does it ever bother other nb ppl that we’re literally called nonbinary aka ‘not binary’ cuz I feel incredibly othered
This is why “genderqueer” can be a good word to use instead. I believe that was even coined before “nonbinary”.
Yep, genderqueer came long before nonbinary was a thing. Nowadays, genderqueer refers more to people who have a specific NB identity, rather than being used as an umbrella term for all NB identities.
iirc nonbinary as an umbrella term was coined because of certain people not wanting to use their identity from a political standpoint, and wanting to better assimilate into mainstream society (so it’s Corporate Gay constrasted with “gender -fucks, -punks and -queers”, basically) and thus not wanting to use the word ‘queer’.
Nonbinary is also useful to strictly separate ourselves from GNC people, who also used genderqueer – which ties into assimilationist practices. I wonder, though, that if nonbinary had never catched on, genderqueer would just mean nonbinary just like transgender doesn’t cover all GNC or intersex people nowadays.
I like nonbinary because it’s a way to be specific about my gender – literally describing it as not binary – without a need for me to say my actual gender (which would bring up more questions, since most people can’t grasp anything beyond male/female or maybe both or genderless). Also, keep in mind queer is not necessarily a translatable and well-known word all over the world, so genderqueer may require extra explanations too.
I like genderqueer a lot, though, and it’s always an option to just use other gender labels (agender, solarian, demigirl, maverique, gender neutral, etc.) without using umbrella terms for yourself.
Nonbinary is also useful to strictly separate ourselves from GNC people, who also used genderqueer – which ties into assimilationist practices.
Yes yes yes, this is a thing I am definitely seeing. It goes sorta like this:
“We, the respectful non-binary people have a gender identity which is more valid than a gender expression and it comes with a comprehensible set of pronouns and a narrative that makes us easy to understand. We are not like those genderfreaks, transvestites, dragqueens and other weirdoes whose differences are performative and this not valid.”
It’s a ‘pushing ourselves up by pushing others down’ practice and it comes with a lot of stereotyping.
Often non-binary is presented as a skinny short cute young white masculine/subtly-androgynous person who looks naturally androgynous without any make-up, while gender-nonconforming is presented as a large unattrative older feminine person whose genderexpression is on the surface and clearly a product of make-up and other tools. All these stereotypes are used to present one group as ‘inherently real’ and the other as ‘performative’, to push the message that one group is ‘worthy of acceptance’ at the expense of the other.
I hate it.
I hate it.
I hate it.
I hate it.
QueerAnarchism 