If neither ‘he’, nor ‘she’, who are ‘they’?

THEY are the genderqueer, the agender or the genderfluid. They choose to remain ‘unidentified’ by conventional means of gender identification. They are what we all are in form, yet to us they are not uniform, for they do not conform. 

I’ll save you the time of googling those definitions:

Genderfluid: A gender fluid person may at any time identify as male, female, or any other non-binary identity, or some combination of identities. This gender identity can vary over time or at random in response to different circumstances.

Genderqueer: denoting or relating to a person who does not subscribe to conventional gender distinctions but identifies with neither, both, or a combination of male and female genders.

Agender:  Can be seen either as a non-binary gender identity or as a statement of not having a gender identity, and literally translated as ‘without gender’.

Makes your brain itch, right? Mine sure did.

It’s simple, simply substitute gender-specific pronouns like ‘him/her’, ‘his/hers’ and ‘he/she’ with  gender-neutral ones like ‘they’, ‘their’ and ‘them’. Examples: they smiled, I hugged them, their heart warmed, that is theirs and they love themselves.

So how would you know their ‘pronoun-preference’ when you meet them?

Some ‘non-binary beings’ present a combination of gender cues that would seem shocking to those who expect others to fit the gender binary of male or female. For example they might combine the padded bra of a ‘her’ with the well-groomed goatee of a ‘he’.

The term for that is ‘genderpunking’, and there’s also, unsurprisingly, a less euphemistic version. But that I’ll leave to your imagination.

Most people naturally tend to base gender on a person’s anatomy. Anatomy, however, plays no part in them identifying as neither gender, and more importantly, neither does sexual orientation.

In conclusion, they are what they choose to be; a non-gender gender by their own non-specific specifications.

Either way, we’re going to need new pronouns.

ALSO READ: More stories here, more information here.

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