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.

1- It’s crazy for me to think that I had such a wrong idea about feminism. I was totally in line with people that see feminism as an exaggerated act and the reason behind is not necessarily important. I used to think that women are thinking aggressively about the subject and they are making it a big deal. I used to believe that women were being selfish and they were looking to create war and hate between both genders. I used to believe that women wanted female domination as a result instead of male domination which is a reality. I didn’t really think critically or deeply about feminism until I read this article by bell hooks. This article was actually mind-changing for me. The second I finished reading it, I felt more excited about reading more because of how many new ideas I learned. I am from Morocco and I can relate to the idea of men are superior to women. In my country, females’ job is to stay in the house, clean, and cook. They are not allowed to work, have a social life, or study. All they are seeking is equality which is a total right of theirs. They don’t want to be superior or anything, all they want is to do exactly what men can do. Thinking about it got me very sad, bell hooks are fighting for the new definition of feminism which is the movement to end sexism. Women are fighting for a system with no preferences, where everyone no matter his/her gender, race, or color doesn’t matter. Feminism is not that we hate men, but it is our right and all women deserve to be treated fairly and equally.

2- As a female who came from a Muslim family and country, talking about sex and gender is considered to be a sensitive subject and I never felt comfortable learning or talking about it more. That’s why my education about this subject was limited. After I came to the united states and lived for a while, I start realizing that the world doesn’t only consist of men and women. They are more types of gender and sex too. The category of gay-lesbian was totally new for me. I felt weird about it at the beginning and I started to understand that there are some people who are attracted only to their same-sex. Also, the pansexual category of sex was new for me. I heard people are interested in intelligence but never attracted sexually to it. In addition, I learned the difference between gender and sex which I used to think are the same thing. Gender is more associated with cultural environment and society. Gender is related to how people dress, style, or like to be preferred.