One of my irritations is that we do not have good language to talk about non-binary people.
For example, instead of a brother or sister, you talk about a “sibling”. It just sounds so impersonal. Instead of saying something that shows your love for a family member while acknowledging the fact that the person does not cleanly fit into either of the gender boxes, it sounds like gender erasure. Like the person is too concerned with social pressure to refer to their relative by an incorrect gender but too proud to use the correct gender. Or maybe it is similar to a gay person talking about his “partner” to leave a little bit of ambiguity about his sexuality.
I am not saying that people should hide their gender identity, just that the English speaking community needs to find better terminology to use when talking about them.
This is why I like being a twin. Twin is personal and not common so calling my twin my twin still sounds personal but not gendered automatically. My twin is non binary as I understand it. I am binary.
I do use “kin” sometimes, but I don’t think I would in a parental context. Interesting, though. Maybe it’s just me that thinks of “kin” as being a gender non-conforming form of “brethren”. Usually I use the word in a collective sense, too, as in, “All my homies love and support their trans kin.”
Probably a regional factor, but amongst my clan it’s generally used to refer to all living or now passed but once contemporaries family members both immediate and extended. The dead generally just get labeled ancestors past contemporaries not withstanding.
One of my irritations is that we do not have good language to talk about non-binary people.
For example, instead of a brother or sister, you talk about a “sibling”. It just sounds so impersonal. Instead of saying something that shows your love for a family member while acknowledging the fact that the person does not cleanly fit into either of the gender boxes, it sounds like gender erasure. Like the person is too concerned with social pressure to refer to their relative by an incorrect gender but too proud to use the correct gender. Or maybe it is similar to a gay person talking about his “partner” to leave a little bit of ambiguity about his sexuality.
I am not saying that people should hide their gender identity, just that the English speaking community needs to find better terminology to use when talking about them.
This is why I like being a twin. Twin is personal and not common so calling my twin my twin still sounds personal but not gendered automatically. My twin is non binary as I understand it. I am binary.
The term kin can work, sure you will sound like a hick but who cares.
I do use “kin” sometimes, but I don’t think I would in a parental context. Interesting, though. Maybe it’s just me that thinks of “kin” as being a gender non-conforming form of “brethren”. Usually I use the word in a collective sense, too, as in, “All my homies love and support their trans kin.”
Probably a regional factor, but amongst my clan it’s generally used to refer to all living or now passed but once contemporaries family members both immediate and extended. The dead generally just get labeled ancestors past contemporaries not withstanding.
My sister and I occasionally refer to each other as “sibling” using conehead voices.