Tech | July 09, 2008 | 13 comments

Facebook's gender trouble - trans people excluded

source: http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/2008/07/09/gender_neutral/index.html?source=refresh

Image
LindseyIndigo
Facebook is asking every user to state their gender as a result of changes to the words available on the site to describe 'oneself'.

No longer will the words 'Jimmy has tagged themself in a photo' be readable anywhere on the time-sapping, rivalry-encouraging, confidence-battering phenomenon that is Facecrack; only 'himself' or 'herself' or nothing at all will be an option to describe your gender.

Picking whether you're male or female, and stating this fact, might seem to be no problem for many people, but for trans people, or those who prefer not to define their gender in narrow terms, Facebook will suddenly be one (more) big exclusion zone.

It's not that there won't be any options for those whose gender doesn't fall strictly within the 'male' or 'female' brackets: those who don't wish to pick M or F are invited to pick nothing at all. And that's the problem - gender is being presented as either male or female or nothing with Facebook's new terminology, and this totally overlooks gender complexity, and the perspectives of trans people for whom gender is most certainly not nothing.

Is this all a storm in a teacup? Do you care about gender disctinctions? Is it reasonable to expect that everyone's point of view is considered on a global social network that seeks to be popular, or should we just get on with what we're given?
  1. groups:
    Tech,   Sex and Love,   Facebook
  2. tags:
    Tech,  Technology,  Sex and Love,  Women,  9 more
  3.     
    |

13 comments // Facebook's gender trouble - trans people excluded

  • JanaPokana
    • 0
      JanaPokana  

    • I am all for questioning the gender binary, but the problem is - how far do you go? Once you decide to add categories other than 'male' and 'female', the alternatives would be limitless. Ultimately, someone would always end up feeling excluded no matter how elaborate your classificatory system is.

    • 3 years ago
  • Brockie
  • mo1y
    • 0
      mo1y  

    • I guess it's called truth in advertising. I this really a problem. Why does the majority have to be dictated by a very some minority?

      Anyway how can a normal person relate to a person, who does not understand it's own sexuality.

      I mean man and woman have enough problems with each.

    • 3 years ago
  • Brockie
    • 0
      Brockie  

    • I think that this is just a lot of fuss over nothing. I have a couple of thoughts on this matter. First of all I don't want to sound heartless but this facebook delema is not the first time, and won't be the last that a "tranni" will have to make the male/female decision. Somewhere along their identity journey they just need to decide how to deal with that question. Second thought, if answering it makes them that uncomfortable. Then just leave it blank.

    • 3 years ago
  • GreenTransman
  • machelli
    • 0
      machelli  

    • I think the issue is that they're specifically changing a word that excluded NO ONE to a choice that does exclude people. Isn't it easier to keep it the way it was?

    • 3 years ago
  • Soap
  • Soap
    • 0
      Soap  

    • Oh please, give me a freaking break. The whole world cannot accommodate for every last bit of minority consideration.

      I have no problems with trans-gender people, but if they start to bring an upheaval about this I would get severely annoyed by it.

      Boo-godamn-hoo. I bet they don't even care, its a bunch of other people who have to always be riding someones ass.

    • 3 years ago
  • timunuhe
  • jade_azul16
  • jade_azul16
  • jade_azul16
  • jade_azul16
    • 0
      jade_azul16  

    • well i think it's easy, if you have a penis, just say you're a guy, and if you have a vagina, just say you're a girl

      it won't be easy if you're hermaphrodite though, but i remember that they're considered girls cause they grow breasts

      or just whatever the fuck pleases ur mind
      :)

    • 3 years ago
more from Tech:
from the community

top videos