
I recently had an interesting experience.
If you are like me, you are not that keen on filling out forms.
I don’t know about you, I like to keep things simple.
I was filling this form out on-line to join an app program.
In the past, most forms give you a simple choice on gender – male or female.
Then, another term was introduced: Other.
This form I was filling out blew me away.
Here are the choices I was presented with relating to Gender:
- Female
- Male
- Transgender
- Gender Neutral
- Non-binary
- Agender
- Pangender
- Two-spirit
- Third Gender
- Transgender male
- Transgender Female
- Other
Then there are two other terms that appeared as I was searching the meaning of some of the above: Genderqueer and trigender.
Kind of funny when you have to go and look up what a term means :-).
I’m staggered we can take two terms (male and female) and turn them into fourteen terms.
There’s a saying: over analysis leads to paralysis.
On a form, does it really matter?
Are people becoming too obsessed with how they want to be identified?
I’m all for a person being happy with how they identify themselves.
What I know is, life operates best when things are kept simple …
Even if you see yourself as different.
Let’s keep life simple.
You’ve got this.