Facebook kicks down gender walls, adds 50+ new identity options

Rainbow flag

When you’re asked to fill in your gender on most forms, you usually get two choose from one of two options: male or female. In the last few hours however the options available on Facebook expanded massively.

In an official announcement, the social network’s Diversity team says it worked with its Network of Support, a group of leading LGBT advocacy organisations, “to offer an extensive list of gender identities that many people use to describe themselves”.

In addition to the new list of gender identities (ReadWrite puts the number at around 56), Facebook says that people who select a custom gender will now have the ability to choose the pronoun they’d like to be referred to publicly — male (he/his), female (she/her) or neutral (they/their).

The social network also gives people the option of choosing who they want to share their custom gender identity with. “We recognize that some people face challenges sharing their true gender identity with others,” the social network says, “and this setting gives people the ability to express themselves in an authentic way”.

The new gender identity options are however only available to people using Facebook in US English. It’s unclear when or if Facebook plans to expand them to other languages.

Below is the full list of identities uncovered by ReadWrite:

  1. Agender
  2. Androgyne
  3. Androgynous
  4. Bigender
  5. Cis
  6. Cis Female
  7. Cis Male
  8. Cis Man
  9. Cis Woman
  10. Cisgender
  11. Cisgender Female
  12. Cisgender Male
  13. Cisgender Man
  14. Cisgender Woman
  15. Female to Male
  16. FTM
  17. Gender Fluid
  18. Gender Nonconforming
  19. Gender Questioning
  20. Gender Variant
  21. Genderqueer
  22. Intersex
  23. Male to Female
  24. MTF
  25. Neither
  26. Neutrois
  27. Non-binary
  28. Other
  29. Pangender
  30. Trans
  31. Trans Female
  32. Trans Male
  33. Trans Man
  34. Trans Person
  35. Trans Woman
  36. Trans*
  37. Trans* Female
  38. Trans* Male
  39. Trans* Man
  40. Trans* Person
  41. Trans* Woman
  42. Transfeminine
  43. Transgender
  44. Transgender Female
  45. Transgender Male
  46. Transgender Man
  47. Transgender Person
  48. Transgender Woman
  49. Transmasculine
  50. Transsexual
  51. Transsexual Female
  52. Transsexual Male
  53. Transsexual Man
  54. Transsexual Person
  55. Transsexual Woman
  56. Two-spirit

Image: –Marlith– (via Flickr).

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