Gender selection options?

[•.*°•☆. Q .☆•°*.•]

I have been thinking about this a lot. I was thinking that if it was possible to have, it would be really nice to have a "Nonbinary" or "NB" gender option available to select, in addition to the already existing, "Male", "Female", and "Unspecified".

My reasoning for this is as follows: This forum is more or less the place where many of us are able to come together and be totally ourselves, despite whatever we may or may not show to the rest of the world or anyone else who we may know. We can be open here about what we like, who we are, what's on our minds, and etc., (barring any dangerous info which we know well enough not to share.) And so I was thinking wouldn't it be fitting, then, to have a "Nonbinary" gender option available to us, so that those of us who don't identify as "male" or "female" might be able to pick something that, while not entirely specific (as there are wayyyy too many genders outside of the gender binary to reasonably ask to include as a dropdown option) is at least something that has clearly been selected to state "I'm a person who doesn't identify as 'Male' or 'Female' ".

I realize that we do have an "unspecified" option, but I have always felt that that is not quite the same? Because it's also what the default setting is (so that may be an indicator that a person has simply never gotten around to updating it), but also because there's a difference between not wanting to share one's gender, and having a gender that isn't male or female.

In summation: I think a "Nonbinary" or "NB" option for gender selection would make the forum a more inclusive place, if it is indeed technologically possible to include such an option.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

[Jorm]

The only problem I see with a NB option is that it doesn't allow for trans people who are binary, but want to express the fact that they aren't cis. "Other" might work better as broad catch all for non-cis members.

Personally I kind of like "unspecified" because although I don't avoid outting myself if the subject comes up, I do prefer to not have my gender status constantly on display. So while I think adding a more explicit non-cis gender option would be great, I would ask that the "unspecified" remain available, because like you say, not being male or female and not wanting to share that info aren't necessarily the same thing.

[Bondi]

From what I remember back when I was an administrator all those years ago, I don't think it was possible to include anything other than male, female, or undisclosed at the time, given that the gender field is linked to the colored gender icons on here so you couldn't really tinker with that. I could be wrong, but I think it was a matter of what the forum software would allow. But that was 7 years ago and it could have changed since then. A solution to that would be to add another gender field and have it called gender I identify with and then someone could put non-binary, female-to-male transgendered, male-to-female transgendered; if they wish to share that information. If they don't, or if they identify with the gender that they've been assigned, then they can leave that field blank in which case maybe it wouldn't appear in their profile. But given the profile fields as they are now, someone who wants to identify as gender-binary or gender neutral can do so. I know of at least one user who has their gender undisclosed on their profile and in their about me section they say that they do identify as gender-neutral and don't consider themselves either male or female, so that could be another suggestion for those who might wish to do the same thing.

[Paul]

I support your idea; I don't know if it's possible since the forum uses software made by someone else. But to any mods that may see this;

I think it would be an important step to open up the gender field to other identifications besides m/f/unspecified and I believe the forum overall would be supportive of the change.

[bloom]

I support the idea of an 'Other' option rather than a specifically nonbinary option, for the reasons Jorm details, and because I know several bigender people who don't identify as nonbinary because they identify as both binary genders (not here but elsewhere, but you never know).

I'm reasonably sure that the forum software can have these things added to it - if I remember correctly the Green Forum has several options other than male/female/unspecified to choose from.

[Bondi]

The Green forum has male, female, and not telling. I checked just now.

[bloom]

I swear there used to be other options, too I could be wrong, though, or it might have been that way before and then software changed, I don't know.

[Jorm]

I swear there used to be other options, too I could be wrong, though, or it might have been that way before and then software changed, I don't know.

Yeah, other options did used to exist (including Aardvark, because of reasons), but were lost during a software upgrade. I'm not sure if they could be re-added or not, I don't think we ever got around to trying!

[Geist]

Yep, we have "Not Telling" on ours. We did lose the funnier ones in the Great Invision Upgrade Nonsense, though. I present physically as female, but I don't necessarily identify with any particular gender myself. Several (yes, there are more than two in many parts of the world) are quite fitting.

