ABSTRACT
Categorisation and classification of gender and sexuality are not new, and this chapter locates the recent proliferation of sexual and gender terms and how they are framed as a taxonomy in that history. It discusses some of the individual terms and how this new framework can be understood in the context of residual, dominant and emergent cultural structures. Using asexuality as an important example of a new identity label, processes of identity performativity are discussed as well as some reasons why rigid categorisation may not be the most politically and ethically effective approach to addressing questions of exclusion and liveability.
