What exactly is gender identity? Gender identification refers to one’s personal perception of one’s own gender. Gender identification can either correspond with or diverge from a person’s designated sex at birth. Gender expression is often associated with a person’s gender identification, however this is not always the case. Alok indirectly provides us with the skills to better comprehend how we feel….beyond the Gender Binary! Alok Vaid Menon pushes the world to view gender in full color rather than black and white. I had the pleasure of attending Alok’s comedy act at the BMCC approximately a month ago, and it was packed with light and humor. They not only made fun of everything, including the audience, but they also raised awareness about gender expression because not many people are familiar with non-binary, gender fluid (QIA+) persons.Throughout the book, we learn how non-binary people feel, what they go through, how society impacts them, and how the four categories of rejection, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope effect them. 

Alok Vaid-Menon writes on how the gender binary is enforced before birth and impacts people at all stages of life. Gender assignments provide a narrative for how a person should act, what they should enjoy or wear, and how they can express themselves. Boys are taught to be strong, aggressive, and logical, while ladies are taught to be weak, pleasant, and emotional. This has always been done so consistently and with such power that people are unaware of what they are doing or the harm it will create.

 I consider myself to be non-binary because im gender fluid…i dont care what people give me as pronouns as long as its with respect behind it.