In this article I scrutinize the terms that Finns use when narrating their experiences of challenging gender and sexual norms or being allies to those who do. The analyzed data consists of memories collected in 2018 by the Commission of Finnish Labour Tradition (one of the bodies with national responsibility to collect LGBTQIA+ history) about most memorable moments. I am interested in the ways in which the materials described the lack of suitable terms, the meanings of finding or inventing them, as well as accepting identities or finding communities which allow identification through the terms. I analyze self-naming when such terms as asexuality, queerness, bisexuality and pansexuality or non-binary (here as muunsukupuolisuus) were used. I also touch upon the increasingly various relationship terminology.

In the materials it is evident that during the 2010s the new classifications address multiple genders and sexualities in ever increasing precision. They are used especially by the younger generation that seeks to understand its relational experiences and ways of being. I see the diversification of terminology as a part of a wider cultural change, during which the former binary classifications of gender and sexuality are in flux. This creates both opportunities and demands for naming oneself as a part of new social networks.