The ABC's of LGBT+. Ashley Mardell
a mix of male and female, I felt like an entirely different gender.
Then I saw a visual representation of the gender spectrum being shown as a planet. There were uncharted lands, mountains, islands and more places than just the space between male and female. This was getting closer but still felt too finite.
To me, gender is an infinite universe. Every single person experiences gender differently. Sometimes a person has no gender, like a black hole or cluster of stars in deep space. Sometimes gender feels like a bursting colorful galaxy. Some people may stick to a strictly female planet their whole life, or jump fluidly between several. I have never been able to find a more specific label than “non-binary” that describes how I feel about my own gender, but creating the gender universe makes me feel okay about that. We all have our own unique place in the infinite gender universe.
Unless you craft your own custom diagram that is impeccably tailored to illustrate the intricacies of your identity, no spectrum model will be perfect. Many aren’t able to capture the specifics, subtleties, and conditions of some identities. Novosexuality,38 for example, is a sexual orientation we’ll unpack more later that has several contingencies and circumstances built into it. Therefore, accurately capturing it with just a few points on a spectrum is essentially impossible without some pretty lengthy footnotes.39 It could look something like this:
As we’ve learned, visual spectrums find their flaws in their tendency to oversimplify identities. However, while these models are imperfect, their existence still valuably impacts the way we view identities. To show you what I mean:
Spectrums are dope because they:
Challenge binaries (Example: “Don’t need gender neutral bathrooms? Everyone is either a man or woman you say? Psh, there are SO many other genders, just look at this spectrum!”)
Acknowledge that identities can exist in varying degrees of intensity (I’m genderflux, and I play with colors on my spectrum to show this. On days when I feel intensely like a girl, my dot is dark purple. On days when I feel kinda like a girl, it’s medium purple. On days when I feel barely like a girl, it’s light purple.)
Allow for change and fluidity (Example: “My identity changes so often, instead of a dot, I often draw a bracket on my spectrum!”)
Embrace middle spaces (Example: “I’m Intersex. My sex is neither male nor female, but rather falls somewhere in between. I exist right around here on the spectrum.”)
Promote inclusion within the LGBTQIA+ community (Example: “You don’t have to be gay to belong to the LGBTQIA+ community. You can also be bisexual, questioning, or many other things! There is a whole spectrum of identities that is considered LGBTQIA+!”)
Provide precision when describing identities, because sometimes words simply aren’t enough (Example: “Eh, I’m pretty asexual.” “...What does that mean?” “Here, I’ll draw where I fall on the spectrum.” *quick doodle session* “OH! I see!”)
Remind us that the LGBTQIA+ community is more vast and diverse than we might have ever known (Example: “Look at all these identities that fall within this gender color wheel! I haven’t even heard of some! That’s so cool, I want to learn more!”)
Spectrums aren’t just restricted to visual models; they can also be conceptual. Maybe something is too vast or infinite to put on a paper. Then don’t! You can still say and understand that a certain identity exists on a spectrum. This simply means it can occur in varying degrees and/or come in a range of possibilities.
When it comes down to it, spectrums are simply tools and concepts available to help people describe and visualize their identities. Whether or not a person chooses to utilize spectrums is totally up to them!
PS. It is also positively okay to scribble question marks all over your spectrum - I know I did!
On the next page is a re-creation of one of my first spectrum models. (Warning: It’s not perfect and perpetuates the binary. I was young, but it’s cool to see how much a person can learn in just a few years!)
Ashley’s 21-year-old identity spectrums:
Now that we’ve learned so much about spectrums, you may want to take a minute to apply the information in a short exercise. In the space below consider drawing your identity spectrum as you understand it today. Remember you can make your spectrum linear, circular, spherical, or any form you like! You can also fill your spectrum with dots, shading, arrows, footnotes, question marks, doodles and more!
If you’re feeling extra reflective, keep this page in mind, come back next year, and draw your spectrum in the space below again! It might be cool to see how much you and your spectrum can change over time.
28. There are some limitations in portraying this concept in this way. It is not perfect, and we’ll learn about some other styles of spectrums later that can depict the experience of sexual attraction more accurately.
31. Graysexual: Someone who experiences low amounts of attractions, only experiences attraction under certain circumstances, or is unsure if they experience attraction. See here for more!
32. Aceflux: Someone who experiences varying degrees of attraction. See here for more!
33. See the cheat for more on the term “binary.”
34. Don’t know what these labels mean? Learn more about them in the “Gender” section, starting here! Also, even after many desperate attempts, I cannot find/contact the person who originally conceptualized the gender color wheel. If you have any leads, please let me know at [email protected] so I can give them credit.
35. See here for more on these attractions!
36. See here for more on how someone might represent their identity in the form of a bar graph!
37. Find more Charlie here: http://bit.ly/2c3dVFR
38. A novosexual person is someone who’s attractions change based on the gender(s) that they are experiencing. See here for more on this!
39. I’m always a fan of a good footnote though ;)