ABSTRACT
Intersectionality is used as a framework in this chapter to explore how society works to offer opportunities or curtail life chances based on an adolescent’s gender and sexual identity. Physiological sex and gender are viewed by many contemporary psychologists as sociohistorical and cultural constructions created by people and open to change. This chapter stresses that the two-gender only way of seeing the physical sex and gender of an adolescent does not encompass the bodies and life experience of all youths. Dillon and colleagues’ model of sexual identity development is reviewed. Research is then presented that describes cultural and generational shifts around the language used by many youths to describe their gender and sexual identity and how they label and think about their sexual identities and behaviors. Adult stakeholders in youth should be empowered and competent in their understanding of adolescent gender and sexual identity development.
