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Facebook is rolling out new gender options for its millions of US users. Instead of being limited to the traditional male or female gender options, which are found on the majority of other networks, Facebook has added nearly 50 other gender possibilities to the list.
“Facebook wants to allow people to be able to express their genuine, authentic selves on the site, and we want them to express their whole selves. We want to make that available for everyone we possibly can,” said Alex Schultz, the Director of Growth for Facebook.
About 50 different terms are available for users to identify themselves. They include androgynous, bi-gender, intersex, gender fluid and transsexual.
“For the first time, I get to go to the site and I get to specify to all the people that I know what my gender is and I can let only the people that I want to know see that,” Brielle Harrison, a Software Engineer at Facebook said.
One California Think Tank estimates that at least 700,000 people in the US identify as transgender, a blanket term that some suggest has now grown to encompass a wide variety of gender identities.
Members of the LGBT community say it’s a significant step forward in gender equality.
“The transgender community has been having a lot of progress in regards to inclusiveness and to being accepted in society at large. And this is a very good way to do it and to push it further,” said Nori Herras-Castaneda.
Facebook says users in the US are already able to see the changes to modify their gender status.
The company intends to take the concept global, but only after working with activists abroad to come up with appropriate terms in other countries.
Agencies/Canadajournal
