There is a direct answer to the question asked here.
The history of this section.
When Susan started this forum, she chose to use the term Androgyne.
Over the time I've been here, it's been proposed to change the title several times.
While each of you are correct, at the same time, there isn't an answer or change in the title that reflects just what this section is.
Non-binary is about as close as you can get, yet it's still just a word that is used more broadly at this time.
In due time, this will change to another term or word that better reflects what we are trying to discuss.
For the forum to change something, the title, with each new way in which we discover to define ourselves,
would mean changing it every year or so or even every few months.
Yet none of the proposed ideas sufficiently do justice to the many people who come here.
Sure it's not the best, but it does have a history and it is well understood once you've been here for a while just what this section is.
It stays because that is what it has been from the start.
It's not a reflection on the forum, the forum has yet have a better term to use.
Change it to non-binary and there will be those who oppose it. Same thing with genderqueer or any of the terms we use.
We used to and still do on occasion refer to this overall place as the forest, unicorn forest, at one time.
Those have a stronger history than androgyne, even if not as long.
Yet that doesn't define it to those who haven't heard the term used before.
It stands as a part of the history of this forum, and will until a universally used term is in place and is there to stay.
This brings me back around to the discussion of just what any given term means to begin with.
We use them, loosely with loose definitions that some are convinced that their definition is correct.
Which they are for you. But not everyone agrees and we each interpret them differently.
Nature of who we are. The variations are as many as there are of us.
Unique would be a better term to use as a universal one, but that also has a lot of other meanings, which is the point.
We use terms, but we always have to keep in mind the personal nature of them as they reflect the personal nature of us.
There is a history to this section that is really pretty colorful and insightful.
Go back to the earliest pages to read about it. I have on occasion and I use it to remind myself of the changes I have made for myself.
I see where I have made progress in myself defining who I am, I see that in everyone who has ever been here.
There are high points as well as low.
It's worthy of looking at because it represents a look into the evolution of this section,
and it's a very good insight into the world of non-binary as it has evolved, by the very people who have done that.
It's still evolving and it will change. But the one anchor that has always been here is the word used for the section, the constant in an evolving discussion.
It doesn't matter what the section is called, what matters is that it has never been stagnant for very long if at all.
Just like for each and every one of us. We evolve as we find the answers to our questions about who we are.
This section is simply a reflection of that.
To stop and redefine the terminology as it is evolving is a waste of time.
To find the answers to the questions asked in discussion isn't.
Politically correct? No.
But neither has any other definition been for any length of time.
The short answer is that it would mean throwing all those older answers that do have value, into the trash and starting over, in a sense.
Susan a while back expressed this after a lengthy discussion about it.
It's her wish and rightly so, that the legacy of this section remain as it is, politically correct or not.
It's of better time and space to accept it for what it is. I could just say it's the forest and leave it at that.
It wouldn't make much sense to someone new here. Androgyne is still useful in that when looking for an answer by googling it, it will bring you here even if by way of some other reference.
So it stands as the title that works, has worked and in the near future as far as anyone can see, it will still work.
So until the day comes that a universally used word is the final definition and term to use, it should and will remain the same.
Not an answer to what is a better word to use, but what word is best used and best holds the section together?
There are this and that websites that come and go, membership goes up and down.
This one has remained consistent from the start and is growing despite what ever is currently politically used as a title.
I do go and look at other sites, they are all useful as well for what they are.
Yet I come back here because it isn't tied up in political correctness, it answers the questions we ask.
You answer the questions you ask. All of them for the most part very personal questions.
It's moderated in a way that allows for everyone to have a voice of reasonable nature.
It's not always the most current, yet remains rock steady in it's mission.
When ideas and answers and the questions themselves tend to run all over the place politically and socially, it holds a steady position.
It isn't the title that does that and it has nothing to do with what the section is or isn't.
It's not the best title, but there isn't a best title, by the very nature of us, who this section really is.
It's a part of the forum and the forum is Susan's. When the time comes that a better and consistent term or word comes into play,
She'll change it. She's made adjustments and upgrades since the very beginning of this forum.
She allows us to discuss with reasonable confines, what ever we wish to, in the way we are.
Which is, really, pretty different than the other sections.
The title and what it is and what it could be are not that big of a concern as compared to the section itself.
The last time there was a very big discussion, Susan asked everyone to find a better title that could be used and she would change it.
We couldn't agree and through discussion about it, the need and desire for a change soon became another discussion in the definitions of the terms we use.
We still haven't answered that question she asked.
Just what is a better title to use that is better than the one that it is.
Is it correct? Hell no. Is there a better one? Not yet. But there might be in the future.
Keep this discussion going, it's a good one that brings us back to the terms we use and their definitions.
It will always be an insightful discussion and needs to be discussed.
Because it defines who we are, which answers so many current questions.
That's always more important than the political and sociable correctness that we use today and will use tomorrow.
That's not the answer to the question, but it does tell us and let us know where we are, right now.
Just as we always have more questions than answers, so we have more ideas of a title than we have a real title that is acceptable to everyone.
The history, as I said, is insightful and tells us more about ourselves than just what the title is, isn't, could be, and shouldn't be.
The title should be 'A Short History of the Ever Evolving Nature of Non-Binary people in this Forum.'
Androgyne is as good as any other title. Google what ever you think is current and it will bring you back here one way or another.
I guess that's good enough. It gets the job done.
Ativan.
