What is Gender Fluid?

So what is Gender Fluid? It seems in the last several years that the words “gender” and “identity” are being used more an more. Today, gender non-conformity awareness seems to be at an all time high. Due in part to the leaps and bounds of the LGBT movement, marriage equality and gender equality movements but also social media, reality TV and middle school kids.

Yes, middle school kids. Blame it on Tumblr, puberty, or just a desire to put a label on something that isn’t conforming to the traditional gender labels and you end up with “gender fluid”.

Gender Fluid is the described as having a gender that switches back and forth, fluidly, between genders. A person who identifies as gender fluid might have been born a female but feels like a male sometimes. Someone who is gender fluid might describe feeling like a boy, or more masculine, at times during the day and feel more feminine or girly at other times. In addition to switching between feeling like a boy or feeling like a girl, a person who is gender fluid might also experience feelings of being agender, neutrois or third gender.

Gender fluid is one of the many gender identities that are not traditionally male or female and include Genderqueer, non binary, non gender, tri gender, pan gender and many others.

While some genderqueer people desire to alter their gender to be another gender (transgender) not all do. Gender fluid, because the person switches between various genders, don’t usually want to permanently switch genders surgically.

Is it just a phase?

Much of the gender fluid movement is taking place on social media amongst adolescents. Children who are going through puberty and experiencing all kinds of changes in their bodies are experimenting with labels, clothing and androgyny but is it a phase?

According to studies gender identity disorder in children is more commonly associated with homosexuality in adulthood rather than adult transsexualism. Most children diagnosed with gender identity disorder grow up to be gay or lesbian with our without therapeutic intervention. Of course this could just mean the child has decided to choose an identity for expediency rather than because the feelings of switching genders has ceased.

The rise of discussion on social media amongst children and teens has coincided with the idea, in the mental health community at least, to reevaluate the binary system of gender. Instead of trying to change the child’s behavior parents are now taught how to support their child as they discover who they are. The goal is to help the child and the family cope with prejudice and discrimination instead of focusing on ways the child can conform. It is thus that the terms gender fluid, gender non conforming, gender neutral and other are actually replacing the use of the clinical term and diagnosis of gender identity disorder.