[bloom]

Sorry to be a pest, but just bumping this because we never got an answer either way and provided there aren't software limitations it seems like an easy way to help accommodate our nonbinary members.

[R.L]

I realize that we do have an "unspecified" option, but I have always felt that that is not quite the same? Because it's also what the default setting is (so that may be an indicator that a person has simply never gotten around to updating it)

I clicked this topic thinking how I don't want tumblr to spread here (almost expected people requesting "nan0girl" and "genderfuck" to be added or something...) but that is actually a very valid reason, I remember thinking about that and feeling like a newbie when I changed mine to "Undisclosed".... So I support adding "other"

[Jorm]

I realize that we do have an "unspecified" option, but I have always felt that that is not quite the same? Because it's also what the default setting is (so that may be an indicator that a person has simply never gotten around to updating it)

I clicked this topic thinking how I don't want tumblr to spread here (almost expected people requesting "nan0girl" and "genderfuck" to be added or something...) but that is actually a very valid reason, I remember thinking about that and feeling like a newbie when I changed mine to "Undisclosed".... So I support adding "other"

Although I don't think we need to make them options here, given we're a small community and the chances of more than one or two people preferring obscure gender terminology is remote, I don't think there's anything generally problematic with either nan0 girl/boy (apart from the random, unnecessary use of a zero instead of the letter o) or genderfuck. Genderfuck has an extensive and very legitimate history and political basis. Although I might be inclined to argue it's less of a gender than it is a conscious lifestyle and political movement. Nan0, I had to look up, but it seems fair enough to me. Maybe there are enough other terms to cover it's meaning and make it not strictly necessary, but I'm generally in favor the expansion of non-binary gender vocabulary.

[High on Lullabies]

Just to answer this with regard to the technical limitations (or lack thereof). There is nothing to stop additional options being added to the 'Gender' field, as long as we can agree on an option(s) that will cater for everyone. To this end I would agree with Ouro's suggestion that a simple 'Other' option would be easiest and most inclusive, though at the same time I can understand some may feel this is rather too much of a catch-all when 'Male' and 'Female' have separate entries in the list.

Anyway, I'm going to post a thread for discussion on the Staff Board on how to progress this so more news to follow shortly!

[Jorm]

If you opt for multiple choices my personal suggestion, for whatever it's worth, would be to have something in the area of "transfeminine" and "transmasculine", "non-binary", and "other". I feel like the first three are specific enough to satisfy people wanting to more explicitly state their gender while still being broad enough to cover a range of really specific genders without having to have a couple dozen options. Not that I'm against having a lot of choices, but I figure it's easier for you guys on staff to keep it to a minimum and again, we're such a small community that chances are, given a fuller range of specific options, most of them would never actually get used. And the "other" options adds a catch-all for anyone who either doesn't feel comfortable with any of the more specific options available, or who wants to express their not being cis-gender without more specifically outting themselves.

But that's just my thoughts. A poll somewhere (maybe adding one here) to solicit forum-wide opinions would be good, assuming you want that much input from members

[•.*°•☆. Q .☆•°*.•]

If you opt for multiple choices my personal suggestion, for whatever it's worth, would be to have something in the area of "transfeminine" and "transmasculine", "non-binary", and "other".

But that's just my thoughts. A poll somewhere (maybe adding one here) to solicit forum-wide opinions would be good, assuming you want that much input from members

Can I just say every single idea you have in this post is pure gold?

[Joal 555]

The staff have discussed this and are pleased to report that the gender field on profiles now includes an extra option, namely "other".

Thank you to all who posted in here and especially to High On Lullabies for co-ordinating the staff discussion and making this happen!

[bloom]

Big thank you to staff for this! I'm sure there are people who will get use out of the new option.

[Jorm]

I was wondering if there had been any further progress on this. Thanks to all on staff for taking the time to discuss this and for being so open to member input.

[•.*°•☆. Q .☆•°*.•]

Oh my goodness, staff, thank you so much thank you thank you thank you

this means so much to me I'm so happy omg thank you