11/28/2018 No, the Future Is Not Female. It's Nonbinary. - Rewire.

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COMM NTARY  HUMAN RIGHT

No, the Future I  Not Female. It’  Non inar .

Nov 27, 2018, 12:03pm  Je ica Porten

Thi  popular motto i   uppo ed to  e a  tatement a out women’  ri ing

power.  ut thi  framing feed  into gender  inarie  that femini t  mu t
di card.

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11/28/2018 No, the Future Is Not Female. It's Nonbinary. - Rewire.News

We  hould  e a piring to a time when gene  do not define gender and where we move  e ond the idea that ever one i

male or female.  
hutter tock

“The future i  female.”

It haJournalism has an inherent

 a nice ring to it, doe n’t it? role in promoting a healthy and just society. At Rewire.News,
we have one, overarching purpose: to produce journalism in the public interest and in the
service of democracy and justice. We are a nonprofit and we don’t accept advertising or
You can  nd it in cute, curv  writing on co ee mug , or written in  old font on trend  T- hirt .
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corporate dollars - we rely on readers like you to keep us funded. Support Rewire.News
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I am a white hetero exual woman who wa  a igned female at  irth and ha   irthed two children. 
conventional de nition , I fall ver  hard within racial,  exual, and gender  inarie .

I’m not  uppo ed to care a out  inarie   ecau e m  own identitie   eem  o clear and align with norm .
ut identit  i  never clear or automatic. The more I under tand that, the more that I tr  to rai e children
to  e who the  are, the more I’m  othered   “the future i  female.”
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I know it’   uppo ed to  e a forward-looking  logan that envi ion  a time where all women are given our
due in politic  and culture.

ut the  tatement reinforce   ome ver   ackward ideologie . With colonization came the enforcement of

ex, gender, and  exualit   inarie , and  erce attempt  to era e culture  (like man  in the America  and
Africa) that recognized gender identitie  and pre entation  out ide of a  inar ,  omething that white
uropean  couldn’t fathom. Whitene ,  inarie , and oppre ion go together.  lack-white, male-female,
ga - traight: The li t goe  on and on.

G T TH  FACT , DIR CT TO YOUR IN OX.

u cri e to our dail  or weekl  dige t.

U CRI

ut recognizing that human  iolog  doe n’t operate under  inarie  i n’t ju t a cultural per pective. It’

acked up    cience’  old guard, which tend  to ignore evidence that  ex and gender have never  een
either-or propo ition .

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11/28/2018 No, the Future Is Not Female. It's Nonbinary. - Rewire.News

Women who have onl  one chromo ome, a  ingle X, aren’t an  le  “female” or “woman” than I

am. Neither do people with the XY com o have to  e “female” or  u cri e to an  gender. 

Are inter ex people—who have di erent chromo omal con guration  or anatom —to  e de ned  olel
 their gene  or genitalia? There’  more diver it  among humanit  than what we  ee on the
out ide. There are people with XY chromo ome  who have 
Journalism has an inherent role in promoting a healthyinar
and-female genitalia, people with XX
just society. At Rewire.News,
chromo ome one,
we have  who have  inar -male genitalia, people with three 
overarching purpose: to produce journalism in uch chromo
the public ome  (XXX, XXY, or
interest and in the
service of democracy
XYY), and people who and justice. We
e chromo are a nonprofit and
omal pair  add up to 44 in we don’t accept advertising or
tead of 46. ×
corporate dollars - we rely on readers like you to keep us funded. Support Rewire.News
today with as little as $1.
Thi  de unk  what mo t people u e a  the “ cienti c” de nition of “female.”  ecau e te ting
chromo omal makeup upon  irth i  not a  tandard procedure, we have limited information a out how
common chromo omal variation  are.  ut it’   elieved that man  a  1.7 percent of people are  orn with
chromo omal or anatomical di erence  that locate them out ide the t pical “male” or “female”
de nition  of  ex. Neither do we know if there i  an  correlation  etween chromo omal makeup and
non inar  gender or  exualit .
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The word “female” i   till invoked a  the  cienti c de nition of a  iological woman, which incorrectl
con ate   ex and gender and era e  the identitie  of inter ex and non inar  people. And thi  de nition
i n’t ju t propagated   right-wing anti-tran  politician .  ome  elf-proclaimed femini t movement , like
gender-critical radical femini t  (al o known a  tran -exclu ionar  radical femini t  and  ex worker
exclu ionar  radical femini t , or T RF  and  W RF , re pectivel ) or the  o-called anti-a ortion
femini t  al o u e thi  de nition of what it mean  to  e a woman. How either group can call them elve
femini t  with their narrow idea  of womanhood and  tance  again t reproductive right , I don’t know.

