genderqueer basics « Genderqueer australia | 03 8640 9796 | contact@genderqueer.org.au

01: genderqueer basics

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I’m genderqueer. Now what?

Basics – by Rose Moore

If you’re calling yourself genderqueer, then you’ve got an idea that you don’t want to be strictly male nor female, or actually feel you’re something else entirely!

We’ve collected information and advice below, from information on the effects of hormones (if you choose to take them), gender neutral toilets and relationships, all to help you find out more about how you can safely be who you want to be.

If you would like specific information that’s not here, click the blue comment button at the bottom and write something in. We’ll do our best to answer your question.

Choose a topic

genderqueer basics

Article: Different ways to be transgender

by Cai

Tranifesto website | Different ways to be transgender

Gender Pirate – by Rose Moore

Synopsis

Matt Kailey answers a question from a reader on whether it really is possible to feel transgender but not to dislike your own body. In the article, Matt speaks of medical criteria and why it’s not a good idea to use these exclusively to determine your own identity.

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Article: genderqueer family

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Our genderqueer family article

Synopsis

What if you or your partner are genderqueer, what do your kids call you? This article goes into detail about how one family works with a genderqueer parent and how it has affected their relationship with friends and family.

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Article: genderqueer meanings

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Transgender, Genderqueer, Cisgender… What Do These Terms Mean? | Kinsey Confidential.

This article from the Kinsey Institute website goes into some detail on what gender identity actually is, and the terms transgender, genderqueer and cisgender.

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Article: What does ‘Genderqueer’ mean? | Butch Lab

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What does ‘Genderqueer’ mean? | Butch Lab.

A really good article on the meaning of “genderqueer” by guest blogger Kyle Jones from butchtastic.net

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Audio: Interview with Fintan Harte

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JOY 94.9 Word For Word | Download Podcast interview with Fintan Harte, director SHGC

Summary

Dean Beck interviews Southern Health Care Network Gender Clinic director Fintan Harte about his involvement with helping the gender diverse population of Victoria.

He goes into detail about how much diversity there is in gender and that the team he leads does support those who are questioning their gender and who identify as genderqueer.

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Basics: Acronyms

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Queer@M additional definitions | Asexual | Allies

The alphabet soup

The Queer community is sometimes called the “alphabet soup” because there are so many acronyms and abbreviations used. Here are some of the basic ones you’ll come across.

GLBTI / LGBTI – Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Intersex
LGBTQA / GLBTQA - Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans Queer/Questioning Asexual/Allies
SGD – Sex and Gender Diverse
DGS – Diverse Sex and Gender
SSAGQ – Same Sex Attracted Gender Questioning
SSATIQ – Same Sex Attracted, Transgender, Intersex and Queer
MAAB - Male assigned at birth; people who have been brought up as male
FAAB – Female assigned at birth; people who have been brought up as female

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Basics: Assumptions

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Identity | Pronouns | Gender 101 | Gender

You’re walking down the street…

Normal: Melbourne, 31 May 2012 by boigrrlwonder

What’s the first thing you notice when you see someone on the street? Some would say their clothing. Others their gender.

Actually, the first thing you see is a human shape.

Everything else that we see builds to a point where we can make an educated guess about who the person is, all based on verbal and non-verbal cues – the way someone speaks and the movements they make with hands, face and body, their clothing choices, hair length and other things.

As human beings in society, we are taught that the presence of a particular collection of visual cues – what we see with our eyes – corresponds with a male or female gender identity.

Assume nothing

Except this isn’t always the case.

A person with tattoos isn’t automatically a biker and/or a criminal.

A person in a business suit may be a high-powered business-person, but could equally be just about anything else.

Our concepts of masculine and feminine are similarly flawed and based on our personal and collective assumptions – stereotypes – about what particular appearances mean.

So what do I do?

So what to do you do when you see someone who looks female or male? Don’t make assumptions.

A person’s gender expression is their business not yours.

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Basics: Binding

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Wikipedia article on binding | FTM Australia guide to binders | Underworks binders | Pay it forward binders

What is binding?

Binding is where you use bandages or a tight (usually purpose-made) top to flatten breasts.

