to object to MNHQ forcing a MALE/FEMALE gender binary on my account.

[HairyLittleCarrot]

I don't have any GENDER.

My MN account forces me to pick from two 'genders'.

I can't even opt out, it's a forced binary choice.

I'm not agender, pangender, cisgender, transgender, male gender, female gender or ANY GENDER.

If you want to know my sex, I am happy to provide that information. But you'll have to add that in as a field, because it doesn't exist currently.

Sex and gender are not the same thing. If you insist on collecting data by gender and making it a forced choice I would like an option as follows:

"Reject gender as a harmful, made up, bullshit concept".

Then when you analyse your account database you can say
X% identify as female gender
Y% identify as male gender
Z% reject gender as a bullshit concept.

AIBU to request MNHQ to alter my account details so that they do not misrepresent me?

Hi Ego, we've crossed swords in the past but I would like your view point with regards to media articles on gender I've seen over the past few days.

JM commenting on CH4 re transgender issues, when stating they are non binary ie not identifying with male/female. How does that sit with transgender individuals as yourself who do identify strongly with one gender?

It strikes wrong to me that an individual has a platform to speak for all trans people but does not recognise gender for themselves?

It just seemed weird to me.

Thanks Ego, I agree with your sentiments re pigeon holing people.

Having re read the thread it would appear that most do not believe in gender so we are back to how we are classified and by
that I mean females and males, ie sex.

There are those that are confident in their sense of gender but by body dismorphia do not identify with the body (sex) they were born with.

So, going back to the OP surely the sane thing would keep sex as the identifier ie M/F and those who wish to have a subset argue for that.

No, it comes down to why MNHQ ask - which btw they haven't clarified on this thread.

If they want to know gender (eg for marketing purposes) then they should keep using the word "gender" but with additional options. Large organisations such as Facebook have spent considerable resources creating lists of possible genders which are optimised between their users' preferences and their own need for data collection.

I agree that doctors should ask both sex and gender because of the specific medical profiling such questions permit. But MN isn't a hospital.

Okay. Sorry , but don't quite get your point.

I believe you are a confusing sex and gender as the OP was trying to point out in the original post but that has been misconstrued in the past pages.

Gender has no "medical profile" so could never be an issue.

When gender doesn't match sex it makes lots of difference.

I am not conflating gender and sex; I have a linguistics degree. I am asserting that MNHQ has no need to ask for our biological sex (unless they want to come and tell us why) given that all are welcome here, so they shouldn't be.

I firmly believe that it's more appropriate for MN to ask our gender than our sex, but equally I agree that the current range of options is insufficient and potentially insensitive.

I would ( to a point agree) that sharing our biological data with any organisation should be questioned, but they ALL do it.

However, when questioned in how I identify here (MN) . I prefer the choice of male or female.

It only makes a difference if you believe that gender is anything more than a societal construct, though.

I don't believe in gender , however I do believe the stats re male violence and the need for safe places for women.

So do I kua, strongly so.

Gender is, as far as I'm concerned, the state of being male or female. Which is, incidentally the same as the OED definition.

MrsHathaway, you make a lot of sense

but how on earth is MNHQ or any other responsible body supposed to deal with the professional offendees ?

They will find offence, on someone else's behalf, on matters that nobody in the real world gives a toss about.
Even the people who they are sticking up for don't give a toss. If they did, they would stick up for themselves.

Busy bodies and curtain twitchers do it because it makes them feel superior.

So, what can we do?

I , for one wish to ensure that all women's spaces are protected( which we fought for) Single wards, shelters, prisons, changing rooms and loos! I'm not prepared to let the above go.

I kind of agree with you OP. But, let's just take a step back for a minute and think about why MN are asking for this information? The answer is that it's purely 100% about advertising. They need to be able to tell potential advertisers how many million women and how many million men are using the site, so that the advertisers can choose to advertise washing powder or cars (gender stereotyping - see what I've done there), or men or women's clothes, etc etc. In which case it is actually gender that MN needs to know. They need to know if you're someone who might buy that advertiser's products. They could equally well ask you, have you bought contents insurance recently. It's all about target markets and money. It's nothing to do with your real identity and personal politics.

I asked the question I put my comments after my thought

WOW , we may happen to agree on some points, weird how communication leads to this.

MrsHathaway, you make a lot of sense

That's a first

I do not believe that unsocialised gender is real. I have body dysmorphia, although not gender-based, so I think I have a glimpse into hating one's body and not recognising oneself in the mirror.

That's different from recognising that gender is a legal concept and a social construct which do affect our lives.

It's also a linguistic concept, and the fact is that native English speakers struggle to use non-gendered pronouns about humans. I do wonder if communities with languages with more syntactic gender have more or less defined social gender roles. Bloody hell that'd be quite a PhD.

MN frequently asks us for all kinds of artificial information such as household income. That doesn't mean they believe that capitalism is perfect.

I'm not decided, though. These are thoughts I've had, rather than a considered and complete opinion.

From birth baby girls are told they look pretty, what a lovely dress, etc. We discuss what boys do and what girls look like. This is what Let Toys Be Toys stems from: boy toys that do and girl toys that are.

Tbh you have to make a deliberate effort to counter it. Saying to a little girl "ooh I like your shoes: they'd be great for climbing trees" and praising a boy for being kind or gentle ... It feels like making a real statement and you get raised eyebrows.