While we can point the  nger at the e group , there’  ju t a  much work to do in femini t circle  that

elieve in real gender ju tice, circle  that  hould know that gene  do not make gender. We can’t em race
a pith   ut exclu ionar   logan, even one that a ert  that we need more nonmen in leader hip,
e peciall  nonwhite and non traight one .

ut thi  vi ion of “female” identit  promote  not ju t a  ex  inar . It al o a ume  that all women are
working toward the  ame future without gla  ceiling  and true autonom . A  our election  keep telling
u  over and over again in the United  tate , there are countle  women—the majorit  of whom are white
—who  ide with men in power, mo ilize, and vote in wa  that literall  harm vulnera le population  like
tran  people, immigrant , and women a  a whole.

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11/28/2018 No, the Future Is Not Female. It's Nonbinary. - Rewire.News

We all have moral and ethical o ligation  to decolonize our thought  and language, rooting out  inarie

that la el and devalue people. And that include  even activi t  pace ,  ecau e an one who reinforce
the e  inarie , whether intentionall  or not, i  participating in upholding the oppre ive in titution  of a
white patriarchal  ociet .

o I Journalism
a , the future i
has  not “female.”
an inherent role in promoting a healthy and just society. At Rewire.News,
we have one, overarching purpose: to produce journalism in the public interest and in the
service of
The future i democracy and justice. We
 one where we have di mantled are a nonprofit
impli tic  inar and we don’t
 ideologie accept
  ecau advertising
e we under or
tand the ×
corporate dollars - we rely on readers like you to keep us funded. Support Rewire.News
are rooted in ethnocentri m, oppre ion, and p eudo cience. It’  a time we  hould a pire to, when we
today with as little as $1.
under tand  ex, gender, and  exualit  a   pectrum , and don’t di advantage an one for where the  place
on tho e  pectrum .

I am not  a ing ever one  hould or will eventuall  identif  a  non inar .  ut the future i  one where we

don’t pu h a  inar  norm. The future  hould  e non inar . Period.

vidence- a ed journali m i  the foundation of democrac . Rewire.New , iSupport Rewire.News

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a ed reporting on reproductive and  exual health, right  and ju tice and the inter ection  of race,
environmental, immigration, and economic ju tice.

A  a non-pro t that doe n't accept adverti ing or corporate  upport, we rel  on our reader  for

funding. Plea e  upport our fact- a ed journali m toda .

upport Rewire.New

(http :// ecure.act lue.com/contri ute/page/ upport-rewire?refcode=article-end)

Topic  and Tag :

femini t , gender, gender  ia , Inter ex, Inter ex I ue , LG T right , LG TQ,  exualit , tran  i ue ,
Women'  right

R LAT D ARTICL

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11/28/2018 No, the Future Is Not Female. It's Nonbinary. - Rewire.News

Cliff Al right Caroline Reill

COMM NTARY  POLITIC COMM NTARY  POLITIC

White Mi
Journalismi ippi: It’
has an  Your The 
inherent role en ele  Ua iquit
in promoting  ofand just society. At Rewire.News,
healthy
Deciwe ion Whether the  tate
have one, overarching Women in Pain
purpose: to produce journalism in the public
ANALY I interest
  LG TQ and in the
Remain  a Pariah or  tep  Into
service of democracy and justice. We are a nonprofit and we don’t accept advertising or
Nov 23, 8:00am
The Rejection of ‘Conver ion
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the Future
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Nov 26, 1:29pm
Politic —It’  Motivated 
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Nov 21, 10:15am  io han O’Lear

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