Facebook offers 59 shades of grey gender ID options
Facebook users who don’t fit in any of the 58 gender identity options offered by the social media giant are now being given a rather big 59th option: Fill in the blank.
“Now, if you do not identify with the prepopulated list of gender identities, you are able to add your own,” said a Facebook announcement published online Thursday and shared in advance with The Associated Press.
Facebook software engineer Ari Chivukula, who identifies as transgender and was part of the team that made the free-form option, thinks the change will lead to more widespread acceptance of people who don’t identify themselves as a man or woman.
Growing trans-community
Alison C.K. Fogarty, a gender identity researcher at Stanford University, said giving users control over the words describing their gender is a significant step in social recognition of a growing trans-community, especially coming from the world’s largest social media company.
“People are still fighting to make room for gender identity within the socially constructed binary of male and female,” Fogarty said.
In February 2014, Facebook expanded gender identity from male and female to a list of dozens of options, including Androgyne, Gender Fluid, Intersex, Neither and Transgender. Those choices will all still be available.
His? Her?
People who choose a custom gender can also choose the pronoun they would like to be referred to publicly: he/his, she/her or they/their.
Facebook has a setting for users to control the audience who sees their gender.
Last year’s changes created an online stir, with thousands of comments—some grateful, others confused or hostile. But staff at Facebook said there was full support to take it even further this year, from CEO Mark Zuckerberg on down.
1.23 billion users
As of Thursday, the free-form option rolled out to US users, while the custom gender-identity option with a list of words was available in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Argentina and Denmark.
One thing that has not changed is an “interested in” option for Facebook users to define whom they might want to date. That option still only allows men or women, but users can click both options, one option or neither option. They can also hide it entirely.
Facebook, which has 1.23 billion active monthly users around the world, would not release how many users have chosen gender identity options beyond man or woman, citing privacy concerns and a general practice of not sharing user information.
In February 2014, Facebook expanded gender identity from male and female to a list of 58 options. They are the following:
1. Agender
2. Androgyne
3. Androgynous
4. Bigender
5. Cis
6. Cisgender
7. Cis Female
8. Cis Male
9. Cis Man
10. Cis Woman
11. Cisgender Female
12. Cisgender Male
13. Cisgender Man
14. Cisgender Woman
15. Female
16. Female to Male
17. FTM
18. Gender Fluid
19. Gender Nonconforming
20. Gender Questioning
21. Gender Variant
22. Genderqueer
23. Intersex
24. Male
25. Male to Female
26. MTF
27. Neither
28. Neutrois
29. Nonbinary
30. Other
31. Pangender
32. Trans
33. Trans*
34. Trans Female
35. Trans* Female
36. Trans Male
37. Trans* Male
38. Trans Man
39. Trans* Man
40. Trans Person
41. Trans* Person
42. Trans Woman
43. Trans* Woman
44. Transfeminine
45. Transgender
46. Transgender Female
47. Transgender Male
48. Transgender Man
49. Transgender Person
50. Transgender Woman
51. Transmasculine
52. Transsexual
53. Transsexual Female
54. Transsexual Male
55. Transsexual Man
56. Transsexual Person
57. Transsexual Woman
58. Two-Spirit
59. __________________
