Vacation from gender. Please?

The statement "I need to take a vacation from gender" is very often floating around my brain. Any drama or angst caused by the cruelness of the gender system I did not sign up for but have to deal with on daily basis inevitably reaches the point of "I need to take a vacation from gender".  This happens often enough that when I found the awesome genderfork website I submitted it and it was posted (huzzah!). 

It's strange and sad that it is absolutely true and utterly impossible all at the same time. 

Adventures in Androgyny: Hesitate

There's this moment when strangers address me, a moment of hesitation before they pick a pronoun when they trip over their words or awkwardly pause because they're unsure which to use. I always enjoy that moment because it feels like up until they had to consciously pick a pronoun they were just seeing me.

Adventures in Androgyny

Laser tag tonight:

Kid 1: "He's right around the corner! Shoot him!"
Kid 2: "She's a girl!"
Kid 1: "Then shoot her!"
Kid 3: "He's clearly a boy."
Me: *shoots them all and runs away cackling*

It's not that you're not sexy, it's just that I don't care.

It's Asexual Awareness Week!

Somewhat ironically, I wasn't aware of this until today. I'm assuming I just missed the memo and the large, bat-signalesque spotlight asexuals use to communicate with each other.

Anyways, on to the awareness. An asexual person is someone who does not experience sexual attraction. Asexual is a sexual orientation like homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, pansexual, etc.  Asexuality is NOT the same thing as celibacy (celibacy is a choice, asexuality is an orientation). Do not mistake a lack of interest in having sex for erotophobia or repression. There are lots of sex-positive asexuals. 

Consider yourself a little bit more aware! As with anything, there's a lot more to it than that. The Asexual Visibility and Education Network and the Asexuality wikipedia page are good places to start.

Brief awareness shout out for the term "aromantic"  which, while lacking a concrete singular definition (some define it as lack of desire for a romantic relationship, others as lack of romantic attraction) it still opens up discussion around romance, romantic attraction and actively works to untangle them from sexual desire. (There are aromantic asexuals and romantic asexuals). 

And finally, some really simple advice for anyone who has someone come out to them as any of the countless non-normative sexual identities and/or gender identities:

When someone tells you who they are, believe them.