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Thom_Fuleri
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01 Oct 2012, 11:58 am

Drebi wrote:
Tell that to the scientific community and they'll laugh you off as extremely ignorant or mentally impaired. The binary sexes are male and female, the non-binary sex is intersex. It's been a while but the last time I checked, 2+1=3. So, yes, there is indeed a third sex.


To echo the earlier posters, this is not quite true. There is male, there is female, and there is a grey area in the middle. This is the equivalent of "it's complicated" on Facebook for those not single yet not in a relationship.



Callista
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01 Oct 2012, 4:00 pm

And that's just the physical aspect. What about people whose gender identity is androgynous or third-gender? You can have totally normal male or female bits down there and still reject the binary. Arguably, who you are as a person is more significant to your identity than what your body is shaped like, anyway.

Makes me wonder how many people identifying as "bisexual" are actually "pansexual" and are just using bisexual for convenience's sake because people understand it. It's not too much of a jump from being attracted to both genders to being attracted to the people who don't quite fit into either one.

But then, once you get to that point, you start to want to just dump the labels and go, "I'm attracted to whoever I happen to find aesthetically pleasing, interesting to hang out with, sexually arousing, or generally attractive," which is true of everybody (even asexual/aromantics, who can answer that question with "nobody").

Sooner or later, if we get our heads straight, I think we'll use labels like gay or straight more like shortcuts to tell other people who our potential dating pool is, and less like identities, because it'll be understood that you like who you like and that's it. Maybe that's a controversial viewpoint--the idea that gay subculture (and other such subcultures based on sexual/gender differences) will fade into the general population as everybody starts to agree that people are individuals rather than representatives of their particular orientations... I don't think it will happen for a while yet, though. My generation still has subconscious stereotypes to deal with, and some are outright bigoted. I think we've got a couple hundred years to go yet before "gay" is considered more of a personality trait, like "extroverted"--something that might determine who you hang out with, but only because you have more in common; not because you're rejected by the majority.


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FalsettoTesla
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01 Oct 2012, 4:46 pm

Callista wrote:
Sooner or later, if we get our heads straight, I think we'll use labels like gay or straight more like shortcuts to tell other people who our potential dating pool is, and less like identities, because it'll be understood that you like who you like and that's it. Maybe that's a controversial viewpoint--the idea that gay subculture (and other such subcultures based on sexual/gender differences) will fade into the general population as everybody starts to agree that people are individuals rather than representatives of their particular orientations... I don't think it will happen for a while yet, though. My generation still has subconscious stereotypes to deal with, and some are outright bigoted. I think we've got a couple hundred years to go yet before "gay" is considered more of a personality trait, like "extroverted"--something that might determine who you hang out with, but only because you have more in common; not because you're rejected by the majority.


I really forget that the world isn't like that already. In England there isn't much homophobia really, I mean, I have a large collection of gay friends and none of us have experienced homophobic abuse (although a large about of transphobic abuse). Maybe we're just lucky. I'm always surprised when people are bigoted.



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01 Oct 2012, 5:14 pm

What I meant was, there are not only two sexes. Intersex (and yes, I know there are multiple different variations of it) has been the term given to those whose genetic make-up and physical appearance are not exclusively male or female. Grey might be made up of both black and white but it (and all it's shades) is it's own unique color. The same is true for intersex (and it's variations); while it's a bridge between male and female, it's still unique, and separate from the others.

To state otherwise is ridiculous.



Magdalena
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02 Oct 2012, 6:05 am

Don't get me wrong- the phrases and ideas on this "bingo board" annoy me too, but what I personally find annoying is how countless full-on MTF transgenders (who have exactly zero characteristics of the "man" gender and exactly infinity characteristics of the "woman" gender) label themselves as being "androgynous."

And don't hate on me for complaining about that, because it's not like they're expressing gender-diversity (or solidarity with it) by doing that. They're straight-up misrepresenting who they are, giving themselves false labels. They are lying. It is insulting and disrespectful to those of us who actually *are* androgynes in terms of gender identity and expression.

