This week we are reading the article “Alok – Beyond the Gender Binary” and watching episode 6 of “Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness”. I am already familiar with Jonathan as I am a big fan of Queer Eye, and it was really nice reading the article as well. In simplest terms, moving beyond the gender binary for Alok means to be themselves. This comes in the form of being gender non-conforming and breaking gender norms. This comes in many different forms and puts them in a lot of danger. Personally, I feel that my gender identity goes against and falls in line with the binary norm for a few reasons. As a nonbinary individual, my gender identity, for the most part, goes against binary norms. However, due to the fear of backlash from my family and fear of danger in general, I feel like I dial back how I want to express myself in order to not bother anyone or draw too much bad attention or danger to myself. Alok is right, it’s incredibly dangerous to express yourself in different ways, or just be outside the gender binary at all.

To be specific, when I am by myself or I invite friends over to my home where I feel safe, I’m able to be myself the way I want to. Wearing jewelry, wearing makeup like eyeliner and painting my nails, curling my hair, and wearing what I want – I feel that all of these things go against the binary norm. For me, when I go out, I’ll hardly do any of these things and try to present myself as masculine. The most I’ll do is wear earrings or curl my hair depending on where I’m going.