Trans and nonbinary labels are the same.

Myth-busting Monday: Trans and nonbinary labels are the same.

 

Actuality: It depends on who you ask.

 

Traditionally1, individuals that identified as non-binary were assumed to fall under the transgender label, as transgender is often defined as identifying differently from the sex/gender2 assigned at birth.  Because non-binary as a label is not a label offered at birth, the reasoning here would imply that a non-binary person is then transgender (they differ from the sex/gender assigned at birth).  In this case, transgender would be the umbrella term and non-binary identifying individuals would fall under it.

 

The reverse can also be examined – are people that identify as transgender also non-binary? Not necessarily.  Transgender individuals may very much find resonance in the gender binary, it is just that for some transgender folks, their body did not/does not match their sex/gender assigned at birth.  (Note: This incongruence with the sex/gender assignments does not mean a transgender person wants to change their body; this is another myth: that all transgender folks experience body dysmorphia) . However, some transgender folks also identify as non-binary.

 

The best way to respect someone’s identifiers is to reflect back their language, use the pronouns they use (which may or may not reflect gender identity) and labels they use, and understand that THEIR labels and language and experience are valid. as they know themselves best.  Gender and orientation identifiers are self-constructs and self-chosen.  How do you know if you are trans or non-binary? You decide – it is on you to pick and explore labels that best match your experience and these labels can grow and change as you do.

 

Labels are problematic as they can limit what is experienced as a flexible or fluid identity.  They can also shut down other ways of understanding and experiencing ourselves. Labels can also be incredible by creating visibility and communities of similarly identified individuals as well as garnering awareness, legal protections, and resources.  For instance, few Americans actually know a trans individual3.  And perhaps because of this limited personalization and visibility, trans identified individuals experience significant stigma in healthcare, high suicidality, high rates of eating disorders, and high levels of homelessness.  Without the label of trans, these statistics wouldn’t be acknowledged, allowing the stigma to be both perpetuated and ignored.

 

A great resource on trans and nonbinary identities is the Human Rights Campaign, an incredible organization that supports the rights of the LBGTQIA++ community: https://www.hrc.org/resources/transgender-and-non-binary-faq

 

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My embodied journey as an example

 

For my journey, I identify as non-binary, and always have, though without that specific label4 for years.  Of note, time doesn’t make my identity more legitimate than someone else’s5.  Within this identity is my lived experience that I do not understand or experience gender as binary; the binary as it is often presented is not congruent with my sense of self.  Further, I recognize the binary as being a tool of supremacy culture and colonialization.  I am gender fluid in that I am (mostly) ok with being identified with how I am typically perceived (female) but I experience my gender as so much more than that (some days I am more ‘she’, others more ‘they’).  It is not an either/or or even a both/and.  I experience myself as beyond gender – so something akin to gender expansive, gender creative, or gender queer.  My experience of gender does not equal a universal truth – it is my truth.  Further, my sense of the binary as false does not dismiss someone’s experiencing the binary in a valid and embodied way6.  There are multiple truths possible7.  And considering multiple truths, my identity does not change my partners’ identities.  Their identifiers are on them to investigate and define.

 

Related to this piece:  Although I identify as non-binary, I do not identify as trans.  This is important as I do not face the same stigma or barriers as a trans identified individual, and this identity distinction is where the importance of labels shows up in my situation – in the privileges I occupy compared to the stigma, burdens, and harm experienced by trans identifying folks.

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So how do you know how someone identifies?  Are they trans and non-binary? Trans only? Non-binary only? Something else?  Consider whether it is important information for you to know and why.  The individual under question has a right to privacy – they don’t owe you their labels or a coming out.  If you are familiar enough with the person and it isn’t an infringement of privacy, the only way you can know someone’s identity and what that identity means to them is to ask.

 

Question for the reader:

  1. How do you understand your gender identity? Has it stayed the same or has it changed during your life?
  2. How have you historically understood the words and labels of trans and non-binary? Do you personally know a trans or non-binary person?

 

Citations/thoughts/resources:

  1. Who’s tradition is a good question. Our cultural inheritance and understanding of things are heavily influenced by paternalism and supremacy culture.  Just because something is “traditional” doesn’t mean it is worth perpetuating
  2. I like MJ Barker’s use of sex/gender when discussing sex and gender – these are separate concepts but are also very much related. See their paper that I often reference on the GSRD model.
  3. GLAAD did a survey – only 20% of Americans personally know someone that is trans, verses 90% personally know someone that is LGB. https://www.glaad.org/transgender
  4. I honestly prefer to be without a label as labels can be so problematic to me, but if I had to pick one or several, non-binary is the umbrella.
  5. Ideas around legitimacy can be linked to supremacy culture – it is another way to limit or gate keep.
  6. See Judith Butler’s piece on the rights of people to live into their gender as they see fit, as this does not dismiss someone else’s experience: “It is always brave to insist on undergoing transformations that feel necessary and right even when there are so many obstructions to doing so, including people and institutions whos seek to pathologize or criminalize such important acts of self-definition. I know that for some feels less brave than necessary, but we all have to defend those necessities that allow us to live and breathe in the way that feels right to us……So whether one wants to be free to live out a “hard-wired” sense of sex or a more fluid sense of gender, is less important than the right to be free to live it out, without discrimination, harassment, injury, pathologization or criminalization – and with full institutional and community support. That is most important in my view.” https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/2009-judith-butler-on-gender-and-the-trans-experience-one-should-be-free-to-determine-the-course-of-one-s-gendered-life?fbclid=IwAR1EA9_CaXS9efMEg7Klnh-n7sfS9OR14MpZ6fF11338qvn53DRxsR5Ua4E
  7. The desire and ability to hold multiple truths, even contradictions, is part of queer theory. There is no universal truth, except perhaps that.  Queer theory considers what is opened up verses what is shut down in the framing of a question or the labeling of something.  I love this nuance and complexity. For info on queer theory, see Queer: A Graphic History by MJ Barker.

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The above content is written by Dr. Allison Mitch, PT (DPT), RYT500; sex-positive/affirming, trauma-informed sexuality counselor and educator (she/her/they/them); copyright protected, please cite accordingly.  The graphic is mine.

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