I Know You Are, But What Am I? Living Outside the Gender Binary
Posted by meloukhia on 8 September, 2009
http://meloukhia.net/2009/09/i_know_you_are_but_what_am_i_living_outside_the_gender_binary.htmlI identify as genderqueer. I sometimes also identify as a woman. These two identities could be seen as conflicting, since "genderqueer" is often used to describe people who fall outside the gender binary, and who may have an ambiguous gender presentation. Some people, in fact, might argue that I can't have it both ways, that I am either one or the other, although I reject this view (obviously, since I claim both identities). The gender continuum has room for a lot of identities, and I shy away from anyone who specifies either/or when talking about gender.
My relationship with gender is complex. When I was thin, I often had an ambiguous gender. Well through high school, I was sometimes mistaken as male. I was told that I had checked the wrong box when filling out government forms, I was told I was in the wrong bathroom, I was referred to as a boy. To some extent, it could be said that I sometimes benefited from male privilege, in fact, even though I was a girl and identified as a girl.
