So, let’s start off straight (ha!): Hi, I’m non-binary. Didn’t know? Me neither, just figured as of lately. Wanna know how that little revelation happened? Let me take you on a quick journey through languages and gender expression, shall we?

It all started with a more or less simple observation of myself here. As I put it over on Mastodon just recently, I wondered: How is it that in my native language, which is German, I feel fine with being referred to as “he/him” (“er/ihn”) – but at the same time, as soon as I talk English, it’s “he/him”, but also “they/them”? How could my own identity, the way I see myself, and even the way I express myself become more… well, “complex”, to say the least, or maybe simply more “diverse”, only just by using a different language than my native one? To be fair, the answer to that is a bit more complex itself – let’s get to it.

Continue reading “The Non-binary click” →