In their own words: Gender as a spectrum

[stephaniec]

In their own words: Gender as a spectrum

http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/08/living/cnnphotos-gender-spectrum/index.html

CNN/By Emanuella Grinberg, CNN Updated 7:02 PM ET, Tue March 8, 2016

"(CNN)—"Definition is not my forte. I leave that to dictionaries."

So says one of the people featured in Joseph Wolfgang Ohlert's portrait series "Gender as a Spectrum" when asked, "How would you define your gender?"

The sentiment reverberates throughout the pages of Ohlert's photo book of the same name. It features portraits and interviews with people whose definitions of gender identity rarely overlap, hence the title. The interviews address how sexuality can be fluid, too"

[Devlyn]

Beautiful peoples!

[suzifrommd]

I'm going to go on the record as saying I HATE the expression "gender is a spectrum". That implies that there is one component of gender that varies from person to person.

In fact, I think there's at least a half dozen factors that make up gender and EACH of them is a spectrum:

https://www.susans.org/2016/01/31/the-many-faces-of-gender/

[Deborah]

I think defining it as a spectrum renders the concept of gender entirely meaningless.  I don't think that's valid because if gender is a component of identity then it renders the concept of identity meaningless and robs us of our personhood.

How you express your identity is a spectrum certainly.  But gender itself; No.


Sapere Aude

[Elis]

I feel there's a grey area between needing to express your gender in a certain way or else you feel uncomfortable and choosing to dress a certain way because of a whim or to be fashionable. I feel uncomfortable that a gay man who wrote the article seems to imply he feels 100% male yet is talking about his own gender being fluid.
I definitely believe that there are many different genders out there; with male on one end of a line; female at the other end and a confusing list of non binary gender identities in the middle.
For me dressing a certain way isn't a whim or part of a fashion trend to be androgynous  (no offense to people who identify that way). I feel a deep rooted need to dress in a skirt one day and jeans the next and not be seen fully as male. I was born that way.

[Deborah]

I feel a deep rooted need to dress in a skirt one day and jeans the next and not be seen fully as male. I was born that way.

I feel a total disconnect from what clothes I wear.  I just don't really care.  That was something HRT gave me because before I cared very much.  But in my case I think it was a prop more than anything else and I don't need that prop anymore.

That said, gender identity itself has remained constant since I first started thinking about it 45 years ago.  And I do feel validated not being seen as male in reality and not just out of someone's politeness.