THE (NON) BINARISM EXISTENCE IN INDIA VIS-À-VIS THE BIOLOGY BEHIND THE NON-BINARY IDENTITY: THE UNANSWERED QUERIES

Abstract

A possible indication that social perspectives on gender are evolving is the growing prevalence of individuals who identify as neither male nor female or with a gender identity that does not fall into either of the two binaries. Consider the new non-binary gender options that Facebook has introduced for user profiles - the legal recognition of indeterminate and ‘third gender’ identities in a number of countries (for example, Australia, Germany, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, New Zealand, and Thailand), and the addition of the term ‘cisgender’ to the Oxford English Dictionary, which describes individuals whose self-identity corresponds to the gender and biological sex that was assigned to them at birth. Community discussion forums and blogs on the internet are typical sites where individuals share and develop narratives about gender identities that do not fall within the binary. However, academics in the social sciences have not paid a great deal of attention to either these narratives or non-binary gender identities up until this point. This research will propose that a reduction in the gap between the formulation of legal rights and actual access to rights may be achieved by gaining an awareness of the structural and institutional processes, as well as their intersectionality, identifying the obstacles, and discovering strategies that are possible for overcoming them. The purpose of this essay is to propose that this reduction may be achieved.