mac is a genius

So, one of the first things we did when we started work on DW was add the option for an "other" -- aka, not male, not female, and yet not "unspecified" -- option. The reason we didn't add more gender identification options was that we thought it would be more unwelcoming for people who were gender-identified as something other than on the M/F binary, but whose particular gender ID wasn't on the list -- sort of a "they have all these identities and they still don't have mine? :(" type reaction -- and I didn't want to do that more than I wanted to give people a chance to pick their exact gender ID from the drop-down, especially since the drop-down doesn't affect anything but the aggregate stats anyway and there's the bio for explaining the details of your gender identity.

I never liked 'other' as a term, for reasons that I hope will be obvious, but I could never find an option that didn't offend someone I knew whom would choose that option, or that actually did meant what it needed to mean, or that conveyed the right connotations. Except in the middle of the discussion in transfinite's journal about deviantART screwing up, mac said something so perfect that my reaction was like, "OH MY GOD WHY DID I NEVER THINK OF THAT OH MY GOD THAT'S FUCKING PERFECT brb editing site copy": "Non-binary".

*facepalm*

(I'll be sure to mention it in next week's update, so that anyone who selected the option when it was labeled 'other' and doesn't feel that the option labeled 'non-binary' applies to them can switch to "choose not to state", but mostly I just wanted to post this entry to say that mac IS A FREAKING GENIUS and solved something that's been bugging me for oh, about two goddamn years now.)


EDIT: After comments left here, it's clear that while some people appreciate the change, others don't. I've reverted the label back to what it previously read, and I apologize to those who were hurt by the change. Since the comments have gotten to the point where there's a great deal of antagonism towards other users, and I do not have the time to moderate a heavy discussion and feel it's irresponsible to allow an unmoderated discussion to go on in my journal, I've turned off the comments, as well.

If you are looking for further resources, rather than asking the people who were commenting here, try checking out Questioning Transphobia or a Google search for "trans 101", both of which can be good basic resources.

(Also, and on a personal note rather than a professional note, please stop assuming things about my gender identity.)