Back to the OP's first post in this thread, I just started my own thread that relates quite a bit to the statement found in the top row of the "G" column. I really don't understand why people (*coughcoughMANYGAYMENcoughcough*) seem to think that way.

Also, the second-from-the-bottom statement in the "I" column makes me not want to interact with other members of my species.


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lifeofmammals
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02 Oct 2012, 6:37 am

Vatnos wrote:
Rorberyllium wrote:
Well the issue is a lot of people who identify as bisexual do so because are only attracted to cis males and cis females. This isn't a bad thing, but it's an important distinction to make, because someone who identifies as bi in that way probably wouldn't be attracted to someone who is genderqueer, intersex, or trans.

There's even a small Bisexual Separatist movement, their mission being that they want to make it very clear that they aren't affiliated with pansexuals (the more extreme members don't want to be associated with any of the other acronyms).


Let's leave transsexuals out of this. They are their desired gender, and not a third gender. If they are convincing in that role, there is no reason a straight or gay person couldn't date them, let alone someone who's bisexual. The bisexual community has strong ties to the trans community. I have never heard of this 'separatist' movement.

The pan term is designed to describe the same population, but be more inclusive towards intersex and genderqueer people.

Recently there has been some conflict in the community over whether it was a necessary term to introduce though. While there are some bisexuals that like strongly masculine and strongly feminine types without the inbetween, most are quite content to date more androgynous types. For that matter, many people who identify as gay or straight can be attracted to androgyny as well. An attraction to androgyny falls within the range of what is possible for other sexual orientations, so it's questionable whether it needs to be recognized as a new category unto itself. Some people think it should be though. They see 'bisexual' as referring strictly to the binary sexes. Others consider 'bisexual' to mean an attraction to a scale of sexual morphology that is centered between two poles. 'Pansexual' or 'Omnisexual' would require introducing a third sex, when no such thing exists. There is no 'third set of genitals', so until aliens land here, you could identify as bi and be fully covered for anything that should turn up.

Personally I see it as a case of squares and rectangles. Everyone who's pan is bi, and most (but not all) people who are bi are pan. Are they exactly the same groups? No. But the amount of people that aren't both is insignificant enough to make the distinction irrelevant for most purposes, because the number of people who are out as either is a measly 2% of the population anyway. It is also debatable whether the terms represent a difference in programmed biological attraction vs someone's political mindset. So I prefer to err on the side of simplicity. I'm bi, I'm also pan (omni for that matter). If I walk around the city and someone asks what I like, I'm not going to get into a philosophical discussion about gender with them. I'll just say I'm bi, since it fits, and they're far more likely to understand that. They don't need to know I'm a square, a rhombus, and a rectangle. Rectangle covers everything they need to know.


I totally agree with everything written here. I'm also very wary of creating secret-handshake words that are potentially alienating to people who don't spend all their free time reading up about LGBT theory on tumblr. Bisexual is a good enough word for me.



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02 Oct 2012, 10:00 am

Quote:
Don't get me wrong- the phrases and ideas on this "bingo board" annoy me too, but what I personally find annoying is how countless full-on MTF transgenders (who have exactly zero characteristics of the "man" gender and exactly infinity characteristics of the "woman" gender) label themselves as being "androgynous."

And don't hate on me for complaining about that, because it's not like they're expressing gender-diversity (or solidarity with it) by doing that. They're straight-up misrepresenting who they are, giving themselves false labels. They are lying. It is insulting and disrespectful to those of us who actually *are* androgynes in terms of gender identity and expression.
But think about why they might be doing that. Think about how badly trans people are treated. They have lived their whole lives with the world telling them that there's no such thing as a woman born with guy parts and that if you happen to be one, you're delusional, sick, perverted, wrong. Think of all the internalized prejudice. They've been taught to hate what they are. Is it really so surprising that some of them might try to ease into it by identifying as androgynous instead of transgendered--or just to be so afraid of censure that they deny being female at all? Yes, it's horrible to have to play-act as somebody you're not; but it's also horrible to be rejected and abused when you admit being who you are.

