Comment by SydowJones on 12/01/2025 at 18:20 UTC

4 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)

View submission: Do non-binary identities reenforce gender stereotypes?

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I think the key detail to focus on in your comment is:

Being told to be X reinforces stereotypes.

That's correct. "You're a man", "you're a woman", "you're nonbinary" are not respectful things to say to people who disagree.

Consider:

• One person likes to wear dresses, and thinks of himself as a man.
• Another person likes to wear dresses, and thinks of herself as a woman.
• Another person likes to wear dresses, and thinks of themself as nonbinary or genderqueer.

In these examples, nobody is telling them what gender box they belong in. These examples are about their own self concepts. We don't need to know where their gender self concepts originate from before we can acknowledge that they have them.

How is this reinforcing gender stereotypes?

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Comment by Accurate-Peach5664 at 12/01/2025 at 19:29 UTC

0 upvotes, 1 direct replies

It happens constantly.

Boy: “I like dresses.”

Adults around him: “then consider changing to a girl.”

That’s rigid stereotype re-enforcement. It’s that simple.

Truly accepting his preferences would be to just let him be, not shunt him off to another box he has to fit in (be a girl).

Truly breaking stereotypes would be to accept that he is a boy….who likes dresses. Not make him start fitting into girl stereotypes (wearing dresses, growing hair long, doing nails, liking pink, etc).