Non-Binary Genders

This forum is for serious discussions of any kind.

Moderator: Hall of Speakers Moderators

Post Reply
User avatar
eggod
CreaturesTrade
Posts: 21
Joined: July 23rd, 2014, 11:24:46 pm
Gender: Kraken

Non-Binary Genders

Post by eggod »

This is a discussion about genders outside of the male/female binary.

It's alright if you have not heard of them, we are raised to believe that the only genders are girls and boys. However, there are many people who find that these two genders are not who they really are. Some are genderfluid, feeling like a mix of multiple genders, sometimes feeling more strongly like one over the others. They could be polygender, feeling like multiple genders all of the time. Some people are even agender, lacking a gender altogether. There are, of course, many more, and the way they choose to represent themselves is up to each individual.

The Gender Wiki is a good resource for those looking to learn more.
(http://gender.wikia.com/wiki/Gender_Wiki)

I myself am agender, and I prefer they/them pronouns to be used when referring to me.

To get things rolling, here are some questions:

What gender do you recognize as/what pronouns do you use?

How do you feel about non-binary genders?

Do you thing gender neutrality when not talking about specific individuals is important?

(Feel free to add any other comments you have!)

Guidelines:

Disagreement is allowed, but please be respectful of other's opinions and identities.

If there is a problem, report the post and do not reply to it!
Image they/them pronouns please Image

Image
User avatar
Skyeh
MagiStream Donor
Member of The Dark Brotherhood
CreaturesTrade
Posts: 1798
Joined: August 28th, 2009, 2:47:21 pm
Gender: Female
Location: Ontario, Canada
Contact:

Re: Non-Binary Genders

Post by Skyeh »

Ooh, nice topic. I only learned about non-binary genders just a year or two ago, and now hesitantly identify as genderfluid agender/female. I'm curious as to what people outside of tumblr think of this topic. :italian:
User avatar
Jumyouboshi
CreaturesTrade
Posts: 72
Joined: August 17th, 2009, 10:48:45 pm
Gender: Kraken

Re: Non-Binary Genders

Post by Jumyouboshi »

I've been waffling between identifying as bigender or genderfluid for the past few months because I'm not sure which would be most accurate to me (currently I'm identifying as bigender) but regardless, alternating between he/him and she/her is what I'd like best.

I feel gender neutrality is definitely the best when referring to people in general--defaulting to masculine is sexist and exclusive in itself, and on the opposite side of the spectrum, assuming that everyone you meet on social media websites is female is also problematic. Gender neutrality is best to avoid being exclusive as well as avoid misgendering anyone.

Oh gosh, I feel as if this is making me come off too strongly. Anyway, this is a really nice topic, OP! This is actually my first forum post in literally years but as soon as I saw this topic I just jumped on it; it's nice to have a place to talk about these things.
ImageImageImageImage
User avatar
missshadedlove
MagiStream Donor
CreaturesTrade
Posts: 369
Joined: June 11th, 2011, 3:33:49 pm
Gender: Female

Re: Non-Binary Genders

Post by missshadedlove »

I personally don't agree with the terms as I see it as either..you are gay,straight or bi. If you are born male you are male and vice verse. That's my view at least.
ImageImage
User avatar
GrowlingCupcake
MagiStream Donor
Member of The Dark Brotherhood Member of Artificer's Association
CreaturesTrade
Posts: 5625
Joined: July 19th, 2009, 7:28:47 am
Gender: Female
Location: In a teacup.

Re: Non-Binary Genders

Post by GrowlingCupcake »

I decided to join in on this though I identify as the sex I was born. I think this is an interesting thing to discuss and would enjoy learning more and talking to people about it. Hopefully that is fine.

What gender do you recognize as/what pronouns do you use?
I was born female, I identify as female. Female pronouns

How do you feel about non-binary genders?
I think we, as a global society, have placed a great emphasis on gender roles and this has shaped how we view gender and created a sort of... gender-rigidity. If a biological male has personalities, traits or behaviours marked as masculine, they're a tom-boy. There was no other way and in many places there is still no other way. We're very indoctrinated into what females and males are supposed to be and not really left to see what we, as individuals, are.

Biology plays a part. There is evidence to suggest that there are genetic, hormonal and brain structural components of gender-sex... mismatch, for lack of a better word. There aren't a lot of studies done, though, and some of the sample sizes are very small. I think as we become more accepting of different gender identities, more experiments can be done and the sample sizes will increase.

I think it is important that we move away from gender roles. I think gender should be fluid. If you identify as female consistently, then that's great. But if you identify as male for the five years and then you identify as female, then that shouldn't be an issue either. If we remove gender roles, there is no difference apart from biological sex and primary and secondary sexual organs and the hormones that come with them. All that will matter then is what you consider yourself to be and that might not even matter if we can stop dividing and labeling people with gender roles.

I guess I don't see why gender roles need to be part of society anymore. They would be important in private situations. If you wanted to be in a relationship, you might want to know someone's biological sex and their current identity but that is between you and them, not anyone else.

If you've ever read Discworld... all dwarves are assumed male. There are female dwarves but they more or less look the same. The only time it matter whether they are male or female is when they want to get married and even then it isn't mentioned to other people. It's kept private between the two dwarves.

Do you thing gender neutrality when not talking about specific individuals is important?
If I am talking about someone unknown, I always use plurals. If I am talking about someone to another person, I use plurals unless person A knows person B.

