Yvette Torres Valera

Prof. Hollis Glaser

GWS 100 -1300

What it means to move beyond the gender binary for Alok as a non-conforming and transfeminine are opening up about expressing yourself and self-discovering yourself based on how you grow and want to change the future for the better of acceptance. Alok talks about personal experience dealing with people who weren’t open about gender and the risk of violence occurring based on how others see you and accept you and miscommunication and education. Alok talks about the difference between tolerance and Acceptance within gender in this case non-conforming people. To exemplify,” Tolerance is always about maintaining distance: “This is about something over there that docent concern me.”Acceptance, on the other hand, is about integrating differences into your own life:” This is something that I am part of and I need to learn more to better help”(page 43). I found this interesting because it is true in all aspects because in order to move beyond the gender binary we have to accept more than just the two gender binary ways. Aloks furthers in on biological views of sex and questions people have and answers them which shows if you actually want to learn and be supportive there is no harm in educating yourself. The way my gender identity fits the binary norms is by associating myself as a woman who was born as a female I like to be called she/her. The way I wouldn’t fit in the binary norms I believe is not being entirely straight but a bisexual female who likes men and women or any gender I guess In binary norms that would be against it I believe.