Binding is a way of helping you look less female and more androgynous.

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Basics: Gender 101

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What is Gender | ”It’s pronounced metrosexual” website explanation of gender

If someone questions their gender they want to be another sex, right?

Gender Thing: Northcote, February 2007 by gotheek

Not quite.

People who come to you may feel they want to explore what it would be like to be less the gender they were assigned at birth.

Some just want to look outwardly like another sex.

Others may want to appear more neutral, neither male nor female, more androgynous.

They may want to take hormones to make physical changes to their bodies, and gain some of the physical characteristics of their preferred gender.

They may want to have surgeries to alter some parts of their bodies.

They may want to have surgery on their sexual organs to remove or reshape them

Any variation is possible in gender-questioning or genderqueer people.

Gender-questioning

If someone comes to you and says they’re questioning their gender, then they’re asking questions about what it is to be male or female. They’re asking questions about the relationship between their physical body and how they feel inside about their gender.

Genderqueer

When a friend or family member says they’re genderqueer – neither male nor female, or both, or something else entirely, then they’ve come to a conclusion that the categories of “male” and “female” as understood by mainstream society don’t fit who they are.

Transgender

Someone who calls themselves transgender is saying that they could be gender-questioning, genderqueer, transsexual or another non-normative gender expression.

Transsexual people identify with the opposite sex and their gender identity is fixed: they ARE the other sex rather than wondering about gender (gender-questioning) or floating between (genderqueer).

Cisgender

Finally, cisgender people are those whose internal gender identity (their own sense of gender), outward gender identity (how others perceive their gender) and physical body (chromosomes, hormones and sex organs) match up.

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Basics: Genderqueer

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Gender 101 | What is Gender | Genderqueer at Wikipedia | Genderqueer at Urban Dictionary

Start here!

Genderqueer is a term for people who identify as neither male or female. It’s sometimes also used collectively to group together people such as cross dressers, two-spirited, transgender men and women, and those who are androgynous. Genderqueer people are also known by many other terms, and are free to identify as whatever they wish.

Genderqueer is to gender what Bisexual is to sexuality; people who are genderqueer sit between the genders, being neither male nor female or — for some — both at the same time.

The Urban dictionary has several competing definitions of Genderqueer, and Wikipedia defines it thus:

Genderqueer (GQ) and intergender are catch-all terms for gender identities other than man and woman. People who identify as genderqueer may think of themselves as being both man and woman, as being neither man nor woman, or as falling completely outside the gender binary. They may express a combination of masculinity and femininity, one or the other, or neither. Androgyne is also used commonly to describe this same category. Many genderqueers see gender and sex as being separable aspects of a person and may identify as a “male woman”, a “female man”, or a male (or female or intersex) genderqueer.[1] Since there is still relatively little agreed upon terminology, the distinction between the two categories is difficult to pull apart. Genderqueers may have any sexuality/sexual identity, any physical sex, and may or may not identify as trans (trans women and trans men).

From Wikipedia Genderqueer article.

(Note: “Intergender” is not a term in great use in Australia).

The bottom line, however, is that gender is not a binary, not exclusively male or female. Like everything in the world, there are extremes of gender behaviour, and there is the middle ground which can vary depending on your life experiences, your environment, how you were brought up and ultimately, what’s between your ears.

Why it’s okay to be inbetween

Despite what we’re force-fed by the media and by society, it really is okay to be inbetween genders if that’s where you feel you need to be. It’s almost preposterous that, depending on the flesh between our legs, we are expected to behave in certain ways; if you have a penis, you’re expected to be tough and hard, if you have a vagina, you’re expected to be soft and yielding.

The catch is that as a human being, you are so much more than your genitals. You have the potential to do a multitude of amazing things and to be restricted to gender stereotypes is to diminish you as a person.

Kate Bornstein writes about this in her book Gender Outlaw (and the new edition: Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation). An interview with Kate regarding gender can be found at Enlighten Next magazine.

“When you feel in your gut what you are and then dynamically pursue it – don’t back down and don’t give up – then you’re going to mystify a lot of folks.”

