Saturday, April 12, 2014

"Leave the Boxes Unchecked."

Recently, one of my closest friends told me that they were genderqueer. When they told me this, I've decided to do some research on it, to gain more knowledge about for my friend. They have even decided to use their pronouns they/them/theirs, which is sort of confusing for me to get used to. I am trying, and I hope that they know that. However, by doing some research on this, I felt this was a step closer to gaining understanding about what does it mean to register as genderqueer.
Genderqueer is when you don't identify with as a man, and you don't identify as a woman either. People who are in fact genderqueer often use the pronouns they, them, theirs, move between genders, often have blurred lines between sexual orientation, and basically are gender neutral. People who are in fact gender queer do realize and recognize that their gender doesn't fit the social norms of a specific gender. Like if someone doesn't feel like they are a woman, but don't fit the norms of being a man, then they are considered to be gender queer.
This term is relatively new. People who are gender queer can be straight, gay or bisexual. Some are even pansexual, which is when you like someone based on the person, not the gender that they are in. They can even be considered to be transgender, or bigender which means that they are both man and woman.
After doing some research about the subject, I feel like I am more informed about my friend and their decision. Before, I just knew the term by how they explained it. However, doing some research on its own really opened my eyes up to the term that my friend presented. I think that doing research helps, because that way you can really understand things, whether its a different brand of people, or a new term. That way, ignorance by not knowing is ignored, and we can become a more informed society.

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