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Let's Talk About Gender!

Posted by lewisabraham from Cardiff - Published on 13/12/2012 at 15:33
4 comments » - Tagged as Culture, Education, Health, People, Topical

  • gender symbols

Yn Gymraeg // Welsh version

Hello there!

I've read a lot of articles on CLIConline as well as TheSprout regarding gender issues, and all of them are great and so helpful! But there are very few on gender issues for those non-binary gender folk.

Let's clear some things up first.

I know it has been covered elsewhere but non-binary gender (NB) is a range of gender identities such as pangender, genderqueer, bi-gender, androgynous and so forth. To put it simple, non-binary genders are those genders that don't fit in between the cisgender female – male and the Transgender FTM or MTF.

If I had to put a label on myself (which I hate with a passion) I would be a pansexual pangender. Now I know, that sounds like an awful lot of pans for one identity, but I suppose that's one of the good aspects of gender identity, there are no right or wrongs!

Another confusion that often comes up is pronouns. Yes, those things again. Pronouns are an important part of life, and not just for transgendered people. If you are a guy, how would you like it if someone called you 'she' or 'her' when you know you're actually a guy? The same principal applies for trans folk. Although, a bit more specifically for non-binary gender kids, I don't care what I'm called! Some people call me 'he' others call me 'she' and I don't mind, but that's simply my preference. Others however, tend to use the pronouns for NB genders like 'Ze/Zir' or they simply stick to 'They/Them'

People who identify as NB genders are not 'its' even though trans people often get referred to as 'it' a lot more people don't know about the pronouns for NB genders so it's more common. If in doubt just ask!

A way to ensure gender equality is if you look at people and ignore their physical features. Don't think of them as male or female instinctively, be open-minded. And ask about pronouns, it could make someone's day by just calling them the correct pronoun.

"When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you." Friedrich Nietzsche

I apologise this article isn't very good or particularly interesting but I hope it cleared some things up.

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4 CommentsPost a comment

MarshMallo

MarshMallo

Commented 41 months ago - 13th December 2012 - 17:09pm

I really like this article! It's good because it's factual and you shared your opinion. :)

The subject of being trans* is really interesting to me. I especially like hearing other people's stories, like this guy's story: http://boxersandbinders.tumblr.com . I've learned a lot from it, especially the term "trans*", which is an umbrella for all genders/sexes that aren't cisgendered, which includes non-binary and transgender.

I'm very interested in what it's like to be trans* and I always look out for stories like this. I enjoyed it a lot. :)

zippedlips

zippedlips

Commented 41 months ago - 13th December 2012 - 19:58pm

Thank you for posting this :) It is always nice to see a fellow non-binary confident enough to talk about this stuff :)

lewisabraham

Commented 41 months ago - 13th December 2012 - 23:24pm

Thank you both! I'm glad you found it interesting :)

b00kw0rm99

b00kw0rm99

Commented 41 months ago - 15th December 2012 - 08:37am

I found this really interesting. I like reading articles like this because it helps me understand what people are going through. Great article!

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