Bob Dylan

genderqueer basics

Basics: Genderqueers and testosterone

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Needle Phobia – YouTube

This video is really good for genderqueer peeps who decide to take testosterone injections to give themselves more masculine traits.

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Basics: How many are gender-questioning or genderqueer?

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Writing Themselves In | Fintan Harte radio interview

Statistics

It’s a difficult number to quantify because gender diverse people aren’t easily identified as they often just blend into the population and get on with their lives.

In “Writing Themselves In” (Hillier et al. 1998) it was estimated that 3% of those surveyed (a total of 3134 SGD young people) identified as gender questioning (which worked out at 94 young people approximately). In this context, Gender Questioning included those who were unsure of which gender they belonged to (gender-questioning), those who identified as neither male nor female (genderqueer) and those who believed themselves to be the opposite sex to that assigned at birth (transgender).

In his recent radio interview with Dean Beck of Joy FM, Fintan Harte (director of the Victorian Gender Dysphoria Clinic) stated that gender diverse people were as much as one in 10,000.

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Basics: Identity

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Assumptions | Gender 101 | What is gender | Article: Why the gender binary doesn’t work

When you look at another person, the first thing you see isn’t their hair colour, their clothing or their body shape; you don’t see male or female first. You see “Human”.

Gender-Pirate: Melbourne, 5 September 2011 by boigrrlwonder

So who are you, really?

And why do so many people want you to be something specific?

You’re the only one qualified to say who you are, so don’t settle for second best. And you don’t have to fit into predetermined gender stereotypes, or any other stereotype for that matter.

This is a question of choice: the right to be who you want to be. There is power in being able to express who you are in the way that you wish. To do anything else can be incredibly stressful.

Identity is who we are

We don’t all fit into neat boxes. Our identity can be communicated in so many different ways, from the way we dress, how long our hair is, makeup or not, or even how we talk. These are just a few different ways of communicating our identities.

Gender questioning and genderqueer people often use body modifications such as piercings and tattoos to step outside the “normal” social expressions of identity. People who do this are trying to find their own way to express their inner identity.

But equally you can also just dress differently; wear whatever clothing you feel the most comfortable in, rather than what you’re told is “appropriate” for your gender or sexuality.

We can express ourselves as ourselves every day.

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Basics: Labels don’t define us

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Neil deGrasse Tyson: Atheist or Agnostic? – YouTube

Scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson speaks in this video about how labels can be used against people to claim you are something based upon a narrow definition.

This is something Genderqueer Australia works with people to understand, that our definitions of ourselves are extremely narrow, and their use reduces us to these labels. So when we say we are a husband, mother, white, black, homosexual, transgender or genderqueer, we are giving someone else the ammunition to define us as exactly that label and no more.

As human beings we have limitless potential to be something much better: We can be ourselves.

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Basics: Packing

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Wikipedia article on packing | FTM Australia guide to packing | Tranzwear underwear

Got Junk – Richmond, June 2012 by gotheek

What is packing?

Packing is where you use a prosthesis or other materials to simulate the presence of male genitalia. A penis prosthesis is often referred to as a “packie”.

Penis prostheses comes in many different sizes and colours and are worn either close to or next to the skin. Some can also be used to urinate or for penetrative sex. Follow the after-care instructions on your packie otherwise it will deteriorate.

Some people choose to purchase special underwear to hold the packie in place because it may move around in standard underwear. Other people choose to use a harness or jock strap to hold it in place, or some models can be safely glued to the skin using special skin-safe adhesive.

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Basics: Pronouns

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Comic on Gender pronouns | List of Gender Neutral pronouns | Blog on “they” as a singular pronoun | Grammar Girl – “Yo” as a pronoun

In English, he is a pronoun that identifies a male. She is a pronoun that identifies a female.

So what do you do if you don’t identify as either? What do you do if you can’t tell just by looking what gender a person is?

I want to be called…

Some people invent their own pronouns or rely on ones created by others for this purpose such as xe, ze or hir. Other people may choose to use the singular pronoun they. Many different pronouns have been suggested, as the list on the Gender Neutral Pronoun Blog indicates.

Everyone assumes

Based on outward appearance, most people assign other people a gender based on whatever they see in front of them.

