The Grammatical Use of your Sexuality

[Star Burton]

As someone who is in a discriminated minority, I am often offended when I am call "a" anything that is simply one aspect of my being. I feel like I'm being discriminated against. If anyone calls me "a female," "a human," "a demisexual," etc, I feel as if I'm being reduced to one aspect of myself. Now, if we're in a predetermined context, such as discussing humans, I'm okay with being called "a female," because it was previously stated that I am also human. It gives me more of a self and less of a statistic. But with something like "atheist" or "woman," I'm okay with this, because these are only used to describe humans, since only humans have belief systems, and woman means a "female human." Thus, either of those words combines two or more aspects of myself, and gives me more of an identity. For example, I'm not okay with someone calling a woman "a homosexual," because they are reducing her to one aspect of herself. But, "a lesbian" is fine, because it combines her being female, human, and homosexual.

TL;DR - Do you feel being called "a [insert sexuality]" is derogatory, as calling someone "a [male/female]" is?

[Verb]

Voted for both. I don't find it derogatory, just descriptive. I like things being easy to categorise :P

[Philip027]

That's an awfully particular thing to be particular about.

/shrug

Anyway, I use it both ways.

[JJButterworth]

I personally use as an adjective only, when referring to myself, but have I have no issues with other people using as a noun.

[RandomGirlK]

I have no problem with it, its not something I have ever really noticed.

[Skippy Squirrel]

Generally speaking, I like to avoid starting descriptive statements with "I am" because that implies that whatever follows the "I am" is the defining characteristic of me. I prefer to use other verbs besides "am" if possible, or if I have to start with "I am", I make the next word a verb in the present participle. For example, "I have pale skin, I study computer science and I live in England" as opposed to "I am pale, I am a computer science student and I am an Englishman". The only two exceptions I can think of right now are my name and my age, and that's only because I find "My name is" and any other way of expressing my age to be too cumbersome.

I would probably express my sexuality in verbal form or adjectival phrase form, rather than relying on a single noun or adjective.

[enjolras]

I use asexual/ace as an adjective, but I also call myself an amoeba (noun) for fun (reclaiming the insults, yeah!)

I can see how someone calling me "an asexual" could be offensive, though, esp. if used in a derogatory way ("Oh, you're one of those asexuals.")

[Naylien]

I usually just say "I'm asexual," not "I'm an asexual." Like anyone would say "I'm straight" or "I'm gay."

[The Crispy Mushroom]

As a rule, I try to use these kinds of descriptors of identity as just those -- descriptors. More than anything else, this is because I live in a conservative part of the country, and am used to hearing these used in negative contexts. Statements like, "oh, you know those (insert sexuality/race/whathaveyou here) [...]" are all too common here.

I don't think using these kinds of words as nouns is inherently derogatory, but in practice it's easier to avoid such connotations using the adjectival forms.

[Lady Girl]

I just noticed it says "an asexual person is a person..." across the top of the page, always. I think it depends a lot on the intent, I try to say asexual people as opposed to asexuals, so yeah, kinda depends I guess.

[Twiddle~]

Random Trivia:

I know the staff of the Transport for London network have to use terms like gay, straight, bisexual ect as adjectives.

They also cannot use "homosexual" as it is a "medical term and so considered inappropriate".

Asexual isn't mentioned in their editorial style guide.

[Guest]

It's too complex to give a vote like that for me... in English, I prefer the adjective version, but don't overly mind the noun either. In German, I would stay clear of the noun completely (there seems to be a vibe of devaluation/discrimination in it that I don't feel in the English use).

[Arcovia]

I voted both. When talking about myself I'd more likely say "I'm asexual" instead of "I'm an asexual", except when explaining the concept to people; saying "an asexual" is clearer than "asexual" which might be heard as "a sexual". I also would say "I'm aromantic" but not "I'm aromantic asexual". That sounds clunky, so when mentioning both my orientations I'd add "an".

When talking about another person or the group as a whole, I usually go with whatever feels right. Usually it's "Asexual people/the asexual community" and "She's asexual".

[desmanthus]

I use it almost exclusively as an adjective when talking about myself, but sometimes as a noun when talking about other people (just because it's quicker to says "asexuals" than "asexual people"). I think using it as a noun definitely CAN sound derogatory sometimes, but it depends on context - I don't see it as inherently so.

[sound_the_bugle]

I refer to "my demisexuality" but I say "I am demisexual." So I use both, just as they were meant to be used. It would be grammatically incorrect to say "I am a demisexual" just as it's incorrect to say "I am a straight" or "I am a gay." As far as I know, only "lesbian" is used both as an adjective and noun.

[Hexagon]

Adjective. Using it as a noun feels weird and derogatory.

[NinjaRobot]

Both. Here's how I refer to myself:

A straight ace

Straight

Ace

Asexual

An ace

[Lady Girl]

This poll is being locked and moved to the read only Census archive for it's respective year. As part of ongoing Census organization, and in an attempt to keep the demographics of the polls current with the active user base at the time, the polls will last for one year from now on. However, members are allowed and even encouraged to re-start new polls similar to the archived ones if they like them.

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