Hold your horses; this isn't going to be some kind of transphobic rant about "Back in my day..."
No, what I'm here for is to try and understand. First off, let's talk about agender and/or genderqueer. I'm just gonna come out and say: I don't get it. I understand that gender and sex are distinctly different concepts from one another, with the former falling down more on societal basis as opposed to genetic basis, but... most people slide further on one end of the 'gender spectrum' than the other. And that's gender, right?
So how does agender, genderqueer, and other non-binary gender identities differ so significantly from simply being a girly boy, a boyish girl, or even a boy or girl that happens to share characteristics of both genders. Sure, there are hermaphrodites, so there's a precedent in sexual terms, but gender is much more ambiguous and vague, since it's to do with the brain, not to mention behaviour.
Let me clarify: I'm not saying people shouldn't identify as whatever they want, but I'm wondering why there's a need for these relatively new gender labels when none of us really know how "male" or "female" we really are. Especially if it's all down to social constructs, since the way, say, men that are good at English and miscellaneous "arty" subjects is seen less femininely in Japan than in some countries in the Western world, like Britain.
With that said, let's move onto pansexuality. Again, I don't see what makes it so different from bisexuality. I know that the "bi" implies the gender binary, which many pansexuals don't agree with, but you can also define "bisexuality" as simply being both heterosexual and homosexual at the same time. Furthermore, it's almost like pansexuality implies that bisexuals can't be attracted to agender, genderqueer, and/or transgender people when, logically, someone that's attracted to men and women likely wouldn't have a problem being attracted to someone who has a mix of those characteristics, or even lacks those (most self-identifying non-binary people I've seen look pretty androgynous anyway).
What's more... let's face, just how many people that profess to be outside the binary would you knowingly meet on a day-to-day basis, or even throughout your lifetime? Even the transgender population, a certified minority of 1% in the general population (cis), have more numbers than them. Is that enough to create a new label, when arguably, all these labels serve to do is further segregate ourselves from each other?
As a little experiment, allow me to welcome any pansexual on these boards and ask them, "Why would you be unhappy to say you're a bisexual?" Seriously, I want to know. If most people are predominantly male/masculine or predominantly female/feminine, and most of us can agree that most trans people prefer to align themselves on either side of the conceptual gender binary, what would exclude bisexuals from being attracted to the same types of people as pansexuals?
Think about it this way. If someone is a dominatrix that regularly attends various 'hook-up' events and buys all the gear and whatnot, they're part of the BDSM community, right? But that doesn't necessarily mean they subscribe to everything the label of BDSM suggests, does it? They may not necessarily want to be a masochist; they may solely want to act out the part of a dominant sadistic dominatrix. And it may not even have to involve bondage!
So, what are your thoughts? *puts up flame shield*
No, what I'm here for is to try and understand. First off, let's talk about agender and/or genderqueer. I'm just gonna come out and say: I don't get it. I understand that gender and sex are distinctly different concepts from one another, with the former falling down more on societal basis as opposed to genetic basis, but... most people slide further on one end of the 'gender spectrum' than the other. And that's gender, right?
So how does agender, genderqueer, and other non-binary gender identities differ so significantly from simply being a girly boy, a boyish girl, or even a boy or girl that happens to share characteristics of both genders. Sure, there are hermaphrodites, so there's a precedent in sexual terms, but gender is much more ambiguous and vague, since it's to do with the brain, not to mention behaviour.
Let me clarify: I'm not saying people shouldn't identify as whatever they want, but I'm wondering why there's a need for these relatively new gender labels when none of us really know how "male" or "female" we really are. Especially if it's all down to social constructs, since the way, say, men that are good at English and miscellaneous "arty" subjects is seen less femininely in Japan than in some countries in the Western world, like Britain.
With that said, let's move onto pansexuality. Again, I don't see what makes it so different from bisexuality. I know that the "bi" implies the gender binary, which many pansexuals don't agree with, but you can also define "bisexuality" as simply being both heterosexual and homosexual at the same time. Furthermore, it's almost like pansexuality implies that bisexuals can't be attracted to agender, genderqueer, and/or transgender people when, logically, someone that's attracted to men and women likely wouldn't have a problem being attracted to someone who has a mix of those characteristics, or even lacks those (most self-identifying non-binary people I've seen look pretty androgynous anyway).
What's more... let's face, just how many people that profess to be outside the binary would you knowingly meet on a day-to-day basis, or even throughout your lifetime? Even the transgender population, a certified minority of 1% in the general population (cis), have more numbers than them. Is that enough to create a new label, when arguably, all these labels serve to do is further segregate ourselves from each other?
As a little experiment, allow me to welcome any pansexual on these boards and ask them, "Why would you be unhappy to say you're a bisexual?" Seriously, I want to know. If most people are predominantly male/masculine or predominantly female/feminine, and most of us can agree that most trans people prefer to align themselves on either side of the conceptual gender binary, what would exclude bisexuals from being attracted to the same types of people as pansexuals?
Think about it this way. If someone is a dominatrix that regularly attends various 'hook-up' events and buys all the gear and whatnot, they're part of the BDSM community, right? But that doesn't necessarily mean they subscribe to everything the label of BDSM suggests, does it? They may not necessarily want to be a masochist; they may solely want to act out the part of a dominant sadistic dominatrix. And it may not even have to involve bondage!
So, what are your thoughts? *puts up flame shield*
