Sex assigned at birth
Assigned sex at birth (ASAB) refers to a person’s sex, derived shortly after birth using physical sex characteristics like genitalia. The majority of people’s assigned sex at birth matches their gender identity; this is referred to as being cisgender. People who are not cisgender (i.e. transgender and nonbinary people) have an assigned sex at birth that does not match with their gender identity. In the case of people with sex characteristics that don’t represent the gender binary (i.e. intersex people), the designation is made at the discretion of the present medical staff.
The purpose of referring to someone’s sex at birth as “assigned” is to acknowledge the lack of choice in the sex listed on their birth certificate. Someone else, most likely a doctor, assigned each person’s sex at birth made solely off of physical characteristics. While this statistically aligns with the majority of people’s gender identities, it is important to prioritize recognizing someone’s preferred gender identity over their assigned sex at birth, as they have agency in deciding the former for themselves.
Sexism
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one’s sex or gender, mostly against women. Like most forms of bigotry, it can be interpersonal or institutional. Regardless of the form it takes, it is rooted in the belief that one sex is inherently superior to another. The purpose of sexism against women and girls is to maintain patriarchy, or a society dominated by males. Since most modern societies are patriarchal, sexism generally refers to the social, economical, and political oppression of women and girls.
The extreme version of sexism is called misogyny, or the hatred of women. While sexism usually refers to the socioeconomic disadvantages women have when interacting with others or institutions, misogyny carries a violent connotation. A misogynistic society is one that not only holds women back from participating in its systems, but implicitly (or explicitly) perpetuates and encourages violence and abuse against women.
Sexual Minority
A sexual minority is someone whose sexual orientation differs from what is considered the norm in a given society. Modern Western culture is quite heteronormative, so the sexual minorities in this case would be those who identify as gay, bisexual, lesbian, etc. Younger generations are more likely to identify as a sexual minority. This is most likely because of the reduced stigma around being LGBTQIA+ allowing more people to openly identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, etc.
The term “sexual minority” does not refer to people whose gender identity is different from their assigned sex at birth. “Sexual minority” specifically refers to a person’s sexual orientation, so transgender and nonbinary individuals are not inherently considered sexual minorities. To rectify this, the term “sexual and gender minority (SGM)” was coined to be more inclusive to all people under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella who have to deal with the prejudice and discrimination that comes with being queer in a hetero/cisnormative society.
Sexual Orientation
A person’s sexual orientation determines who they are sexually (and often romantically) attracted to. Sexual orientation doesn’t necessarily denote romantic attraction; they just happen to be the same for the majority of people. For example, someone can identify as homoromantic heterosexual, which means they only form romantic bonds with people of the same gender, but are sexually attracted to people of the opposite gender.
Today, there are many different sexual orientations, with more being conceived frequently to address different gaps in representation. Among the most common are heterosexuality (being attracted to a different gender), homosexuality (being attracted to the same gender), and bisexuality (being attracted to both the same gender and different genders than your own). Although being transgender is often included in the same conversation, it is not a sexual orientation; it is a gender identity, relating to who someone is rather than who they are attracted to.