Mira Kolenc
When Facebook 2014 changed its attitudes in Germany and its members could no longer decide only between male and female on the gender issue in their profile, but also other 58 options were available, the idea of a very different definition of gender moved in the wider perception of the public. Namely, the insignificance of the biological sex and the free choice of his gender, far beyond the two known possibilities.
With currently 30 millions of active users, Facebook maps socially relevant trends. And one thing is clear: there are more than a handful of people who can not identify with the classical two-gendering. However, the diversity of human gender identities, or, to put it in terms of Magnus Hirschfeld, the sex researcher and co-founder of the first homosexual movement, the sexual intermediates, was not nearly modeled on the Facebook 58 options. Which is why Facebook also decided that it is now possible to choose between male, female and user-defined in the profile settings. The dropdown menu is, consequently, now gone. There is simply a free space - "Add your gender" - for a self-chosen term. The fact that there have always been people who could not find themselves in the established two-gender order may seem surprising to one or the other. Mainly probably because there were no alternatives outside of the heteronormativity and these could not be made visible in other ways. The internet has created new possibilities. Nevertheless, in many places it is not legally possible to be anything but a woman or a man. There is nothing in between.
"The diversity of human gender identities has not even been approximated by the 58 capabilities on Facebook."
Also in the year 2014 won the animated by Thomas Neuwirth art figure Conchita Wurst, a diva with beard, the Eurovision Song Contest. The victory of Conchita, to my surprise, greatly shook the foundations of the heteronormative bipolar gender system. And that, although the art form or queer practice of dragging has a long tradition and drag queens such as Olivia Jones for some time by every German-language television station, no matter what color, hop. One would have thought that travesty has long been part of everyday life.
However, the fact that Conchita Wurst does not replace all male attributes with female ones, but mixes both and allows for a simultaneity of men and women, was the end of the comfort zone and also the language for some reached. The gender inequality triggered discomfort, even linguistically. You, he, it - what should that be? "Art" said Neuwirth, pointing out even more clearly that there is still little room for humor and deviations in the gender issue.
This is also felt by people like Lann Hornscheidt, who are committed to a gender-equitable language. Hornscheidt's idea goes much further than the eradication of the generic masculine, which has since officially been declared the fight, and is therefore a real treat. In addition, Hornscheidt personally does not want to be referred to as a man or a woman and thus triggers so much hatred that a separate email address has been set up for this type of communication.
Meanwhile, it's actually quite exciting to ask yourself how society would rearrange itself in the actual abolition of the two sexes. Of course, this idea naturally attacks one's own identity. But is not just this possibility of breaking out of the simplifying construct of the two sexes a chance not only to include those who were previously excluded from it, but also at the same time in their own perception of the diversity of the world to give the space you, too entitled?
After all, this extension of the naming possibilities does not mean that nobody can say that he or she - quite oldschool - is a man or a woman.
Photo / Video: Oskar Schmidt.
