News and Events => Opinions & Editorials => Topic started by: Asche on November 05, 2025, 11:27:34 AM Return to Full Version
Title: ‘My gender is like an empty lot’
Post by: Asche on November 05, 2025, 11:27:34 AM
Post by: Asche on November 05, 2025, 11:27:34 AM
'My gender is like an empty lot' − the people who reject man, woman and any other gender label
https://theconversation.com/my-gender-is-like-an-empty-lot-the-people-who-reject-man-woman-and-any-other-gender-label-267286
Canton Winer Assistant Professor of Sociology, Northern Illinois University
Published: October 30, 2025
When I asked Manisha to describe her gender identity, she gave a simple answer: "Meh."
"I don't have a gender identity," Manisha explained. "I get that other people look at me and see a woman but, for myself, there's a blank space where my gender 'should' be. My gender is 'none.'"
... In my work as a sociologist, I had been interviewing asexual individuals. ...
Like Manisha, more than a third of the 77 people I talked to were uncomfortable with defining themselves through the lens of gender. Gender was, as I came to describe it, detached from their sense of self.
https://theconversation.com/my-gender-is-like-an-empty-lot-the-people-who-reject-man-woman-and-any-other-gender-label-267286
Canton Winer Assistant Professor of Sociology, Northern Illinois University
Published: October 30, 2025
When I asked Manisha to describe her gender identity, she gave a simple answer: "Meh."
"I don't have a gender identity," Manisha explained. "I get that other people look at me and see a woman but, for myself, there's a blank space where my gender 'should' be. My gender is 'none.'"
... In my work as a sociologist, I had been interviewing asexual individuals. ...
Like Manisha, more than a third of the 77 people I talked to were uncomfortable with defining themselves through the lens of gender. Gender was, as I came to describe it, detached from their sense of self.
Title: Re: ‘My gender is like an empty lot’
Post by: Asche on November 05, 2025, 11:34:01 AM
Post by: Asche on November 05, 2025, 11:34:01 AM
This article really struck me because it describes my own attitude towards gender.
Title: Re: ‘My gender is like an empty lot’
Post by: Lori Dee on November 05, 2025, 12:05:58 PM
Post by: Lori Dee on November 05, 2025, 12:05:58 PM
Quote from: Asche on Today at 11:34:01 AMThis article really struck me because it describes my own attitude towards gender.
Thank you for sharing, Asche!
Title: Re: ‘My gender is like an empty lot’
Post by: Lori Dee on November 05, 2025, 12:08:22 PM
Post by: Lori Dee on November 05, 2025, 12:08:22 PM
Also from the above article:
These individuals said they felt that gender was irrelevant, unimportant, pointless and, overall, not a helpful framework for understanding and defining themselves.
I love this.
These individuals said they felt that gender was irrelevant, unimportant, pointless and, overall, not a helpful framework for understanding and defining themselves.
I love this.
Title: Re: ‘My gender is like an empty lot’
Post by: Pema on November 05, 2025, 01:01:49 PM
Post by: Pema on November 05, 2025, 01:01:49 PM
Thank you, Asche. This is wonderful and also describes very well how I feel about gender.
I loved that line, too, Lori. And this bit as well:
Western societies generally assume that everyone does – and should – have a gender identity. But what people who experience gender detachment show is that the very system of gender categorization is itself a social construct: an idea based on cultural norms rather than in empirical reality. I call this assumption compulsory gender.
Which is very much in line with what I was trying to say here:
To me, it all sounds a lot like, "Are you a Shimmerblast fan or a Klotzenhammer fan?" I don't really even understand the question or why it exists. It very literally feels like being forced to play a game that I care nothing about.
I loved that line, too, Lori. And this bit as well:
Western societies generally assume that everyone does – and should – have a gender identity. But what people who experience gender detachment show is that the very system of gender categorization is itself a social construct: an idea based on cultural norms rather than in empirical reality. I call this assumption compulsory gender.
Which is very much in line with what I was trying to say here:
Quote from: Pema on August 20, 2025, 02:30:56 PM"Compulsory heterosexuality, often shortened to comphet, is the theory that heterosexuality is assumed and enforced upon people by a patriarchal, allonormative, and heteronormative society."
Again, I thought, "YES! And this also applies to cisnormativity and just about everything else that society labels 'normal,' rendering all other behaviors aberrant." But very little of it is innate or "natural." We have been actively prevented from pursuing and expressing our true nature by the culture in which we've been raised and forced instead to conform and assimilate to "what has always been" (even though it hasn't).
To me, it all sounds a lot like, "Are you a Shimmerblast fan or a Klotzenhammer fan?" I don't really even understand the question or why it exists. It very literally feels like being forced to play a game that I care nothing about.