Gender-Loving-Gender
Gender-Loving-Gender (GLG) is a format used to describe some juvelic attractions or relationships. These terms are based on stating one's own gender and the gender(s) one is attracted to. Examples include mlm (man loving man) and wlnb (woman loving non-binary).[1] Terms that use the gender-loving-gender format attraction are not inherently exclusive.
These terms are commonly used as umbrella terms to form a sense of community around a common attraction. For example, lesbians, bisexual women, and pansexual women all fall under the category of women loving women (wlw)/sapphic, because they are all attracted to women and these attractions don't have to be exclusive. In this case by identifying as sapphic they are usually emphasizing or prioritizing their attraction to women over any other attractions that they may have.
Some individuals, such as multigender and/or multisexual individuals, may fall under multiple of these categories. One may identify as multiple of these terms or some combination of them, all dependent upon how one views themself and how one views their relationship(s)/attraction(s).
An alternate and more complex version of GLG is the GxG format.
Usage
First Letter
The first letter indicates what gender one personally identifies as. The most commonly used letters are:
- M: represents men, those who are partially men, those who are man-aligned, those who are man-related, and those who are masculine-aligned.
- W: represents women, those who are partially women, those who are woman-aligned, those who are woman-related, and those who are feminine-aligned.
- NB or N: represents those who are non-binary, generally those who are neutral-aligned, unaligned, or abinary, but it may be used by any non-binary individual.
Theoretically any gender can be abbreviated and represented here. Some lesser used letters include:
- A: represents agender, abinary, androgyne or aporagender individuals. Occasionally AG is used for agender, AB is used for abinary and AN is used for androgyne. This is usually included under non-binary, but sometimes individuals want to specify this attraction.
- D: represents demigender individuals and forms combinations with other letters (for example, DG is a demigirl and DB is a demiboy).
- GF: represents genderfluid, genderflux, or genderfluix individuals.
- I: stands for intergender, ipsogender, or indeterminate.
- T: stands for transgender, used for trans-loving-trans identities. It can also be used to modify existing letters such TW for trans woman or TM for trans man.
- MG: represents multigender people.
- X: represents xenic individuals. X is also sometimes used to represent genderless individuals. This is usually included under non-binary, but sometimes individuals want to specify this attraction. XE is sometimes used to represent xenogender individuals.
One can fall under multiple of the gender categories at once. The category(s) one falls under is based entirely on one's own perception of their gender and what aspects of their gender they consider important in regards to their attraction. For example, a woman aligned non-binary individual may identify only in the W category, may identify only in the NB category, or they may identify as being in both categories.
Second Letter
The second letter is almost always “L”, standing for "loving". It is rarely replaced by a "4", meaning "for". An example using 4 is T4T (Trans-For-Trans).
Third Letter
The third letter indicates the gender one is attracted to. Just like the first letter, the most common are “M”, “W”, or “NB”, but theoretically any gender could be put here. One could experience attraction to that gender and/or participate in relationships with that gender exclusively or not.
Resources
- ↑ University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. "Glossary of Terms". Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer Plus (LGBTQ+) Resource Center, https://uwm.edu/lgbtrc/support/glossary-of-terms/. Accessed on 17 Feb, 2023.
