Comment by kuzehanka
6 years ago
> The key word there is defined. Defined by gender means boxed in by the expectations that being a male or female thrusts on us.
Identity is by definition a set of expectations. To lose those expectations is to lose a facet of identity.
There's a group of people who want to remove that facet of their identity, cool, I support them. But I like that facet of my identity, and I like the fact that most people around me also express that facet of their identity. I don't want want to be genderless or to live in a genderless world. Do not marginalise me for being that way.
Even a world where everyone can be defined by one of 75+ genders wouldn't be preferable, as the concept would lose all meaning and be just as bland in it's amorphousness. Gender is fundamentally tied to the expression and perception of biological sex, which allows it to have a meaning that goes beyond the self; genderlessness, and gender a la carte, are all about the self, not the greater society around it which depends on sexual signaling.
I have been a sort of outsider all of my life, but I don't think the extreme catering to the undefined individual is the best thing for humans as a group. If anything, it makes us more atomized, and I have yet to be convinced that individuals tend to happier when they have been maximally individualized.
People should have the freedom to not identify with gender, or want a gender neutral voice assistant, but I don't see how a genderless society is preferable.