An infinite diversity

Feb 11th, 2017 | By
Category: Notes and Comment Blog

This is hilarious. It’s incoherent nonsense, but it’s also hilarious.

The modest title is:

What Does Multigender Mean? 10 Questions You May Be Afraid to Ask – Answered

Questions answered! Hooray! It’s always good to have an expert around.

There is an infinite diversity of genders in the world.

Each person has a totally unique interpretation and relationship with any gender they inhabit, and there are at least as many genders as there have been humans who have lived.

That’s drivel. It’s like saying each person has a totally unique interpretation and relationship with any soul they inhabit. It’s just a pointlessly elaborated version of the bromide “everyone is different” – which isn’t even all that true. Everyone is a little different, different enough so that we can have conversations, but everyone is a good deal more the same than different. It’s an illusion of youth that one’s precious self is Unique and so is everyone else’s precious self.

But calling it “gender” apparently disguises the banality and supernaturalism. “Gender” has become a mystical concept, a portentous way of glamorizing one’s tastes and habits. “My gender is zombie movies and sushi.”

Genders can overlap and negate one another, they can be positive or negative, fixed or in flux, and they can coalesce in any number of combinations.

Whooooooo, deep!

Or in other words, meaningless. Genders can ________. You can just fill in the blank with any damn thing you like, then add its opposite, then go on doing that all day until you fall asleep. It’s empty babble.

With that in mind, here are the answers to some basic questions about what it means to be multigender.

1. Is Being Multigender Different From Being Transgender?

No, it isn’t. People who are multigender (or polygender), fall under the umbrella of trans.

*takes notes*

No but seriously – who says? What’s the source of all this? Where does the author, Jenny Crofton, get her authority? Why should we take her word for it? How does she know?

She doesn’t, obviously. It’s just some currently-approved bullshit padded out with whatever she pulls out of her head – or perhaps I should say gender.

Being multigender doesn’t necessarily mean that you will make any physical transition. It also doesn’t necessarily mean that you disidentify with your assigned gender.

Multigender people can identify with – and even present as – their assigned gender, but because they also identify with one or more other genders, they are still included as transgender.

So in other words, it’s totally unfalsifiable. It can be X and it can be notX – and it can be both at once, if that’s what floats your boat. Unless, of course, you’re cis. In that case you can’t have any of this.

4. Can Multigender Identities Include Neutral, Negative, or Partial Genders?

Yes. With the exception of genders that are appropriated from marginalized groups (see below), multigenders can include any type of gender imaginable.

This extends to identities such as agender or neutrois, which refer to having no gender; demigender, which refers to having partial gender; and antigender, which is the opposites of another gender (like antigirl).

Except in the case of genders that are appropriated from marginalized groups – my god who would do such a thing!

Only…doesn’t that contradict “Each person has a totally unique interpretation and relationship with any gender they inhabit”? If my interpretation is totally unique how can it make sense to say I’m “appropriating” anything? It’s my interpretation. You can’t appropriate what’s yours.

A note on gender neutral pronouns: I have noticed a certain trend in group settings that I feel is detrimental to non-binary and multigender people. It happens when openly cis folks introduce themselves with binary pronouns, and with they/them pronouns as well.

Some of these people undoubtedly feel a connection to they/them pronouns, and there’s nothing about being cis that precludes their use. But for others, it seems to be a way of showing support for non-binary genders, or of communicating to the group that they would not be offended if someone referred to them gender neutrally.

Uh oh. I have a feeling there’s trouble coming.

Cis people who claim they/them pronouns are often not very diligent about using them, with themselves or with others; and as a result, the group becomes more willing to assume that forgetting a person’s “additional” pronouns is permissible.

Similarly, I sometimes hear cis people respond to the question of pronouns using phrases such as “Whatever works,” “I don’t care,” and “They’re all good.”

Maybe it’s all the same to you, but it isn’t to me, nor to many others. Consider the privilege that goes into being blasé on this topic.

God cis people are horrible. Don’t you agree?

There are people who are too afraid to ever come out as who they are, let alone to assert their multiple identities. Hearing dismissive language just makes it that much harder.

Cis people: Be specific when relaying your pronouns, and don’t intrude on identities that don’t really resonate with you.

Don’t be afraid to come out as who you are though.

8. Is Having Multiple Genders Appropriative?
That depends on the specific multigender identity in question. Many genders are culturally specific, including some multigenders.

A prominent example of a culturally specific multigender is the Two-Spirit genders of some North American Indigenous groups. Because it’s impossible to access these genders without being part of a specific cultural context, it’s inappropriate for outsiders to claim any Two-Spirit gender.

Multigender identities can encompass many gender identities at once. If any one of the genders included is culturally appropriated, then the overarching identity also becomes problematic.

Pangender people, in a literal sense, identify as all genders. The problem is that “all genders” includes culturally specific genders that must not be appropriated.

Many pangender folks are sensitive to this, however, and identify only as “all available genders.” Some have even moved away from the term toward the word maxigender (maxi- as in “maximum”).

Outside the realm of culture and ethnicity, some gender identities are exclusive to intersex people, such as intergender.

Other identities are only available to neuroatypical people, such as gendervague. This term that describes being unable to discern their gender due to neurodivergence. Two other examples are autigender and fascigender, which are exclusive to people with autism.

Always look into an identity before claiming it as your own.

And never forget: Each person has a totally unique interpretation and relationship with any gender they inhabit, and there are at least as many genders as there have been humans who have lived.

You are both alive and dead – finite and infinite – maxigender and fascigender – possible and impossible.

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