I don't shave my legs but I do tweeze my brows. I don't twirl in skirts but I do splurge on lace-trimmed bralettes and rock them with bare shoulders and an untouched tummy. I don't wear my hair long but I do wear lip gloss and mascara almost every day. I'm inherently feminine but I'm not a woman.

Let me break it down.

There's this thing called the gender binary, and essentially every person placed upon this Earth is supposed to fit into one of two subsets-- masculine or feminine. Its subject is a social construct created for the purpose of marketing and categorization which can often be harmful to those it is imposed upon.

Some people, such as myself, don't feel that the sex assigned at birth suits them, and neither does the alleged opposite of the sex spectrum. This leads many people to identify in a sort of grey area called nonbinary or genderqueer.

Hey, that's me.

I can't speak for everyone in this community, so I won't. Instead, I'm going to focus on what being nonbinary means to me.

Being nonbinary means I don't identify as female or with any feminine titles/ pronouns such as girl, miss, female, she/her, etc. Rather, I choose to use the gender-neutral pronouns they/them and have those I am romantically involved with refer to me as their partner or significant other. In the same way I still hear the extra lag in my given name "Emma", I pick up on people referring to me as she/her, and though it's only been a month or so since I came out to close friends as genderqueer, I think it's time everyone picks up their feet and makes a point to use my preferred pronouns and holds themselves accountable when they screw up.

Not much about me has changed since I realized I fit better with no gender than one forced upon me by my society of multimedia and close-minded individuals. I bought a pair of Dr. Martens and you best believe my stomps across campus get the point across that I am who I say I am. I took to lining my eyes black in an effort to put the passing do-gooder off. I guess if anything I'm more of a punk, but that has nothing to do with my new genderless outlook.

I'll still slip into a skirt every now and again, if only it means that my roommate gives me the ole "Texas Tourigny Twirl" she's taken up with as of late. I don't view myself as any less me just because I wear makeup or tight clothes. Gender is meaningless, and if what you've been assigned doesn't suit you, dump that shit in the garbage and live the life you're meant to live. Nobody can stop you if you don't let them.