[Rethinking identity]

Abstract

Pioneering work conducted over the past decades used to design sex, gender and sexual orientation in order to go beyond the traditional binary model. In general, professionals in the health and social services, however, are a little bit slow to take note of this paradigm shift making more space for human diversity, and much less to the marginalization or pathologizing of differences. In this article, the work of Alfred Kinsey, Sandra Bem and Anne Fausto-Sterling will be especially presented, respectively on sexual orientation, gender and sex. It will be proposed to include their contributions (and also those of their successors) in a model taking into account both the diversity and the fluidity that may be present in identities and self-expressions related to sex, gender and sexual orientation.