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Facebook now has more gender options!


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  • Brohoof 5

My oc - http://mlpforums.com/page/roleplay-characters/_/flash-fire-r5698 pixel_dash_running_by_shearx-d4tfdq7.gif

"Take my love. Take my land. Take me where I cannot stand. I don't care. I'm still free. You can't take the sky from me.

Take me out, to the black. Tell my ma I ain't coming back. Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me."

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That's great to hear.

 

While it may not seem like a big deal towards others, this will help establish the gender properties for everyone so no confusion or harm will be done in the future from now on.

Too true. I personally know at least one person who is elated by this.

  • Brohoof 2

My oc - http://mlpforums.com/page/roleplay-characters/_/flash-fire-r5698 pixel_dash_running_by_shearx-d4tfdq7.gif

"Take my love. Take my land. Take me where I cannot stand. I don't care. I'm still free. You can't take the sky from me.

Take me out, to the black. Tell my ma I ain't coming back. Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me."

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I think it's great that they finally made it an option, but now there is an entirely different problem for some people: will you actually put your true gender identity on Facebook?  Personally, I am open about it with my friends and acquaintances, but I'm not entirely sure I'd be comfortable coming out to my family about the fact that I have a neutral gender identity.  So I guess I'll just keep my gender hidden on my facebook profile.

 

There is one thing that bugs me about the change, though: the pronoun section.  Their is not an appropriate pronoun for one person, even if you don't know that person's gender.  It can be he, she, s/he, etc. (some people, like myself, may even feel comfortable being labelled an it), but words like them, they, and their are collective pronouns, which means it is only proper to use them when  referring to a group of people or objects. 

 

Ugh... why must I be cursed with such a strong passion for proper grammar?  >_____<


You are a ghost, driving a meat-coated skeleton made out of stardust.

What have you got to be afraid of?

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I think it's great that they finally made it an option, but now there is an entirely different problem for some people: will you actually put your true gender identity on Facebook?  Personally, I am open about it with my friends and acquaintances, but I'm not entirely sure I'd be comfortable coming out to my family about the fact that I have a neutral gender identity.  So I guess I'll just keep my gender hidden on my facebook profile.

 

There is one thing that bugs me about the change, though: the pronoun section.  Their is not an appropriate pronoun for one person, even if you don't know that person's gender.  It can be he, she, s/he, etc. (some people, like myself, may even feel comfortable being labelled an it), but words like them, they, and their are collective pronouns, which means it is only proper to use them when  referring to a group of people or objects. 

 

Ugh... why must I be cursed with such a strong passion for proper grammar?  >_____<

That's a very good point. There really isn't a true set of gender neutral terms. I supposed they did the best they could though.


My oc - http://mlpforums.com/page/roleplay-characters/_/flash-fire-r5698 pixel_dash_running_by_shearx-d4tfdq7.gif

"Take my love. Take my land. Take me where I cannot stand. I don't care. I'm still free. You can't take the sky from me.

Take me out, to the black. Tell my ma I ain't coming back. Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me."

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That's a very good point. There really isn't a true set of gender neutral terms. I supposed they did the best they could though.

I think English needs gender-neutral pronouns.  Other languages have them; why can't we?  :/

 

I mean, technically a masculine pronoun can be used when gender is unspecified, since masculine terms in the English language encompass both male and female; but feminists get offended by that.

  • Brohoof 1

You are a ghost, driving a meat-coated skeleton made out of stardust.

What have you got to be afraid of?

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I think English needs gender-neutral pronouns.  Other languages have them; why can't we?  :/

 

I mean, technically a masculine pronoun can be used when gender is unspecified, since masculine terms in the English language encompass both male and female; but feminists get offended by that.

I often use that argument when saying brony is, or can be, a gender neutral term. I wish the english language lent better to this as well.

  • Brohoof 1

My oc - http://mlpforums.com/page/roleplay-characters/_/flash-fire-r5698 pixel_dash_running_by_shearx-d4tfdq7.gif

"Take my love. Take my land. Take me where I cannot stand. I don't care. I'm still free. You can't take the sky from me.

Take me out, to the black. Tell my ma I ain't coming back. Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me."

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I think English needs gender-neutral pronouns.  Other languages have them; why can't we?  :/

 

I mean, technically a masculine pronoun can be used when gender is unspecified, since masculine terms in the English language encompass both male and female; but feminists get offended by that.

 

1. Well, some people outside of the gender binary try to create some some, like ze and hir. But I personally find those to be weird. I'll flat out say, if I'm not revealing my gender, I want to be referred to as "they", "them". I really don't care if it's not completely grammatical accurate. Those words are natural to us all, and they also are natural altogether... Not singling out anybody as different when you refer to them in such a way.

 

2. Is it really so confusing why? Why should masculine pronouns take precedence over female pronouns? And why not just have a gender-neutral pronoun (that doesn't have insulting connotations like "it") to begin with? Thankfully I don't see this much in the English language, but when I took Spanish and saw that when referring to groups of mixed-gender people you were always supposed to use male-gendered terms, it certainly did peeve me. I don't really know Spanish and am aware that nonbiological terms are referred to in gendered manners, but in that specific context it can't be shook off for me. Masculinity takes precedence over femininity? Masculine is "neutral"? Oh gee, I wonder why? History and even very much still the modern day tell us all why so darn clearly.

