Most people never think about gender. We register the gender of the people around us by their clothes and general appearance, never really thinking about it any more than that.
But occasionally we meet people who live in a world where such simple gender dichotomies don’t describe who they are. These are the people who fall under the T and Q of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning) spectrum and go by many different names, such as transwomen/transmen, two-spirited, genderqueer/genderfluid, and many others that describe something other than simply male or female.
Genderqueer is most commonly associated with feelings of not matching with societal norms of either gender.
Unfortunately, genderqueers often feel like outsiders due to the gender binary that exists within our society.
They can experience feelings of dysphoria that are largely associated with transgendered/transsexual individuals, and often engage in homosexual or pansexual relationships due to the expression of gender that’s outside society norms.
The best thing society could do is get rid of this simplistic view that there are only two genders.
Does every person you identify in your mind as female look the same? How about male?
What does it really matter anyway, unless you’re afraid of who you might be attracted to?
Don’t worry: there’s a little queer in all of us.