Your annoyance with this phenomenon makes sense, and I can't really "hate on" you for it either. Androgyny is even less well-known than intersex or transgendered, and you want to establish it as something distinct from either one. But--still--perhaps you could look at this as a symptom of the generally bad way people get treated if they don't fit into the gender binary. Somebody might be claiming a label they don't actually fit, but they are still people who have a lot of the same struggles as you. It's a lot like when you see someone with social anxiety disorder or ADHD identifying as autistic when they're not--yeah, they're not really autistic; but they have so many of the same struggles and so much in common that it doesn't make much sense to hate them.


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Magdalena
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02 Oct 2012, 9:25 pm

Callista wrote:
But think about why they might be doing that. Think about how badly trans people are treated. They have lived their whole lives with the world telling them that there's no such thing as a woman born with guy parts and that if you happen to be one, you're delusional, sick, perverted, wrong. Think of all the internalized prejudice. They've been taught to hate what they are. Is it really so surprising that some of them might try to ease into it by identifying as androgynous instead of transgendered--or just to be so afraid of censure that they deny being female at all? Yes, it's horrible to have to play-act as somebody you're not; but it's also horrible to be rejected and abused when you admit being who you are.


So falsely identifying as androgynous is supposed to alleviate that? Because in my experience, androgynous gender identity and expression gets hated on constantly. People who treat trans people badly aren't exactly being selective with who they are discriminating against. They're not giving different amounts of hate to different sub-groups of the gender-diverse community. An androgyne experiences discrimination for the same reason that a trans experiences discrimination: because both of them are rejecting the accepted conventional gender norms at all. For that reason, if you're trans, then identifying as androgynous is pointless. We're all in this together. But insulting and disrespecting the androgynous community by falsely including yourself in it is not going to make your life any easier.

Quote:
Your annoyance with this phenomenon makes sense, and I can't really "hate on" you for it either. Androgyny is even less well-known than intersex or transgendered, and you want to establish it as something distinct from either one. But--still--perhaps you could look at this as a symptom of the generally bad way people get treated if they don't fit into the gender binary. Somebody might be claiming a label they don't actually fit, but they are still people who have a lot of the same struggles as you. It's a lot like when you see someone with social anxiety disorder or ADHD identifying as autistic when they're not--yeah, they're not really autistic; but they have so many of the same struggles and so much in common that it doesn't make much sense to hate them.


I appreciate that you aren't hating on me for my annoyance. I just don't see how the Bible-thumping conservative loyalist from Bumblef*ck County, Texas is going to go, "Oh shoot, the transgender is now labeling themselves as 'androgynous'- I better make extra sure to give them THAT MUCH LESS crap than I would normally give them, which is to say that I'm still gonna be giving them crap. But who knows, maybe- just MAYBE- I'll give them a raise and start paying them three-quarters as much as I pay my other employees, instead of just half as much like usual!"

I understand that transgenders have all kinds of struggles. And trust me, I am very, very familiar with the social consequences of not fitting into the gender binary. The very fact of being androgyne, by definition, means that you aren't fitting into a gender binary. And since gender binaries are the only really accepted form of gender identity, androgynes- by definition- are going to be getting all kinds of hate.

And since the only accepted gender identity choice is the one that fits your biological sex, transpeople- by definition- are going to be on the receiving end of, again, all kinds of hate.

The point? There's not enough difference between the amounts of hate that both groups- androgynes and transpeople- receive, to merit the false identification of oneself as androgynous when one is, in fact, not androgynous. Also, I don't go around saying that I'm a female born in a male's body when that is factually not true. Instead, I go around saying (not often publically- again, because of the hate) that I identify as neither male nor female, but that I am male-bodied. I tell it how it is.


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princessarachne
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20 Mar 2015, 8:18 pm

xD I've heard the poly hate one DOZENS of times!
(and the gender role one. Most people don't know what genderfluid is.)



Fugu
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24 Mar 2015, 1:01 pm

Magdalena wrote:
The point? There's not enough difference between the amounts of hate that both groups- androgynes and transpeople- receive, to merit the false identification of oneself as androgynous when one is, in fact, not androgynous. Also, I don't go around saying that I'm a female born in a male's body when that is factually not true. Instead, I go around saying (not often publically- again, because of the hate) that I identify as neither male nor female, but that I am male-bodied. I tell it how it is.
comparing androgyny and transgender sounds a bit lopsided, androgyny is a state of appearance, while transgender is tied in with sexual self-image and dysphoria.



