Society is evolving at a rapid rate, sometimes too fast for us humans to keep up with. Some traditions are being dropped as backward and archaic and other phenomenon are springing up. We are part of a very conservative African society that mostly takes change with a pinch of salt and is very resistant at that. Despite the onset and rapid rise of liberal movements lack of knowledge and information aka ignorance in the large masses makes it hard for the masses to accept these movements especially when it comes to matters sexual.
Audrey Mbugua made the headlines recently after taking the National Examination Council to court for failing to change her name from Andrew to one that met her new identity Audrey. The issue of transsexuals has now become a hot topic of discussion.
The sexual suffix has become an appendage to quite an unexpected variety of words. I will highlight just a few that seem to have caught our conservative society by “surprise”.
Transsexual
Transsexualism describes the condition in which an individual identifies with a gender inconsistent or not culturally associated with their assigned sex, i.e. in which a person’s assigned sex at birth conflicts with their psychological gender.
Homosexual
Homosexuality is defined as a romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual activity between members of the same sex or gender.
Bisexual
Bisexuality is a romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behaviour toward both males and females.
Metro-sexual
The term is derived from metropolitan and heterosexual and was coined in 1994 describing a man who is especially meticulous about his grooming and appearance and typically spending a significant amount of time and money on shopping as part of this. It is stereotypically associated with homosexuality although by the definition as given by the originator, a metro-sexual “might be officially gay, straight or bisexual.”
There are many more terms that use the sexual suffix and sooner rather than later, in my opinion, our society will have to come to terms with the same.