Beyond the Gender Binary

by Alok Vaid-Menon

I do not have the luxury of being. I am only seen as doing. As if my gender is something that is being done to them and not something that belongs to me.

I was too feminine to be a boy and then too masculine to be a girl. It’s almost as if they move their definitions precisely to exclude us. We are both too much and never enough. We are always made out to be the problem. But maybe we aren’t the problem; maybe the whole gender system is.

Using gender-neutral language isn’t about being politically correct, it’s just about being correct.

Gender is a story, not just a word.