5 Things You Should Know About Being Genderqueer

Do you often ask yourself, "Who are those genderqueer people anyway?" Here are 5 things you should know to get started!

[JaeHyunFae]

Thank you! I think lately I've realized I might be genderqueer because I've never been fully confident in identifying myself as female. I've always struggled... The problem has probably been that I've confused these feeling of thinking I was a gay female. But I am def attracted to men lol... I just feel most comfortable being androgyn (not female/not male). Videos and vloggers like you help alot to try to accept and understand myself :)

[AelaMoonshadow]

I showed this video to some one yesterday, and they said "he's just gay." They got slapped. And not just by me.

[StormEscape]

Ok you know what? If you don't like this video then stop taking time out your life just to put hate comments because it's pointless and simply stupid so just leave it alone. Just move on. Get on with your life. Stop concerning yourself with what other people do. If you don't like it then it's not worth your time it's as simple as that.

[TheMagnificentMrM]

Chris here, agender, commenting with my roommate's profile, who is bigender: Keep being you! A good person is defined by their compassion, conscoius, and empathy, not by their ability to fit into gender rolls.

[victoriarosvald]

When you were brought up you were taught that there is boys and there are girls. Then you grew up and realised that it wasn't true?
Well, it still is true. Either you are male or you are female. Some disorders blur out the lines, but they have disorders. And I am talking about physical disorders. 
What you must be talking about is gender-roles, and who cares about what role other people feels is right for them? I have never asked myself, "Who are those genderqueer people anyway?". What other people do is none of my business, and as long as they don't break the law or stomp on kittens I am fine with them, no matter if a man wanna wear lipstick and skirts or a female wants to wear a bowtie. She can wear a bowtie on her head for all i care. 

[thescoon]

Be free to be yourself, by all means. Regardless of your sex, you should be free to express yourself however you want.
The part I get confused by is the labelling, as I can't see how viewing the words 'men' and 'women' as being identical to 'masculine' and 'feminine' is a good thing. In fact, I think this is what produces sexism. The word 'man' or 'male' has always related to biology. We call male chimps male because they are the ones that produce sperm and have a specific anatomy; identity isn't a condition to being male, only your biology is. None of that has anything to do with who you are as a person, nor should it. Thus, if you view being male or female as a performative exercise, you are being sexist, as you're inviting those socialised norms of 'females are feminine' and 'males are masculine' more rigidly into your life.
Again, you can wear whatever you like, do whatever you like, but as soon as you say 'I don't identify with being male because I like feminine things' that is *you* saying that being male means you have to be a certain way, and I think that's where the problems appear for me, as someone who is opposed to sexism the way no doubt many people here are.

[elliothopwood]

That lipstick really looks beautiful on you

I would never expect it to match facial hair but you look AMAZING

[sarahenany]

Apologies for the personal comment, but you have the most BEAUTIFUL BIG BROWN EYES. Absolutely lovely, and the eyeliner and mascara are absolutely perfect. Your points are also valid and enlightening and compassionate - but those eyes are just, you know that awful word "distracting?" Swoon!

[anna-mariahjorth]

A lot of these hate comments seem to confuse sex and gender. No, having a different gender identity won't suddenly change your body -- however, we're all entitled to our identity and way of defining ourselves. People whose assigned gender at birth doesn't match their gender identity would only make other people happy by saying they're the gender "they were born into". I think for most of us, it's been a long struggle starting from childhood or adolescence where we've felt like something is up and however much we've tried to fit into the gender box, it's made us unhappy and others happy. So at the end of the day, whether you believe it or not, it's a real thing and that should be enough for you to at least respect it even if you don't share these emotions of dysphoria or unhappiness yourself. To me, saying genderqueer isn't a thing is like telling a muslim or a bisexual man that they can either be Christian or atheist, straight or gay.. I understand that what you're saying is coming from a place of not understanding or being able to relate to these emotions, but fact of the matter is most of us would rather identify with the gender binary instead of feeling this way in this era of non-acceptance so that we didn't have to get beat up in the street or fear for our lives. However that comes at the cost of unhappiness, depression, and an inauthentic life experience. To live not being yourself isn't really living.

[johnk]

Just started wearing makeup and accessories to work and I love it!!! Love feminine stuff. It's so preeettttyyyy. I get lots of ignorant people hating on me but I don't care. They can suck it.

[melaniecrandell]

Spiffy video.  My daughter is asking questions about this & other lgbt topics.  I know I don't have all the answers & your video popped up on my fb newsfeed from upworthy.  She found it helpful & is now looking up various terms you talked about.  Thanks Jacob for starring in the video & Colin for making the video

[jenniferfields]

I'm genderfluid. I went out dressed masculine and bound today and I know I don't pass as male. The cashier at the craft store told me I rocked my outfit. Sometimes people are okay haha.

[kylegilbert]

I don't understand how personality has anything to do with a gender. Anyone with a touch of common sense knows that personality traits are not specific to one gender. Just like Make-up, skirts, or the color pink don't make you any more female than a bow-tie, shaved head, or the color blue make you more male. Your natural physical features are what make you a male or female, not the items or styles you choose to adorn yourself with.

You want to destroy the societal stereotypes of male and female yet you perpetuate it by saying something like this "when someone's trying to embrace their gender for the first time and their femininity...".

[Wulfshade]

I think some people care too much about gender identity, and/or over analyze their gender in general. Personally, I don't care about any of that gender identity nonsense. If you are physically a male, but like to act feminine, wear dresses and use makeup, then hey, that's completely okay. How ever, I will still see you as a male.

[valentinaarcila]

I am proud of you!! Be who you are and dress however you want as long as you are comfortable! Plus I really like the whole one earing thing you got going on there. :)

[blakehoss]

I seriously have no idea why anyone would be threatened by these concepts. It seems like it should be pretty straightforward to understand. I thank you for making this video. I hope we can all look back someday and laugh about how ridiculous it is that we had such a hard time grasping such a simple concept. I'm the first to admit I need to be more conscious of the pronouns I use when addressing people, but we've all got room to grow.

[maggiekoch]

Thank you. I am figuring out my gender and this really helped. I have a question: Is it possible to be a biological male, not want to physically transition, but internally feel female, and take a female name and pronoun? This is how I experience my gender.

[LatinAmericanDog]

I didn't really know much about this subject, but it's good to inform myself and learn new things. People shouldn't be afraid, instead, everybody should be eager to learn more about the things they don't know. Great video, this is a very brave young person, sometimes it's really hard to be yourself, especially when people are ignorant.

[sofa]

Although so many of the hate comments on this are frankly...discouraging, terrifying...however, your video helped me, so thank you <3
also, you have really nice eyes

[MsAngrycupcake]

You are definitely helping to make the world more authentic and better for everyone. Thank you for being so open about who you are!