Can you actually look at someone and say, "na, you look neutral", like is there a blueprint for looking neutral?
It's interesting, so let us define "neutral" and "gender" and what the postulated definitions are and what they really entail
Neutral is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as an adjective or a noun; as an adjective, it means not supporting or choosing a side in a disagreement or conflict, or having no strongly marked features
For example; Nigeria remained neutral in the Russia-Ukranian war, his tone in the argument was neutral. It commonly denotes being devoid of sentiment.
As a noun, it means "unbiased", "impartial", "inoffensive", "bland".
Gender commonly refers to either of the two sexes which is male and female. The World Health Organization expounded this definition by calling it a social construct with respect to behaviours, norms and expectations and gender identity.
They claimed gender is different from sex, as sex is based on hormones, chromosomes and biological reproductive organs, while gender identity is an individual's "internalized feeling of gender which may not correspond with their physiology, or in this case, sex"
Awesome, now gender is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as common to both genders, intersecting male and female, e.g gender neutral games, and so on. It further expounded on this by saying an expression that denotes a term of one gender, with regards to neutrality, e.g flight attendant, doctor, etc
In all these we can clearly see that a common notion or fact is the binary of man or woman. Even with the expounded definition, it is clearly shown that when you are born, you either fall into the male section or female section, if you don't want to conflate the definition.
Now we have a clear understanding of what these terms connote, why in the world would a woman or man come out and say she or he doesn't want to identify as a man or a woman, that she or he is "gender neutral". Like babygirl or baby boy, I can clearly see that you aren't neutral. You are either a man or a woman.
You have the intended organs which show who or what you are. Why would you want to twist facts to suit your feelings?
Even if we want to go by the expounded definition, just because you feel something, it doesn't always mean it is what is obtainable. Bear in mind, I said, "ALWAYS", because feelings are fleeting and tend to give us a modicum of fraudulent comfort, so we don't actually face facts.
Most of the time, these feelings are because of what society, overtime has come together to agree on what both genders should be able to do. The very popular one is football, which is seen as a "male sport", when it should just be seen as a sport, or cooking which is seen as a woman's inborn superpower, when it is a necessary life skill. And once either gender shows interest in something that supposedly contradicts their contrapted roles, they start being called the opposite of what they are or get mocked for that interest.
Infact, if you even want to tell me that a hermaphrodite identifies as this, I would somewhat be on your side because they can't help that they have both pronounced sexual organs. But even in those, you still tend to see a more obvious look or leaning towards one of the genders or sexes.
I mean, I get we tend to want to be as accepting and cordial and which should be the norm, we should not ignore facts just because.
And bullying someone to accept that would not change what is obtainable
Well, what are your thoughts? Let's learn something new
It's Men's Health Week, I hope you reach out to our men today and share insights on what can be improved in their daily lives.
GENDER NEUTRAL?
By
Queensley Okon