He, She or They?

I have recently spoke to a Muhlenberg College student who wishes to remain nameless. She told me that the new trend going around colleges like wild fire is students petitioning to get the male/female part of job and college applications removed due to the fact that they do not want to be classified as male or female. They instead wish to be addressed as “they” or whatever they are feel like being addressed that day.

“They get easily offended when they are called it,” says the student. She continued to tell me that they go around saying stuff like, “I feel very feline today.” “One even flipped out on someone for making Stouffer’s Mac and Cheese,” the student claimed.

Who are these people and what do we classify them as?

They are called genderqueer, alternatively known as non-binary. They choose their non-binary name and prefer to be called as such.

According to www.nonbinary.org, “Non-binary gender is an umbrella term covering any gender identity or expression that does not fit within the gender binary. The label may also be used by individuals wishing to identify as falling outside of the gender binary. The label may also be used by individuals wishing to identify as falling outside of the gender binary without being any more specific about the nature of their gender.”

Designed by Kyle Rowan in 2014, the non-binary flag is a representation of non-binary individuals who do not feel properly represented by the genderqueer flag. The non-binary flag is not intended to replace the genderqueer flag, designed by Marilyn Roxie, but to co-exist with it.

Non-binaries also have their own language. For example, a Bitsy is a non-standard genderqueer term for “boy/girl” or “daughter/son” and Nesser is a non-standard non-binary term for “daughter/son”. More terminology can be found at www.nonbinary.org.

They have their own language not just in English, but other languages as well. The question that comes to mind is who started this and what they were thinking?

According to www.nonbinary.org: “Genderqueer was created in the 1990s as ‘Gender Queer’, and was for a time written as ‘GenderQueer’ before becoming a single word. The original meaning was literally queer gender, including anyone who felt the way they experienced or expressed gender was queer. The term carries the non-normative and anti-assimilationist connotations of the Queer Movement and applies these to gender rather than sexuality. The earliest known use of the term is by Riki Ann Wilchins in the Spring 1995 newsletter of Transexual Menace.”

www.nonbinary.org describes the difference between non-binary and gender queer as:

“Genderqueer means non-normative or queer gender while non-binary means gender that falls outside the gender binary model. Both of these terms are extremely similar in scope, however in practice their connotations are significantly different.”

We grew up in a generation where we know what we were and we used words of emotions to explain how we felt, not using words for animals to describe how we feel and not confusing people on who or what we are on a given day.

This makes you think what this world and generation is coming to. It is a shame that people have to go around and make such stupid ideas. I have nothing against straight, gay or even bisexual people; but this is taking it a step way too far.