Jillian! Welcome to the Forest!
The adventure begins.
When it comes to gender, there are no two people who are exactly alike.
This is important. Really important.
Terms used are descriptive. They not only have meaning to the person using them, but also to the person hearing them.
Rarely do they mean the same thing to each person.
When you use them to tell people who you are, they are going to hear something different than you meant.
That's the downfall of using a description as a label. Stop it.
Don't let labels beat you up by confining yourself to them.
We simply do not do that here. For the most part, there is always the exception.
Most of the discussions around topics here will almost always reflect that one way or another.
Taka likes to use colors as a way of describing gender, and uses it very effectively.
Cindy uses a spectrum to describe gender. It works very well to understand gender.
Everyone has their own approach to it.
The ability to understand the diversity of it, is key to finding your own way.
Gender, gender roles or presentation, and orientation.
All separate, but they all reflect that diversity.
I use a spectrum and a very broad division of gender into to different groups that overlap all over the place.
I use it to help define some of the differences in thinking about gender from two different viewpoints.
There is the binary spectrum and then there is the non-binary not a spectrum.
It's useful to realize that indeed you can have a spectrum of characteristics between male and female.
Some people feel comfortable in finding a small space to a large place on that spectrum.
Binary thinking. It seems to be a comfortable way of viewing gender for quite a few people.
From a non-binary view, this doesn't work. Again the problem of descriptive terms comes up.
We seem to be all over the map in terms of a spectrum, which would appear to be a problem.
It's not. We just have a need to pick and choose from all over the place, never being satisfied with just an area on a spectrum.
Simply put, there are binary and there are non-binary. Don't let that confuse you.
It's simply a way to loosely describe the
way we think.
Binaries seem (I don't really know, I assume a lot here) comfortable with a spectrum.
Non-binaries are comfortable with pick and choose from all over that spectrum.
I just define it as a way of thinking about gender. It seems like a legitimate split in the way *Trans People think.
But keep in mind that nobody is confined to thinking in any given way. Binary or Non-Binary.
Like I said, there is a lot of overlap in gender, and gender thinking.
There are people who find themselves moving between Binary and Non-Binary thinking all the time.
It's not unusual, it's usually the result of finding better information that leads to decisions that they are comfortable in making.
I talk about things in terms of binary and non-binary. I'm comfortable with it.
But only because I have been questioning gender and seek answers to my own thoughts and feelings about it.
So the best advice I can give anyone, is to get as much information as possible before making any kind of decisions.
Find that vantage point you are comfortable with.
If you want to know about non-binary, just dig through the topics in this section and read the threads.
The diversity of ideas and views can be overwhelming at first, but the more you know, the better it gets.
There are pages of topics, some short threads, some long.
They all have a tendency to overlap or intersect at points.
We commonly refer to them as paths in this forest.
We are not an exclusive group. Neither is binary. You'll find some of everyone here.
It's a place where different is the normal. Gender description is diverse and doesn't follow any well worn path in life.
Gender morphs into whatever you want it to be. Because it can.
Gender is an ongoing process for many people here. You're not confined by descriptions.
Look around, you just might find a place you want to be. Always a good thing, finding yourself.
But also be aware that you can wander to your hearts content in descriptions.
We refrain from using labels, but use descriptions instead, knowing that they mean different things to different people.
Lots of discussion about those. We learn from each other. We will learn from you as well.
You sound like you're ready to start viewing gender on your own terms.
Hand around, read and consider. Nothing is written in stone here.
You'll find plenty of binaries who visit, for their own reasons.
Maybe it's because we just can't take things too seriously about gender definitions.
We take gender seriously enough, it's just the lack of true non-binary definitions.
It's the definitions that seem loose and fuzzy or wibbly-wobbly, to borrow a term.
We use binary words, because that's what the bulk of our languages use.
We just define them from a different viewpoint.
What a long redundant explanation this is. But it's how that works here.
Ideas and descriptions of things are always changing. We grow as people.
Look around and discover the things you're looking for.
You'll find answers to questions you haven't begun to ask, yet.
We do that, not only to ourselves, but to those who come to visit.
Either way, see you around on the paths.
Ativan