Very few people actually ask what a person’s gender is or how they want to be addressed.

It’s often not deliberate, it’s just the way we’ve been brought up in this society of ours. There are males and females and that’s it.

So what do I do if I can’t tell?

Well, the simplest way to find out is to be bold and ask! For example: “What pronoun do you prefer?” or “How do you like to be referred to, in terms of pronouns?”

Or you could rely on knowing the person’s name and use that instead of him or her.

Finally, some people use they to identify people who don’t identify their gender.

The XKCD cartoon to the right is a great reasoning for why you can use “They” as a gender-free pronoun.

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Basics: relationships

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“It’s pronounced metrosexual” article on genderqueer sexual orientation

Gender and sexuality

For most people, gender and sexuality are inextricably linked.

If you have a vagina, you’ll be attracted to men. If you have a penis, you’ll be attracted to women. It’s a species survival thing that’s been around for millions of years, generally known as Heterosexuality.

In a good proportion of the population, these don’t match; thus we have gay and lesbian people.

Your sex – and sexuality – is between your legs, while your gender – how you identify as a human being – is between your ears, deep in your brain.

So what happens if I identify as genderqueer?

You’re a lesbian if you’re a woman who is attracted to women. You’re gay if you and your partner look like men. You’re heterosexual if your partner has the opposite sex to you.

Or are you?

What if you identify as genderqueer and your partner as a woman or a man? Are you lesbian, gay or heterosexual?

What if both you and your partner are genderqueer?

This question comes up frequently and the truth is that there is no clear answer.

If you (or your partner) don’t identify as exclusively male or female, then logically you fall outside both the gender binary (male and female) and the sexual binary (hetrosexuality and homosexuality).

So what’s wrong with just being in love?

Nothing at all. You can choose to identify sexually as heterosexual or homosexual, or, like your gender, you can identify as both or neither.

There are no hard and fast rules here; we’re on the cutting-edge of possibility, and that to us at Melbourne Genderqueer is a very good thing. For if we accept the status-quo, accept what others tell us rather than listening to our own hearts and minds, then we run the very real risk of stagnation and pain in the short and long term.

It is better to be true to yourself, and to have the freedom from living as others demand regardless of what is personally right for you.

family & friends basics gender-questioning basics genderqueer basics

Basics: Trans enough

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Trans enough website | Trans enough on Facebook

Trans*: Melbourne, 5 september 2011 by boigrrlwonder

Community

Within every community there are non-conformists and absolutists.

Non-conformists are those who self-identify, who are prepared and happy to work outside boundaries set by others.

Absolutists are those who like and try to maintain boundaries of behaviour, and often attempt to force others to conform to their expectations of what is appropriate and inappropriate.

The gender community is like all other communities of human beings on the planet. It contains non-conformists and absolutists.

Trans enough?

How this translates is that some people will attempt to force gender-questioning or genderqueer people, through peer pressure, words or actions, to conform to their standard of what constitutes “trans”, “male” or “female”. There will even be those who identify as genderqueer who attempt to force you to conform to their idea of what the term means.

There are no absolutes

One human being cannot look at another human being and tell who they are inside. The only person qualified to say who you are is you.

And you are the only person who can decide who to be, when, how and how often. You are responsible for your life and happiness. Don’t let other people take this responsibility away from you and try not to worry about how other people define particular identities – everyone experiences gender differently, even if we use the same words to describe our identities.

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Basics: Tucking

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Transgenderzone.info article on tucking | Crossdressing.pl guide to tucking | Tranz wiki article on tucking

Tuck – Melbourne, May 2012 by gotheek

What is tucking?

Tucking is where you pull your male sexual organs back in order to conceal them and look less masculine. This can be achieved with tight underwear and surgical tape if necessary.

Care should be taken if using tape as it can damage the skin.

The article links above explain this all in much greater detail.

gender-questioning basics genderqueer basics professional basics

Disclaimer

We do our best to ensure that the content in this site is up-to-date and relevant. However, at no time should any information contained on this site be taken as legal or medical advice.
Creative Commons

Genderqueer Australia by Genderqueer Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at www.genderqueer.org.au. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.genderqueer.org.au/creative-commons.

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