I woke up to more choices for my gender today. Alerted by a news article, I logged on to Facebook, and went to my basic info. There, aside from the usual 'male' and 'female' choices for gender, was a third box labeled 'custom'. Curious as to how I could customize my gender, I clicked the box, and was presented with a variety of options.
Hmm. What to pick. Before that was possible, I had to understand the many choices offered.
Of course, there were the easy ones. The cross dressers or the sex changed individuals could probably choose from the 'trans' menu. There were 'trans female' or 'trans male' , and if one was a bit more masculine, one could go up a notch higher and choose 'trans man'. Or, if referring to 'male' and 'female' roles was still offensive, then one could choose 'trans person'.
If one had not yet had the operation, then no problem. You could select the 'male to female' option if you knew you were going to that direction, or the 'female to male' option if you were traveling in the opposite direction. (Useful tip for potential state witnesses under the newly filed bill on the witness protection program, who will be able to get a sex change as well as change the identified sex in their birth certificates. Assuming the bill ever gets passed.)
The other options, however, were far more difficult and would require a bit of research. What, for example, were the 'cis' options? What was a 'cis male' or a 'cis female'? I had to look those up, and it was fortunately not as threatening as I thought it would be.
Wikipedia says "Cisgender and cissexual (often abbreviated to simply cis) describe related types of gender identity where an individual's experience of their own gender matches the sex they were assigned at birth. Sociologists Kristen Schilt and Laurel Westbrook define cisgender as a label for "individuals who have a match between the gender they were assigned at birth, their bodies, and their personal identity" as a complement to transgender. In other words, they identify with the equipment they were born with. (Sigh of relief from my far right?)
But what about "agender' or 'bigender'? So many terms, so little time. There was also 'gender queer' and 'pan gender' available, as were 'gender fluid', 'gender non-conforming' and 'gender questioning'. Given that I hadn't the time to do any more research, maybe 'gender questioning' was where I could settle for the meantime.
Oh, wait a minute. For the undecided, there was also 'neither', and for those who really wanted to set themselves apart, they could also choose 'other'. Maybe that would work.
For the fashionable, there was also 'neutrois'. (That sounded more like me, until I checked the web. There is actually a website called neutrois.com, where I lifted this definition: "Neutrois is a non-binary gender identity that falls under the genderqueer or transgender umbrellas.
There is no one definition of Neutrois, since each person that self-identifies as such experiences their gender differently. The most common ones are Neutral-gender, Null-gender, genderless...."). Oh, man!
What I could not understand was, why 'lesbian' or 'homosexual' wasn't available. I would have thought those were the easy picks. Then one could have gone into 'butch lesbian', 'lipstick lesbian', or for the gym queens, 'Muscle Mary'.
Or racial preferences could also have been offered. What about 'rice queen', 'potato queen' or 'spice queen'?. After all, some individuals have very fixed notions of who they are and what they want for their partners.
I mean, if 'intersex' was available, why not the more common terms like 'third sex'? (I wouldn't mind 'sex symbol').
And yet, the list wasn't done with me. 'Non-binary'? "Two-spirit'? What the heck were these? Scary! And here I was, thinking I knew all there was about sexuality.
For those who know what they are, this idea of Facebook looks like a big step forward. No more ambiguity about who they are. The world could easily (cough, cough) peg them. For those still exploring themselves, however, this could be a right mess.
Not to mention, so much homework.