 

Is it so hard to see why this can be a bit jarring? The connotations are all too clear... Or they should be. Terms that refer to groups of people with mixed-gender should be neutral. Not "masculine neutral" (which is not neutral at all and should never be accepted as such.), but neutral neutral.

  • Brohoof 1

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This is great! When I finally get to join FB, I'll be able to express who I am! :D

What do you mean, get to? Is there a reason you aren't already a member?


My oc - http://mlpforums.com/page/roleplay-characters/_/flash-fire-r5698 pixel_dash_running_by_shearx-d4tfdq7.gif

"Take my love. Take my land. Take me where I cannot stand. I don't care. I'm still free. You can't take the sky from me.

Take me out, to the black. Tell my ma I ain't coming back. Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me."

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There are alot of transgenders on this Earth, and I'm glad Zuckerburg realized that and told his employees to make changes. Hopefully this'll put the (remaining) transgender FB users at ease.


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1. Well, some people outside of the gender binary try to create some some, like ze and hir. But I personally find those to be weird. I'll flat out say, if I'm not revealing my gender, I want to be referred to as "they", "them". I really don't care if it's not completely grammatical accurate. Those words are natural to us all, and they also are natural altogether... Not singling out anybody as different when you refer to them in such a way.

Personally, I think English ought to have words like ze and hir. I don't know exactly how you get things to change, but I just don't think their is a good catch-all. There are many time when it just doesn't feel right, or it's just plain confusing using a plural pronoun to refer to one person when I could also be referring to multiple. Every word feels weird for a while, but once it's in your lexicon it will feel natural, pretty much always.

 

 

Although speaking of other languages, those that have gender neutral pronouns often just plain don't use gendered pronouns at all. Chinese, at least, has three pronouns, I, you, they (singular). Ta can be used to refer to anything in the third person, though in written form there is a separate character for he, she, they, it (object), and it (animal). For all pronouns adding men turns them plural (e.g. wo men (I plural) is we). In my opinion this method of handling pronouns is just plain better than English. You might not expect it but it makes absolutely 0 difference to the amount of clarification necessary, while making awkward situations (with animals, or androgenous-looking or unmet people) almost nonexistent. There's also less processing time while you figure out which is the appropriate pronoun for a given thing.

Edited by Kitsunin
  • Brohoof 1
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1. Well, some people outside of the gender binary try to create some some, like ze and hir. But I personally find those to be weird. I'll flat out say, if I'm not revealing my gender, I want to be referred to as "they", "them". I really don't care if it's not completely grammatical accurate. Those words are natural to us all, and they also are natural altogether... Not singling out anybody as different when you refer to them in such a way.

 

2. Is it really so confusing why? Why should masculine pronouns take precedence over female pronouns? And why not just have a gender-neutral pronoun (that doesn't have insulting connotations like "it") to begin with? Thankfully I don't see this much in the English language, but when I took Spanish and saw that when referring to groups of mixed-gender people you were always supposed to use male-gendered terms, it certainly did peeve me. I don't really know Spanish and am aware that nonbiological terms are referred to in gendered manners, but in that specific context it can't be shook off for me. Masculinity takes precedence over femininity? Masculine is "neutral"? Oh gee, I wonder why? History and even very much still the modern day tell us all why so darn clearly.

 

Is it so hard to see why this can be a bit jarring? The connotations are all too clear... Or they should be. Terms that refer to groups of people with mixed-gender should be neutral. Not "masculine neutral" (which is not neutral at all and should never be accepted as such.), but neutral neutral.

Yes, exactly!

 

That's why I believe that there should be neutral pronouns.  The only reason I use the masculine-neutral "he" when referring to any unknown person in general is because being grammatically correct is part of my persona, and I care so passionately for the grammar that I refuse to make a mistake for the sake of convenience.

 

Of course, then again...  what if I just made up a neutral pronoun to replace the "he"?  :o

I could probably get away with it, too.  I'm known for being a creator.  I just need to think  of a word that sounds natural and then go with it.  cx


You are a ghost, driving a meat-coated skeleton made out of stardust.

What have you got to be afraid of?

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It's nice, but it's not available in my language.  Not that I would use it because i don't feel the need to specify that I'm trans on my profile (I'm a boy, simple as that), but it would be nice to have it in other languages soon.


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Yeah I saw that. 

 

I tried to change mine to "alien." 

 

Apparently, your gender can't be alien.

 

I'm pretty mad because I'm from a planet in the vicinity of Betelgeuse and there is no male or female or trans or anything like that.We only have blaark and hærgenblaark. 


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It's kind of obvious why they give you select terms to choose with your gender, and there are quite a lot of terms to choose from. They did it so people wouldn't fill in anything stupid or even hateful, but it's still something they need to work on.

Edited by Coco Pommel

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Yeah I saw that. 

 

I tried to change mine to "alien." 

 

Apparently, your gender can't be alien.

 

I'm pretty mad because I'm from a planet in the vicinity of Betelgeuse and there is no male or female or trans or anything like that.We only have blaark and hærgenblaark.

 

I suppose they don't give you the option of picking zhen, chan, shen, or thaan? I hope Mark Zuckerberg is pleased with himself and his anti-Andorian bigotry. 

  • Brohoof 1

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