Because they do not feel either man or woman, some individuals are said to be non-binary, that is to say that they do not recognize in any genre. A speech mainly carried by the young generation. Investigation and explanations.
Sex refers to biological characteristics. As for gender, it is the social interpretation of these differences, inter alia in the form of female and male roles, the binarity with which we have always composed. So, when a little girl is born, her entourage, but also the school, treat her like a little girl and attribute feminine traits to her (sweet, romantic, benevolent, etc.). Ditto for boys, more educated to hide their emotions and display their strengths, according to a masculine ideal. This binarity, the source of many stereotypes, would it have passed in 2020, and especially among young people?
In 2019, 20minutes magazine carried out an OpinionWay #MOIJEUNE survey, conducted among French people aged 18 to 30. As a result, 13% of respondents do not identify as either a man or a woman. These individuals are said to be non-binary, that is to say that they do not enter into this gender dichotomy which strives to place men on one side, women on one side. However, being non-binary has nothing to do with sexual orientation or the desire to change sex or make a transition. A non-binary person does not identify as either a man or a woman, while a trans person is a person whose gender does not correspond to their gender at birth, and who may consider changing sex.
Non-binary: female or male? Neither
The non-binary genre, "no-binary gender" in English or even "enby" (which is pronounced NB, for non-binary), upsets the order and tends to abolish the idea of one genre and all roles and behaviors that go with it. A non-binary person will not choose to dress like a woman or like a man: she will compose according to her, according to her choices, her desires, her vision.
It is also a question of questioning the share of knowledge, education and construction inherent in our personality and our way of being. How are we the result of gendered expectations? The non-binary person composes without, by choice but also by simple "feeling", because he does not recognize himself in the two genres that serve us society – man or woman, or even in a mixture of the two. In other cases, some people call themselves "agenre": the refusal to belong to a gender is even more convincing than non-binarity.
A young generation that does not find itself faced with binarity
If the young generation asserts itself more as non-binary and even exposes itself to the rejection or misunderstanding of the "older", it is notably because it is connected and surrounded by a new wave of personalities who assume their gender identity. Indeed, social networks, which participate in the free flow of ideas, but also pop culture stars who express themselves on this subject, contribute to the end of an all-pink or all-blue world. "I don't identify with any genre. I'm not a guy, I don't really feel like a woman, "said actress and model Ruby Rose, who plays in the series. Orange is the Black. "I don't feel connected to being a woman or a man," we hear from Miley Cyrus, pansexual.
Young people also evolve with LGBT movements (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans), the acronym of which now knows a more "complete" version and a rainbow that represents all sexual orientations and identities: LGBTQIA +. The letter Q appeared for Queer, the letter I for intersex, and the letter A for asexual. The “+” sign designates all gender identities. In fact, in 2014, a non-binary pride flag was created. It is made up of four colored bands, which show the nuance even within non-binarity. Yellow represents people whose gender exists outside of binarity, white represents people who identify with several or all genders, purple represents people who fall between the masculine and feminine genders, and black , finally, refers to people without gender or gender neutral.
"Gender fluid", who are you?
Besides the non-binary term, another term is frequently used: "gender fluid". But what does it mean? If we can be cisgender (here, we are talking about a person whose felt gender corresponds to their biological sex assigned at birth), transgender (here, we are talking about people whose psychic sexual identity does not correspond to gender biological), non-binary or enby (one does not feel either man or woman), one can also be… gender fluid, which one can translate in French by “kind fluid”. It means, in other words, that we pass from one genre to another, according to the periods of his life, his moods, his desires. Being gender fluid is therefore different from non-binarity, because in this second case, we are neither male nor female, whereas in a fluid gender, we sometimes feel one, sometimes the other. But the two are not mutually exclusive.
Neutral gender and new pronouns: the world of tomorrow?
Non-binary individuals assert their identity even in the French language and the use of the pronoun. Thus, we no longer say "she" or "he". The pronouns are replaced by new forms, like the pronouns "iel" or "yel" or even "illes" or "iiles". Non-binary people hope that society will gradually leave room for neutral sex. Why do we always have to choose between men and women when filling out an administrative form, or even creating an account on any online site? In the United States, non-binary people use the pronoun "they" followed by a singular, so that they no longer have to use "she" or "he". In 2019, the famous Merriam-Webster, dictionary, announced the addition of a new definition for this "they".
It's not just the language that adapts. Social networks are also getting started. Also in the United States, when you register on Facebook, you can check "man" or "woman" but also "agenre" or "gender variant", synonymous with fluid gender. In France, it is possible to click on "personalized" and enter its gender in a free field, in which case transgender, non-binary or gender men and women are free to indicate their identity.
Last year, Tinder, a famous dating app that we no longer present, took a step during Pride Month or Pride Month (which celebrates LGBTQIA + communities in June) and now offers, at the entrance, several terms which designate several sexual orientations: heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, demisexual, pansexual, queer but also "questioning". If gender is not mentioned at first, the term queer represents sexual minorities and questions both sexual orientation (heterosexual on the one hand, homosexual on the other) and gender ideology, between men and wife. We can therefore be "genderqueer", an end synonymous with non-binary, on Tinder (and this is valid in France).
Small vocabulary around the genre
Cisgenre : is said of a person whose gender identity corresponds to their birth sex. It is the opposite of a transgender person, who does not feel in agreement with his biological sex.
Trans : is said of a person whose gender identity does not correspond to the birth sex.
Non-binary : is said of a person whose gender identity is not recognized in the masculine gender and the feminine gender.
Enby : enby means non-binary, in English "no-binary gender". The term was born from the initials of non-binary, NB, which is therefore pronounced "enby".
Gender fluid : says of a person whose gender oscillates between masculinity and femininity.
Pansexual : sexual orientation which designates the fact of being attracted to a person, whatever their gender and sexuality.
Agenre : is said of an individual who does not identify with any gender, as in non-binarity. The term agenre is slightly sharper since often the agenre person is not found either in a mixture of the two kinds.
Queer : English word which means "strange" or "unusual", and which today designates a political movement which fights against the norms of gender and sexuality, more widely the heteropatriacart. By piggybacking on the acronym LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans), Queer's Q comes to represent minorities of gender and sexual orientation. We get the acronym LGBTQ. We also use the term Queer on an individual basis, for example, saying that we are "genderqueer".
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