Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

EPQ- NonBinary

I’m doing my EPQ about NonBinary gender and if it should legally be a third gender.
How many genders are there and why? (In ur own opinion)
I want to see how other people respond
Thanksssss

Reply 1

psychstudent2000

Original post by MeMorganYT

I’m doing my EPQ about NonBinary gender and if it should legally be a third gender.
How many genders are there and why? (In ur own opinion)
I want to see how other people respond
Thanksssss

Hi there, (just to quickly note that I think your EPQ subject is really interesting. Wish I had thought of something like this for mine)
I personally think it should be legalised as a third gender. We know that gender and sex are two different things from binary trans people. Non binary people are no different than binary people - there is still that discomfort with being viewed as the gender associated with their sex but the discomfort may extend to being referred to as male and female.

Research has been done in the past on non binary genders and are now, I think, research in this area is starting to increase slowly.I know that YouTubers Chase Ross and Jammidodger (Jamie R-?) are doing their Ma/PhD in this area. And I've read a few psychology/sociology articles recently published in this area, too.

HOWEVER, with every political change there are pros and cons. For example, from what I've noticed there are similarities between the 2nd wave feminist movement, in the US particularly (Gender and Sexuality, Rahman and Jackson), and non binary identities in that some view it as a political/social/cultural statement - denying gender not due to it being a sense of self but because the concept of gender is "restricting" socially/culturally and defying the patriarchal norms of what 'male' and 'female' should be. It risks becoming a trend rather than one's identity, especially with this constant connection via social media.

But for the most part, the term 'non binary' encompasses a range of identities (some, I will admit, do seem quite out there). It is a sense of self, and, for me personally, a fact of my life, just like it is a fact that I am short and of black/white heritage. The feeling has always existed, but it wasn't talked about until the late 1980s/early 1990s. It is evident in cultures globally and across the time period. People have been inventing new pronouns since the 19th century, mostly to refer to all sexes in one rather than using 'he' which was used, but the singular ‘they’ has been used since Chaucer’s ‘Canterbury Tales’. This is nothing new and is becoming an increasing part of Western culture that should be officially addressed and discussed like binary trans issues are.