Non binary ?

    • I think it is related to being transgender. Most people are cisgender, i.e. those born into a male body feel like a boy and then a man, i.e. their gender is male to match the male body and likewise those born with a female body feel like a girl and then a woman. Transgender is the opposite, i.e. someone born into a male body feels like a girl/woman, i.e. they have female gender or someone born into a female body feels like a boy/man, i.e. has male gender.

      So binary refers to the idea that one has to be either male or female. Biologically, that is mostly true, i.e. it is true if we exclude those with chromosome abnormalities like XXX and XXY etc. but when it comes to gender it is not necessarily true. Some people may feel that they don't really fit either gender completely. I would say it is reasonably common for people to have some traits that are often associated with the opposite gender but, as long as people have a dominant gender, they would usually identify as either male or female. Someone who identifies as non-binary is saying that the way they feel isn't dominated by feeling either male or female, i.e. the male/female binary divide is too simplistic to describe them properly.

    • Sean2001 wrote:

      I think it is related to being transgender. Most people are cisgender, i.e. those born into a male body feel like a boy and then a man, i.e. their gender is male to match the male body and likewise those born with a female body feel like a girl and then a woman. Transgender is the opposite, i.e. someone born into a male body feels like a girl/woman, i.e. they have female gender or someone born into a female body feels like a boy/man, i.e. has male gender.

      So binary refers to the idea that one has to be either male or female. Biologically, that is mostly true, i.e. it is true if we exclude those with chromosome abnormalities like XXX and XXY etc. but when it comes to gender it is not necessarily true. Some people may feel that they don't really fit either gender completely. I would say it is reasonably common for people to have some traits that are often associated with the opposite gender but, as long as people have a dominant gender, they would usually identify as either male or female. Someone who identifies as non-binary is saying that the way they feel isn't dominated by feeling either male or female, i.e. the male/female binary divide is too simplistic to describe them properly.
      That's where I dont get it : what does feeling as a male or feel as a female even mean ?
      I mean you can be a girl and like football, rugby, mechanics, repair cars, play electric guitar in a hard rock band, and still be a girl.
      Just like if you're a guy and like classical dance, like pink, and that your job is midwife, you're still a guy, that doesn't make you a girl.
      Nor anything between the 2 :/

    • I can't give any further insight from personal experience as I am cisgender male. It is also something that is, to my mind, fraught with difficulty to discuss. Many scientists believe that there are structural differences in the male and female brain which affect such things as who we are attracted to, what activities we enjoy, and our aptitudes. If we accept that these differences exist, it would be reasonable to think they could also be responsible for whether we feel masculine or feminine. The brain is very complicated, masculinisation is believed to happen in the womb due to pre-natal testosterone (so the default is female) and it maybe possible for some areas to be masculinsed and others not, or at least not all to the same degree. In that sense, being gay or lesbian could be just one example of a particular part of the brain, the one dealing with sexual attraction, having the structure usual for the opposite sex.

      Other people maintain that there are no cognitive differences between the sexes and it is all social conditioning, i.e. that individuals brought up as boys feel like boys and those brought up as girls feel like girls. I don't believe this myself as there was a case in the news where a boy's circumcision had been botched to the point that his penis could not adequately be repaired to they decided to remove it and raise him as a girl. He found he didn't fit it and it seemed like something was wrong, eventually becoming depressed and finally committing suicide. In reviewing the case, other medics proposed that despite being raised as a girl, he never felt like one.

      But to say we can't understand non-binary or gender dysphoria in general because we don't experience it doesn't mean we should not respect those who do identify that way. We have to accept that people have a better understanding of how they feel than we possibly could.