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22 Apr 2015, 4:28 pm

I feel like this is what depresses me most -the LGBTQ+ community talks about acceptance and understanding but there are lots of people who don't live up to it. I mean ultimately I know there are always going to be jerks in every group -people are people. But I think this (people saying you have to be gay a certain way, or that bi folks are cheats or that asexuality isn't a real sexuality ect.) is a big reason I've only come out to a few people.

If even the group that was supposed to be accepting of this isn't...where is our safe place?



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01 Jul 2015, 11:23 pm

I've had so many of these thrown at me.. It's gotten to the point where, if someone insults me, I resort to violence, often punching them in the face and walking away. Once, I hit one of my peers upside the head with a textbook.. (If you know me, you'd know I'm practically a pacifist. I hate violence, this is dark for me..)

These types of situations have been growing rapidly recently, both for me and some of my friends, yet nobody is stopping them.


(At least I enjoyed printing out multiple copies of the image and burning them!)


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Callista
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03 Jul 2015, 1:14 pm

I recommend you don't hit people in the head. If you hit them just the wrong way, or if you hit them and they lost their balance and hit their head on something else or on the ground, you could cause a dangerous head injury. I'm thinking about this because I've been following a couple of cases where someone was essentially killed by someone who punched them just once.

If you want to make it very clear that you are offended, and you tend to want to do things physically, slapping with an open hand is probably better than a punch, because you are not likely to cause a head injury. Never hit someone who is a lot smaller than you, especially a child. For these people, I recommend the "glare, turn around, and walk away in complete silence" reaction, which usually conveys disgust (walk away slowly, posture straight, so that it doesn't look like a retreat). Actually, I would recommend that over punching *or* slapping, but since I can't be quite sure you would stop hitting people entirely, at least I can warn you about the small but real chance that you will do real harm when you intended only to express your anger.


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03 Jul 2015, 4:07 pm

Callista wrote:
I recommend you don't hit people in the head. If you hit them just the wrong way, or if you hit them and they lost their balance and hit their head on something else or on the ground, you could cause a dangerous head injury. I'm thinking about this because I've been following a couple of cases where someone was essentially killed by someone who punched them just once.

If you want to make it very clear that you are offended, and you tend to want to do things physically, slapping with an open hand is probably better than a punch, because you are not likely to cause a head injury. Never hit someone who is a lot smaller than you, especially a child. For these people, I recommend the "glare, turn around, and walk away in complete silence" reaction, which usually conveys disgust (walk away slowly, posture straight, so that it doesn't look like a retreat). Actually, I would recommend that over punching *or* slapping, but since I can't be quite sure you would stop hitting people entirely, at least I can warn you about the small but real chance that you will do real harm when you intended only to express your anger.

I am fairly small myself (Not height, but I have no mass whatsoever.) I try to remain nonviolent, but speaking to them does nothing and walking away just adds to the problem. I am not strong enough to make the people in question lose their balance, and I know the areas to avoid, so severe injuries are much less likely with me than others.
(and the textbook I mentioned was a very light paperback one, only used because the other person was violent. Otherwise, I wouldn't have used it.)


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18 Aug 2015, 12:15 am

One thing I hear a lot from my gay friends is "I hate gays." It makes no sense. They are gay. I am gay. What exactly are they saying? Gays are b*****s, gays are backstabbers, etc. One friend says he can't go out to dinner if his friends are bringing a "new gay," because he can't handle it.

I've never gotten this.



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09 Sep 2015, 6:07 pm

I don't understand why anyone willingly applies labels to themselves, especially when those labels are becoming increasingly divisive. The whole thing has become like some exercise in sexual taxonomy, in which there are now levels of subdivisions with each classification. Why can't people simply be individuals and express themselves in terms of what they want/like/are instead of continually inventing more and more labels to pin on themselves?


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