bnw3t1, originally uploaded by S is my name.

Someone wrote…

Humans are funny things. Here we are, trying to break out of gender norms, yet trying to find new terms to describe ourselves. “Uncategorized” is still a category.

What’s your experience?

And what are you thinking about gender right now?

Another user has disabled the video embedding, so links to the videos will have to suffice. Glitter! I love this genderqueer one much, but it takes a longer attention span.
Personal aside: Transfags in make-up are amazing. I’d known Austin was queer, but these two convinced me.

Day 198., originally uploaded by altdeleteyourfce.

Someone wrote…

I wish things could be more fluid.

What’s your experience?

And what are you thinking about gender right now?

World-renowned comedian Eddie Izzard proving that some people can’t help being wonderfully visible.

The Study of Androgyny : PHOTO SERIES, originally uploaded by mleighk1316.

You can call me… Chase for now

I identify as… A semi-masculine queer male in progress

As far as third-person pronouns go, … He/him/his/etc.., but I wouldn’t hit you over the head with a club if you used ‘they’ or ‘they’re’.

I’m attracted to… Intelligent possessive women who are just feminine enough to pass for gay boys and funny masculine guys.

When people talk about me, I want them to… Talk to me about me if there’s something they don’t understand about me, instead of making the assumption I’ll tune out their opinions.

I want people to understand… we can’t accept one another if we don’t understand or at the very least respect the choices other people make in life. When you assume that say all Trans people are liberals or all conservatives are straight white bread Americans, it makes it harder for those who defy those stereotypes to come out and be themselves.

About Chase
I’m a psychology major and yesnomaybeso potential journalist insanely close to a family who originates from Oregon and is trying to break into the Nevada activism scene one peace walk at a time. ^__^

» Define yourself. «

You can call me… Brother from another mother / Sister from another mister / Oi.

I identify as… a dog lover.

As far as third-person pronouns go, … When I was younger I would always feel awful whenever I was referred to as “sir” because I am biologically female and I wondered why nobody could see that. Now I understand that people judge others based on their outward appearance and clothes, and so I take whatever pronouns people throw at me because it really doesn’t matter – they only see what they think they see.

I’m attracted to… the idea that there should be non-gender-specific bathrooms. As if anyone has specific bathrooms in their households for men and women. Oh, and dimples.

When people talk about me, I want them to… abide by that withstanding motherly advice which dictates that if one has nothing nice to say, then one should say nothing at all.

I want people to understand… that all this mulling and fretting over the diversity of human bodies is pointless, aggravating and farcical. It will be much better to stop worrying, share around a bottle of schnapps and dance.

Hi Everyone,

Things have been pretty happening around here, haven’t they? I’m loving the flow of material, conversations, and community. And I’ve mentioned you rock my world, right? Cuz you seriously, seriously do.

Soo… since we seem to be getting a little bigger and a little louder, we’ve also been getting a little more feedback on the directions we take with our content. More often than not, if some tension comes up, it’s usually around the issues of binary gender and categorization — whether or not we should be talking about people in terms of maleness and femaleness. This might seem weird, but we — as a project — intentionally try not to take a position on that issue.

Here’s why: We’ve gotten to know our community quite a bit through all the comments, submissions, and feedback you’ve given us over the last year and a half. And from what you’ve told us about yourselves, it seems like you come from a wide mix of backgrounds and identities.

I’ll be honest — my original draft of this post attempted to put you into three groups: those who identify outside of the binary system; those who explore their genders within it; and those who are friends, family, and allies of the kinds of people represented on these pages. And I was going to be all “community-building”-like, and describe the characteristics of each of these groups to you in concise detail, thereby helping you gain understanding of who else is here.

And then I realized I was full of shit (many thanks to the Genderfork volunteers for helping me see that).  I can’t tell you who you are. It just doesn’t work that way around here.   Any attempt I make to put your identities into summarized language is going to exclude and alienate a lot of you.

That makes this next part a little harder, but work with me here: Try for a minute to picture our beautiful, messy, complex, diverse mix of identities as a dinner party gathered around a table, trying to find common ground and a way to support each other. What do we have in common?  We all agree that it’s okay to play with gender — to mix things up and to walk down the street with ambiguity and androgyny. We agree that our personal stories are important and real. We agree there is beauty and significance here. And we agree that this experience is hard and that we need each others’ support.

