Sexual Identity

Sexual identity is at the core of your sexuality. Just as with other aspects of your identity (male or female, young or old, and so on) your sexual identity is how you see your sexual self and how you express that part of yourself to others.

But it is just part of yourself - there is more to you as a person than your sexual identity. Most people have many relationships, such as with friends and family, that have nothing to do with their sexual identity.

Sexual identity is one of the three aspects of your sexuality, along with sexual orientation and sexual practices. Sexual orientation describes your underlying sexual preferences, based on a consistent pattern of sexual arousal. Your sexual orientation may be marked by sexual attraction towards people of the opposite sex or towards people of the same sex. For some people, sexual orientation may be towards people of both sexes. Sexual practices are what you do when you have sex, as in the sexual activity itself. All these aspects of sexuality are fluid and may change over time.

We tend to categorise people according to the sexual identity they adopt: heterosexual, gay, lesbian or bisexual. But these categories can be too limiting because they don't reflect how some people see themselves. People may adopt variations on these identities, depending on how they feel and who they are with. Their sexual identities may also evolve throughout their lives.