在性別研究以及同志平權運動中,人們經常使用LGBT、LGBTQ甚至更長的LGBTQIAP+來指代性多元群體。但是,這些西洋舶來詞到底是指什麼呢?LGBTQIAP+實際上是由不同性多元人群的英語首字母組成的縮語,在某些情況下,一個字母可能指代一類甚至多類的人群。事實上,不少參與到性別及同志平權運動的人,也不一定能完全了解每一個字母所代表的人群。
普及度較高的LGBT,L是指「女同性戀」 (Lesbian);G是「男同性戀」(Gay);較少人知道的B是指「雙性戀」(Bisexual);T可代表「跨性別者」(Transsexual, transgender, trans)。除此之外,Q可以指代「酷兒」社群(Queer),也同時指代著那些還在對性向/性別探索中的人群(Questioning);I代表「間性人」(Intersex);A除了是「無性戀」(Asexual)外,亦代表著作為二元性別之外的「無性別」認同(Agender),同時還指代對性多元人群表示友善、支持的「同盟」(Alliance);最後,「P」代表「泛性戀」(Pansexual)和「泛性別」(Pangender)。
使用縮寫LGBT(QIAP+)來指代性多元群體的做法在90年代開始萌芽,並在21世紀初廣泛普及起來。但實際上,這一縮寫的出現、構成、擴充與發展經歷了一段漫長的歷程,期間涉及到「身份政治」的興起與不同人群的「現身」需求。從最初的GLB、GLBT、LGBT,到如今的LGBTQ、LGBTQIAP+,這期間到底經歷了什麼?是什麼讓性多元群體有了愈來愈長的縮寫代稱?這種利用縮寫代稱來指代性多元人群的做法又有著什麼意義和局限呢?
參考資料:
1. American Phychological Association. Understanding Bisexuality.
https://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/bisexual
2. American Phychological Association. Transgender People, Gender Identity and Gender Expression.
https://www.apa.org/topics/lgbt/transgender
3. Bisexual Resource Center. What does it mean to be bisexual.
https://biresource.org/bisexuality-101/
4. Bisexual Resource Center. What is Bisexuality?
https://biresource.org/resources/youth/what-is-bisexuality/
5. Jeffry J. Iovannone. How did the LGBTQ community come to be known as such?. Queer History for the People. A Brief History of the LGBTQ Initialism.
https://medium.com/queer-history-for-the-people/a-brief-history-of-the-lgbtq-initialism-e89db1cf06e3
6. Email Zak. LGBPTTQQIIAA+: How We Got Here from Gay.
https://msmagazine.com/2013/10/01/lgbpttqqiiaa-how-we-got-here-from-gay/
7. Michael Gold. The ABCs of L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+. The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/21/style/lgbtq-gender-language.html
8. Jerrold S. Greenberg,Clint E. Bruess,Sara B. Oswalt.
Exploring the Dimensions of Human Sexuality.2014. 373.
9. American Psychiatric Association. Expert Q & A: Gender Dysphoria.
https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/gender-dysphoria/expert-q-and-a
10. History of the word 『Gay』.
https://www.pbs.org/video/history-of-the-word-gay-bcbiuu/
11. Clare Hemmings (2007) What's in a Name? Bisexuality,
Transnational Sexuality Studies and Western ColonialLegacies, International Journal of Human Riahts. 11:1-23-32, DO: 10.1080/13642980601176258
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