Thinking outside the binary: a story about equality

They call themselves non-binary, which is an umbrella term for multiple identities that do not conform to the established gender standards. It simply means not identifying as 100% woman or 100% man. They also use alternative pronouns to “he/she”; “they” is the most commonly chosen.

​

“Gender identity is the truth, it’s how you feel in your most authentic form. Often the perception of your gender will evolve and change with time, that’s just the nature of it. We’re all on a spectrum,” says Meg Zulch, a freelance writer and body positivity activist based in New York.

​

According the World’s Health Organization, gender is socially constructed and doesn’t share fundamental links with anatomy. A 2010 study by “Brain Research” explained that gender dysphoria is in some way linked to the hormonal changes that develop inside the womb during pregnancy. The processes that define the genitals and the brain happen at different times.

Once a journalism student, Meg started questioning gender roles at age 5. “I cried every time my mum dressed me in flouncy dresses for holidays, and I would often take them off two hours into any family gathering. I sort of just kept dealing with it that way, with rebellion and anger, well into my teen years.”

​

It was when Meg attended a university with radical queer politics and inclusiveness beliefs that Zulch started to openly identify as non-binary, most precisely as genderqueer agender.

​

When asked to describe their identity, Meg says: “It means that I'm not a woman or a man. That sometimes I feel like both, some days I feel like neither, and the rest of the days I alternate between feeling masculine and feminine. It means I don't always feel at home in my body, and struggle in my relationship with my breasts and vagina. It’s so liberating, I love it.”

​

On the other side of the Atlantic, non-binary identities are also a reality. The 2011 UK Census figures showed that as many as 224,632 people intentionally failed to tick either the Male or Female box when asked about their sex. This could mean that one in every 250 people in the United Kingdom feel like they don’t fit in the binary concept of gender.

​

One of them is Rudy Loewe, a visual artist based in London who also designs graphic t-shirts with the aim to spread awareness about non-binary identities.

​

Rudy says: “There's always a sense of incomprehension and rejection. Even when I explain what non-binary means, people who are unfamiliar will often say ‘okay’, but then go on to say many other things that make it clear that they didn't really know what I meant. There's also people who refuse to think about gender outside of an essentialist binary. Ultimately I don't waste my energy on people who refuse to see me as I am.”

​

But this isn’t the case for everyone. One example is Christie Elan-Cane, a British activist and campaigner, who in 1992 came out as non-gendered on national television.

​

“I really had to educate myself about the issues as I was trying to educate others because I was very much thrown in at the deep end. The most important thing for me was to learn that, as a human being, I had rights,” Christie, who has worked for more than 20 years to legitimize the existence of people who identify as having no gender, says.

​

 “If I had not raised awareness of non-gendered existence then I would have been condemned to spend the rest of my life as a socially invisible non-person without civil rights that others can take for granted,” Christie adds.

​

A recent online survey conducted by the “Beyond the Binary Magazine” found that 94 per cent of the respondents felt unsafe being non-binary in the UK.

​

Although the Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination based on their gender, it only considers those who are perceived as either male or female.

​

Currently, a legal gender change, to either female or male, costs £140 and implies physical transition. The UK law does not recognize non-binary gender identities.

​

Nepal, New Zealand, Australia, Germany and Pakistan are some of the countries that offer a third gender option on official forms. Even Facebook has recently included more than 50 gender options beside woman and man.

​

“Gender beyond the binary is not at all new and can be found in many cultures worldwide, including Western cultures: early ideas about homosexuality were wrapped up in the impression of a ‘third gender’ as well,” says Marilyn Roxie, who pursued LGBT Studies at school in San Francisco and is the founder of “Genderqueerid” website.

​

The two-spirit Native Americans, the Calalai in Indonesia and the Hijras in India are examples of the existence of “another” gender in different cultures.

​

“Accepting that non-binary identities are even possible is the biggest hurdle that I see,” Marilyn, who also designed the official genderqueer flag, says. “Because of the information boom through online communities and despite the fact that people who don't identify as men or women have always been around, people use the information access points and the youth demographic associated with such sites as Tumblr as proof that non-binary identity is a ‘phase’ for everyone. It’s not.”

​

Adrian Wu, a 26-year-old Canadian fashion designer, sees their Youtube channel as an educational platform, used to share their non-binary transitioning journey.

​

 “I don't think it's a coincidence that this dialogue is happening now in history. This is because of the internet. Which is exactly how I found out about non-binary. Because of the lack of education, everyday people like us kill themselves, can't get jobs, or get murdered because of ignorance. And yes, I live in Canada and it's 2016. Can you believe it?,” says Adrian.

​

In a recent study carried out by a mental health organization, over 40 per cent of non-binary people answered they had attempted suicide at some point in their lives.

​

When asked about what still has to be done, Adrian says: “Where to begin? Third Options for Gender Neutral Washrooms? Passports? Drivers’ License? Social Insurance? Tax Benefits? Medical Expenses? Support? This is just as much a Transgender issue as it is a Non-Binary issue.”

​

But, the big question still remains. Is gender equality achievable?

“We have to get an entire society to think of gender differently. And with centuries of conditioning, that can be hard. But by relearning gender, everyone can be liberated from so many standards and rules that generate sexism and transphobia,” says Meg Zulch. “Gender oppresses everyone, even cisgenders. So to move closer to gender equality, perhaps we should abolish ‘gender’ altogether.”

​

An adaptation of this artilcle was published in a Portuguese National newspaper, Publico