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Joan was confused at Tesco's in Frodsham, early on last wednesday afternoon. In the check-out queue, two ahead of her, was an ectremely attractive and smartly dressed, elegant woman with lovely hair. The small child in front of her nestled up to mother and asked the 'unspoken', but obvious question: "mummy, why does that lady have a beard?" Embarased silence was followed by a placatory, but confused, comment.
I explained to Joan, over a lovely dinner, what I thought she was; after her husband suggested she could be suffering from Polycystic Kidney Disease.
GENDERQUEER is a group, of 'catch all' form, embracing Non-binary and Gender-expansive individuals. The term includes those gender identities which are not female or male, exclusively. People dumped in this group include:-
a/ Gender-fluid and also those moving between genders.
( Gender Fluidity: the ability to comfortably swap between genders or to express multiple genders at the same time)
b/ Those with indefinite or non-fixed gender identities
c/ Those with multiple genders: pan-, tri- and bi-gender
d/ those with no gender: gender-free and -less, non-gender and agender
( Agender: those individuals who do not conform to gender 'norms': they either lack any gender identity or have no gender)
The umbrella grouping: Gender expansive
Some prefer to use the term Gender Expansive to embrace all those individuals who blur our established and 'comfortable' distinctions of gender: Genderqueer persons often express a combination of femininity and masculinity; or,sometimes, neither. This eliminates the frequently used and often misleading label 'Androgenous', as they do not identify with the definition of this misleading term. Equally, they ( and non-binary persons ) should not be included, as a matter of convenience, in an expansion of the Transgender Group of individuals.
Summary with respect to Genderqueer (GQ) individuals
It is common for GQ individuals to identify as 'female-men' or 'male-women'; and, it is not unusual for them to to combine GQ with another gender variation. Some may follow a similar path to transsexual individuals and seek hormones and/or surgical re-assignment or modification, to achieve appropriate physical adjustment towards their prefered self. It is essential to remember that the World Health Organisation clearlydefines and separates gender from sex: gender is a distinct entity and separate from romantic attraction and sexual preference. Thus, GQ individuals have the same sexual preferences as Transgender and Cisgender groups. Finally,it is also important to note that GQ individuals do not identify as belonging to either the cis- ir trans- groups.
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MD ChB BSc (Hons) LRCP MRCS FCOphth MRCP FRCS FRCOphth FRCSEd
