The Socio-sexual Matrix… IV

Mm-kay... I've updated the genitalia facet to reflect four modalities: male, female, ambiguous, and altered — altered being the new state to accommodate man's interventions. This is in preparation for a small, multi-page booklet to accompany the matrix.

NB: All drafts are available in my public Box.net folder, and other posts on the subject are (of course) available via the socio-sexual matrix topic category.

The Socio-sexual Matrix: Now with Fecundity!

So... part three in a continuing series of updates! With so many updates, this feels more like software than a way of capturing the vagueries of one's socio-sexual identity.

Anyway, I realized that I had failed to include facets that reflect the desire and ability one has to procreate. A deficit Which I've now rectified — with the Draft 03. There are now three closely-related facets in the "viagra blue" section: procreative capacity (can I have/make children), libido (do I want to have sex), and procreative urge — do I want to have/make children. Please note that libido and procreative urge are distinct (albeit related) facets.

More to come, I'm certain.

In the meantime, feedback is welcome!

NB: All drafts are available in my public Box.net folder, and other posts on the subject are (of course) available via the socio-sexual matrix topic category.

The (Socio-sexual) Matrix... Reloaded

I don't mean to post twice in a row on the same subject… but I had such great feedback, that I just had to update the graphic. You'll notice that ranges of options are now much more obvious, and that "other" and "ambiguous" are now discreet options on their respective facets — I'm still mulling that second choice. Are "other" and "ambiguous" really discrete? Hm...

The new question I'm trying to tackle, though, is whether fertility is a facet of the socio-sexual matrix. Thoughts?

NB: All drafts are available in my public Box.net folder, and other posts on the subject are (of course) available via the socio-sexual matrix topic category.

Introducing the (Latest) Socio-sexual Matrix

It all started a few years back when I was confronted with the inadequacy of our language to fully describe — and the mind, therefore, to either parse or grok — one's socio-sexual condition.

So I got to thinking …and sketching.

With time, I came to the belief not in a spectrum of sexuality (straight–gay), but a nuanced matrix. I first wrote about it a couple of years back in my essays on being a gay Mormon (see Part I). I even put together a rough information graphic, but it's been lost somewhere in the shuffle. Since then, I've continued to think about the matrix and refine it. And then, this last week, a dear friend asked a question about gender or some such, and I decided it was time to flesh-out a new draft of the matrix (PDF).

Download the graphic…

You'll notice that the matrix features nine facets — core gender, genitalia (and secondary sexual characteristics), genetics, orientation, libido, focus, commitment, (approach to) social norms, and (approach to) sex norms. Each of these facets, in turn, feature a number of manifestations. Some are discrete manifestations, while others are harder to define — being more like a cloud of choice, or a point along a spectrum. From core gender, moving clock-wise, each grouping — yellows, green, blue, pinks — represents increasingly malleable states of being.

For sake of simplicity, this graphic doesn't address related issues of inputs and the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) changes that come about over time.

NB: All drafts are available in my public Box.net folder, and other posts on the subject are (of course) available via the socio-sexual matrix topic category.