series.

 

I have found several asexuals online who consider themselves LGBT, because they are asexual.

Thusfar, I haven’t found any examples of asexuals who don’t consider themselves LGBT.

 

Importantly, I’ve read comments from asexual people who are concerned other people would object to asexual people considering themselves LGBT.

 

If an asexual person chooses not to identify as LGBT, that’s fine with me.

But I do believe that it is useful to have terms, like LGBT, that describe the broad category of people who identify with minority sexualities and gender identities. 

 

 

 

Critique: 

Lesbian can be a gender identity

 

After seeing the diagram, a commenter observed, “lesbian can also be a gender identity.”

I replied with a question.

“Do you think of lesbian (as a gender identity) as a type of woman (like tomboy) or as a nonbinary identity?” I asked.

They replied, “That’s a question for everyone who is a lesbian and feels that it might change their perception of their gender and basically unlocks a new identity for themselves,” they replied. “Like, some of them will say that they are 100% still women, other people say that they feel so disconnected from womanhood that they decide it has to be a different thing altogether, and some were nonbinary to begin with.”

“’Lesbian’ is a really complex identity and can’t be put into a mere box saying just one thing,” they continued. “Because, frankly, often times it transcends the boundaries of all involved identities too, like a woman that is detached from (traditional) womanhood by getting out of patriarchal mindsets/society, overly attracted to other people who are the same and so sexual and gender identity are intertwined.”

 

Certainly, people are welcome to use lesbian as a gender identity.

But that isn’t a concept that fits easily into the models of gender and sexuality outlined in my diagram.

 

 

 

Conclusion

 

I appreciate all of the polite feedback I have received, including the feedback discussed in this article.

When discussing abstract topics, like LGBT identity, there certainly is plenty of room for reasonable people to reasonably disagree.

Nonetheless, I believe spreading awareness of these identities, and the concepts they reference, is a valuable thing to do.

This is especially true when LGBT rights are at the center of important political debates, as they are today.