Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Have We Entered the Era of Gender Fluidity? Quite Possibly . . . .


I have written quite a bit on this blog about the idea of gender fluidity (see here, here, here, and here, as a start), but I did not believe there would be any cultural apparent move in that direction for quite a while. I was - I am very pleased to say - incredibly wrong.

That is what I learned in this short clip from NPR's All Things Considered.

A growing number of young people are standing in solidarity with their transgender and genderqueer peers. They do so in a number of ways, one of which is to answer (when asked about themselves) with their name, their age (or year in school), and their preferred gender pronouns (he/his/him or she/hers/her). To do so is to acknowledge that cisgender (see this page for an explanation of gender terminology) is only one of many possible gender identities, to stand against the traditional notions of a gender binary. Better still, some young people are rejecting gender labels of any kind.

The nature of gender fluidity transcends and includes gender normative structures - all forms of gender expression become available to each person, either one at a time or simultaneously. In this model, the need for labels on gender expression ceases to be relevant.

Young People Push Back Against Gender Categories


by MARGOT ADLER
July 16, 2013 4:53 PM



All Things Considered
7 min 50 sec | Download

As society has become more accepting of gays, lesbians and even transgender people, a new generation of young people is challenging those categories in favor of a more fluid understanding of gender. They refuse to be limited by notions like male and female.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

wonderful. really loving your website and only came upon it by chance. is there any way you could promote it more or make it more visible somehow? maybe via pinterest, twitter, facebook or googlesearch? I am excited about the new culture.