GENDER? WHAT GENDER? DOES IT MATTER?

 

I cannot help but join this conversation about gender neutrality. Not because I am an expert on everything gender, but because I am a human being who loves to accept others for who they are. I just read a post on Facebook where JLO performed a duet with her daughter to raise money for charity L. A Dodgers Blue Gala. A commendable cause, but instead of this being the focus, rather the focus was on the introduction of her 14-year-old daughter with the pronouns "they and them" which are pronouns used for gender-neutral folks. Those who often describe themselves as nonbinary.

In recent years a few celebrity children have chosen to be gender-neutral or transgender. While this garners a lot of attention, because of their status. There are many others who are ordinary people who have summoned the courage to come out as gender-neutral. Last week I listened to a 28-year-old  South African, who uses the pronouns "they & them" too. Fortunately, they were accepted by their mother and friends. When I listened to their story, my heart went out to them. It was a beautiful thing to listen to this human. Such a gentle soul. A popular Nigerian Bestseller author Akwaeke Emezi also uses the pronouns "They and Them" and has used the subject matter in a couple of her books "The Death of Vivek Oji" 

I am sure there are many non-binary humans in many places around the world, but our society is often too rigid and judgemental, so, to be safe and avoid violence being meted out to them, they stay silent in their cocoons. Violence is sometimes not just physical, it can be words, emotional and psychological

Is Non-binary/ Gender-fluidity a misnomer in our society? Absolutely not. Is it a trend or fad especially among the younger generation? I don't know. Being a Gen X woman (Those born between 1965 to 1980) it all sounds strange to me, because growing up, you were either a girl or boy, nothing more, nothing less or so we were taught. And this was ascertained by what your genitals looked like. But being a scientist, I know there is much more than your genitalia. Other physiological attributes like hormones play a part.

What is really non-binary, gender-neutral, or gender-fluid it means they are not society's male or female. For eons of years, society has assigned either a female or male gender to all human species. And also given them roles to help build societies and communities. We find that even those roles are flawed because it did not take cognizance of the abilities of the individuals. As we see that those traditional roles are changing in our modern world.

What if our genitalia is merely a reproductive organ primarily for nature to propagate itself, but not for the individuals to assume all of what society thinks should be their role. Therefore you can have a penis or vagina for reproduction purposes, but who you are as a human being is much more than that i.e the way you love, express yourself, and the roles you play in society may not fit into the traditional roles.

These are just my train of thoughts. Because in the last two years, especially during the pandemic, I have come to question everything we have been taught or told and assumed in life so far. What if we have to question and re-examine everything we thought we knew, believe me, as a scientist, I know we don't have all the answers to the workings of this great universe. There is still so much we do not know about our universe. 

I often say the answers we seek are in nature because the human species is a part of nature. So, let's look at other species in nature. Are other species only binary? Has the human specie only been one type since the ages? Our evolution as humans has been constant and will not stop now. We were not always the present Homo Sapiens Sapiens, that we are today. What if this is all part of our evolution as human species?

Before our present stage of evolution humans evolved through these stages:

• Dryopithecus
• Ramapithecus
• Australopithecus
• Homo Erectus
• Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis
• Homo Sapiens Sapiens

So, what if what we are seeing is the evolution of the Homo Sapiens Sapiens before our very eyes, and this evolution is not physical. Or perhaps, because society has become more progressive and accepting, people can be their authentic selves without worrying about being burned at the stake, ostracized, or even beheaded.