Gender fluidity. What is it? Is it real or did people just make it up? Does it affect you? All of these are valid questions, and some answers can be given. However, not all of the answers exist because each situation involving gender fluidity is unique.
Before delving into my limited knowledge about gender fluidity, I want to make it clear that I am not gender fluid, and I am not an expert on this topic. The topic of gender fluidity came up in my philosophy class this past week, and I realized that a lot of people had not heard of the term before, which is why I thought it would be a good topic for discussion.
When a person is gender fluid, that person does not identify as male or female. Instead, that individual identifies as male sometimes, female sometimes, both, neither, etc. Some days, the individual may dress masculine and take on male mannerisms, and they may dress feminine and take on female mannerisms during other days. The person may even have a combination of the two genders another day.
The important thing to understand here is that the individual is not “switching” back and forth. The person is not thinking, maybe I’ll be a man today and a woman tomorrow. The person is not making a conscious choice. Instead, the individual is just portraying how they feel that day, which may be different from how they felt the previous day.
Gender fluidity is definitely real and has a serious impact on some people’s lives. We live in a society that discriminates against people who don’t meet the social norms, which makes it difficult for people who are gender fluid to live their daily lives.
Now that we have a simplified version of what it means to be gender fluid, we can determine if and how it affects us. Unless you identify as a gender fluid individual, then there is a large possibility that gender fluidity may never affect your life.
However, maybe you know someone who is gender fluid or have a family member who comes out as gender fluid. In these cases, gender fluidity does not affect you as an individual, but it can affect your life. My advice in this situation is to be understanding and respectful of the person’s situation.
Furthermore, I think that everyone needs to be patient with issues such as those concerning gender fluidity. Our society is just starting to become more aware of this situation, which means that many people are still uninformed about gender fluidity.
Instead of getting mad at people who do not understand what it means to be gender fluid, try explaining it to them. In my philosophy class, people got upset that some of their peers were uninformed, but gender fluidity does not affect their lives. They didn’t know it existed, so they never researched it before.
Whether you are or aren’t gender fluid, it doesn’t mean that your way of life is better or worse than someone else’s. It just means that you live different lives. We just need to be understanding of each other’s lives, and this understanding comes with being informed.
