One of the problems with trying to engender understanding of and respect for people of all sexualities and genders concerns terminology. On the one hand, labels give us a ‘handle’, allowing us to examine, clarify and manipulate concepts and ideas; on the other, they risk pigeonholing and stereotyping people. Joanna McIntyre, writing in the SMH, gives a good sense of this dilemma in her examination of the term ‘cisgender’:
Words matter
