Gender options on the Cage

Gender options on the Cage

yuppie​(switch gender queer) • Aug 25, 2020

It seems like the creators of the cage really want to be inclusive of all genders (which I really appreciate) but the language about gender on this site still needs some updates. Below I've listed some of the current terms and my thoughts on them.

Transgenders
Transgender is an adjective not a noun. I'm really glad you dropped the term "transgendered" but "transgenders" is still wrong even if it's less offensive. "Transgender" without the "s" would be more appropriate.

Male and Female
Male and Female are names for sexes. Sex refers to a set of biological attributes that include chromosomes, hormone levels, gene expression and primary and secondary sexual characteristics. Most, but not all people's sexes can be defined as male or female. People are usually assigned male or female at birth although some of biological attributes that make up sex may change throughout a person's life. Perhaps most importantly, sex does not define gender. Gender is an identity that is both internal and influenced by social constructs. Options like "man" and "woman" would more accurately reflect what I think the "male" and "female" options are trying to denote.

Trans-ftm and Trans-mtf
These are both terms that some trans people use to identify themselves, but not all trans folk are comfortable with them. I think the primary problems (apart from male and female simply not being gender terms) is that saying "this to that" suggests that trans people's gender identity actually changed, puts a huge emphasis on the wrong gender, and highlights the transition not the actual identity, Terms like "trans man" and "trans woman" are generally better.

Intersex
Intersex is a sex not a gender. I'm not intersex and I would love to hear what intersex people on this site think about this as a gender option, but I know that intersex people identify as many different genders.

Gender-queer and gender-fluid
These terms are usually written as compound words without dashes.

Nonbinary
This is a pretty general term that I think the Cage could benefit from including. I'm nonbinary and I'm comfortable with "genderqueer" but not all nonbinary people are.

I'd love to hear what other people (especially other trans folk) think about the language about gender on this site. I'm sure there are things I've missed and maybe some places where people disagree and I hope that we can have a meaningful conversation about it that can lead to positive change!

Villanelle​(staff) • Aug 26, 2020

Thank you for your feedback! We'll definitely have a conversation about your suggestions.