If I know the person, I use gender specific terms. If corrected, I'll switch to whatever they want me to.

Question: Slightly off-topic perhaps but what would you call drag queens when dressed in drag? I always refer to them in plural pronouns since I do not know what they would want to be called.
missshadedlove wrote:I personally don't agree with the terms as I see it as either..you are gay,straight or bi. If you are born male you are male and vice verse. That's my view at least.
Homosexuality, bisexuality and heterosexuality (as well as pan, omni, asexuality, etc.) are terms related to sexual orientation. They are not related to gender identity. So I do not entirely understand why you mention them?
Working on getting back into things after a forced hiatus.
LTS: Shards at 50k each.
User avatar
missshadedlove
MagiStream Donor
CreaturesTrade
Posts: 369
Joined: June 11th, 2011, 3:33:49 pm
Gender: Female

Re: Non-Binary Genders

Post by missshadedlove »

misread then but none the less I see only 2 genders..female and male..nothing in between.
ImageImage
User avatar
GrowlingCupcake
MagiStream Donor
Member of The Dark Brotherhood Member of Artificer's Association
CreaturesTrade
Posts: 5625
Joined: July 19th, 2009, 7:28:47 am
Gender: Female
Location: In a teacup.

Re: Non-Binary Genders

Post by GrowlingCupcake »

missshadedlove wrote:misread then but none the less I see only 2 genders..female and male..nothing in between.
So where do you stand on intersexed individuals? Those are people who have chromosomal aberrations or abnormalities or hormonal mistakes that can cause a person to be born with ambiguous genitalia or be chromosomally male but have female sex organs, etc.
Working on getting back into things after a forced hiatus.
LTS: Shards at 50k each.
HoarderofMistwalkers
CreaturesTrade
Posts: 955
Joined: June 9th, 2014, 8:43:19 pm
Gender: Female
Location: In a little fantasy full of adventure.

Re: Non-Binary Genders

Post by HoarderofMistwalkers »

I'm going to just throw my opinion out there. It doesn't really matter to me. People are people no matter what gender they are, or even if they have a gender. I don't think the title you give a person (they, them, he, she, it.) is really that important, but of course if someone insists on me calling them something specific, I'll do it. I basically call everyone guys when I'm trying to get their attention ("Hey guys!") whether they are female or male or non-binary. I wouldn't judge anyone by gender. Of course I'm only 13 and know little about such genders, and my opinion may change as I learn more. I don't know anyone personally who is agender or anything like that either. I also hope the fact that I'm indifferent doesn't appear offensive.

However, I seem to prefer hanging out with boys more than girls but the reasons have nothing to do with this topic.
Beware my Keep Guard!
Image
http://xxjcartspacexx.deviantart.com/
ImageImageImageImageImage
~Gold miners welcome~
I am a Christian. I believe in the savior Jesus Christ.
User avatar
Tekla
MagiStream Donor
Member of Society of the Trident Member of Artificer's Association Member of Preservationists Association
CreaturesTrade
Posts: 9557
Joined: December 18th, 2009, 5:16:34 pm
Gender: Kraken
Location: The Forgotten City
Contact:

Re: Non-Binary Genders

Post by Tekla »

A person's sex or gender is as relevant as their color to me. Which is to say, completely irrelevant to everything.

Unless I need to refer to someone or address a person personally, I'm probably going to use general terms (person, people, guys, they, them). If I have to refer/talk to someone, if they look like a typical male I will refer to them as male and if they look like a typical female I will refer to them as such, unless I am corrected, because there is no other way for me to know otherwise - and let's be honest it's super rude to go up to someone and ask "hey are you a boy or a girl?" way to make everything awkward, lol.

Personally I'm a bit weird ...I don't really care. I am obviously female, and my gender is the same as my sex, but I am most comfortable being addressed by my name and more comfortable in general with genderless words (also the reason my gender here is listed as kraken). However I don't object to being identified/referred to with female words, either. (Never been called a man though except online where I've been told I have a "masculine" speaking style. There's no possible way I can be physically mistaken for a male, lol.) ...So basically I just don't care, but will correct you if you call me male stuff. v:

This is not to say I don't deny or reject the existence of nonbinary genders, but knowing what gender someone is is almost always as unimportant to me as race or color. People are people; I will respect you if you respect me, treat you well if you do the same, etc.

ImageImageImage
~
ImageImageImageImageImage
--
"Oh! My feet of fire! My burning feet of fire!"
User avatar
slicing
Member of The Dark Brotherhood
CreaturesTrade
Posts: 1798
Joined: May 5th, 2014, 3:03:02 pm
Location: Freddy Fazbear's Pizzaria

Re: Non-Binary Genders

Post by slicing »

missshadedlove wrote:misread then but none the less I see only 2 genders..female and male..nothing in between.
Gender =/= sex. This is a quote from the NHS website, which has pages on gender: "Biological sex is assigned at birth, depending on the appearance of the genitals. Gender identity is the gender that a person "identifies" with or feels themselves to be."

The idea of only having 2 genders is not universal; plenty of cultures have recognised more than 2 genders. To deny the existence of more than 2 genders would erase them! In Western cultures, I am fairly sure I remember reading something relating to trans people in history, and how trans people are no new phenomenon (so to speak).
Post Reply

Return to “Hall of Speakers”