Sex, sexuality and gender

The language around sex, sexuality and gender is an area that people hold strong and differing opinions about. We are mindful that there may not be universal consensus around terminology and our usage of terms is on the advice of legal services, HR and staff communities.

When writing abut sex and gender:

• Sex refers to the biological aspects of an individual (men and women).
• Gender is a social construction relating to behaviours, stereotypes and attributes based on labels. Gender identity is a personal, internal perception of oneself.

In general, we will reference gender if it is relevant to the piece being written. As with language around other identities, we will ask people how they describe themselves rather than assuming.

We recommend using gender neutral terms. 

Examples

• ‘Everyone’ or ‘colleagues’, rather than ‘ladies and gentlemen’ or ‘guys’
• ‘Parent’ or ‘guardian’, rather than ‘mother’ or ‘father’
• ‘Chairperson’ or ‘spokesperson’ rather than ‘chairman’ or ‘spokeswoman’

We use pronouns in everyday language to talk about people.

When writing about someone, we always ask what pronouns they prefer.  

Examples

• She, her, hers, herself
• He, him, his, himself
• They, them, theirs, themself or themselves

There are many reasons why a person may wish to change their name, including if they marry or move to a country where their given name is less well understood.   We use the person's name at the time of writing. If we are not sure of their current name, we always ask.

At the University of Edinburgh, we write the acronym that expresses sexuality as LGBT+.

When writing about individuals, we mention sexuality only when relevant to the context of the communication we are preparing.

We always ask a person how they would like to be described before we write about them. 

When we write about groups, we try to use language preferred by the group. We recognise that definitions vary globally depending on cultural context, and the language in this area changes.