Here’s where we disagree: We disagree on how labels should be handled. We disagree on whether “male” and “female” are inherent human categories (and we’re just playing with them) or whether they’re invented and could be scrapped altogether. We disagree on how everyone should think, and we disagree on what would make the world a better place. Pretty much any statement that’s big, sweeping, generalizing, categorizing, or summarizing is going to make somebody at the table feel like their identity doesn’t belong.

And go back for a second to what we all have in common: We all know that feeling sucks.

I offer this up as a point of reference — not as a request or an explanation. We’re certainly not perfect (Exhibit A: this post!), and we know we post things that don’t work for everyone at the table. But we try to be aware of the mix of needs, and to tone down content that could seem alienating to some folks. Whenever possible, we aim for intimate headshots and personal stories in the content we display. When we focus on experience instead of opinion, we tend to find our common ground.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for contributing, for commenting, for confiding, and for sharing this with your friends. In the last six months, we’ve quadrupled our readership and built a staff of 11 volunteers. There will be more changes, more energy, more wonderful things coming soon, and we look to you to help us maintain the integrity of the conversation.

So much love,
Sarah

FTM: A Gender Odyssey, originally uploaded by djwudi.

About a week ago, we ran a post called Peace on Earth, which showed a line from a submission. The author felt our editing took the line out of context to the point where it misrepresented their views, and kindly let us know this in the comments. We’re sincerely sorry about this, and we’d like to offer you the whole submission now:

Kalliope Amorphous wrote…

Binary gender is just another prison that our society builds around us from the moment we are sprung squirming and shrieking into this world. I refuse to passively participate in a system that imposes it’s will on my right to authentic self-expression. I am also thinking that these rigid gender roles are energetically sending everything completely out of whack. The male archetype has grown more aggressive and lacking in compassion and the female archetype is losing her goddesshood. Now more than ever, we need to embrace non-binary gender roles. I am starting to think that peace on earth could have something to do with man embracing his inner woman and woman embracing her inner man.

And what are you thinking about gender right now?

Vanity, originally uploaded by L-Taylor-L.

Someone wrote…

Let’s all take our identity cards/passports and where it says “Sex:” just white it out and write “Awesome” on it instead. And in forms which require us to select “Male/Female,” I’d suggest we just write “YES!”

What adjectives (like “awesome”) other than “gendered” adjectives would you use to describe your gender? I’d put “Fabulous.”

And what are you thinking about gender right now?

=I modificda, originally uploaded by Fideosgordos Arte-lo Ernesto E.O..

Someone wrote…

Sometimes I wonder if the only people who are recognized as genderfucking are skinny, young hipsters. Most of the pictures I see of people on Genderfork are of people at least 10 years younger than me, with androgynous faces and flat bellies. I just wonder where this 30-something boy in a skirt fits into the picture. It makes me wonder if playing with gender is becoming part of some hipster fad. I don’t mind if it is, that’s a great way to expose people to it. It’s just getting harder to see reflections of myself in gender-deliberate spaces.

What’s your experience?

And what are you thinking about gender right now?

You can call me… Christian

I identify as… Genderqueer, trannydyke… Male outwardly, neither inwardly. I have female anatomy that is apparently as fluid as I am, because no one ever calls me Ma’am, which is lovely because frankly, it would make me itch.

As far as third-person pronouns go, … There are a million ways to describe me without ever having to resort to them.. It’s not an avoidance, just not a necessity.

I’m attracted to… Femme women, butch dykes, transmen (top surgery only), genderqueer, seriously smart humans.

When people talk about me, I want them to… Feel like their hearts and their brains grow three sizes too big.

I want people to understand… That they don’t have to understand everything, but they must respect our differences and embrace our similarities.

About Christian
Ask me what you want to know…

Drunk Butterfly, originally uploaded by Miss K.

Someone wrote…

I’ve recently discovered genderqueer and it felt like coming home. I don’t know how to tell other people, though, for fear of rejection/confusion/”it’s just a phase.” I don’t know how I feel about it, so how can I expect them to understand it? I feel at home, yes, but home isn’t always the safest place.

How did you tell people you were genderqueer? How safe was it?

And what are you thinking about gender right now?

Boy meets girl except without gender normativity. (The Gossip‘s homepage)