In “Beyond The Gender Binary” by Alok Vaid-Menon, there are so many new thoughts presented in a very detailed way. For Alok, moving beyond gender is accepting the fact that there are many types of gender than just men and women. People need to normalize those non-binary people or non-confirming are people part of this society and should be treated the same way as everyone else. These people are not safe and they are always in danger. They always get harassed and bullied for being themselves. I believe that nonbinary people did not just come up with this new idea of whether they are men or women, but there is a trust feeling and sexual orientation behind it. The old generation and especially the parents have taught their children either to be feminine or masculine, and they set up things that are only for girls and things that are only boys. For example, pink is for girls, and blue is for boys. But for nonbinary people, pink can be a boy’s favorite color, and femininity doesn’t always have to be associated with women. This is what Alok was trying to explain in his book, which was very informative for people like me who had limited thoughts about non-confirming people.

I am a woman who believes in biology a lot, so reading this part of Alok’s book and trying to accept every idea he wrote was somehow hard for me to fully accept his ideas. I will say that I don’t agree with him 100% because I didn’t experience that feeling of nonbinary, but I believe that there are things like feelings, emotions that go beyond the science sometimes. The thing that I don’t like about our generation is that we judge quickly and we show our insecurities so easily. Nonbinary people must be more appreciated for their patience and sticking to their own thoughts because discrimination is real. They are real fighters who are willing to do anything to prove their feelings. We can’t deny the fact that a lot of nonbinary people have committed suicide and some of them are going through heartbreaks and depression. People need to be more aware of their emotional side rather than judging them based on how they dress or behave. I believe in freedom. I believe that everyone has the right to dress and be whoever they want. If they don’t disturb others’ freedom then nobody should ruin theirs. I think writing is a great idea and opportunity for nonbinary people to express their thoughts and feelings because when it comes to writing, there is no limit and there is absolute freedom.

There are some things that I don’t fully understand which is the fact that most nonbinary people are men who choose to be feminine. What I mean by being feminine is that men like to wear dresses, makeup, long nails, etc. How do these men consider themselves nonbinary instead of gay? There is a big question here. How most of them are men and not women. In my opinion which I would like to share since it’s an open discussion. These men’s purpose is to be free and that nobody can tell them which sex they belong to. For nonbinary people, having multiple options either men or women is their right. They are obviously not looking for attention but freedom.