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

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.

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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).