Despite ample opportunity to define oneself on Facebook using photos, status updates and shared quizzes (Which Putin Are You?!), the social network was lacking one option in the past: any other gender assignation aside from male or female. Thursday (February 13), Facebook has remedied that situation.
To edit your gender, simply click on “Update Info,” then scroll down to “Basic Information.” There you can click “Edit,” and, under gender, you can select from female, male or custom. The last option allows you to plug in up to 50 different terms, according to the AP. You can also choose how you want Facebook to refer to you: as “she,” “he,” or “them” — as in “Wish them a Happy Birthday.”
The option rolls out today to the social network’s 159 million U.S. users.
The topic of gender association has been a big one these past few months, with news sources getting blasted by sites like Jezebel for not calling Chelsea Manning “she” after the United States Army soldier decided to go from “Bradley” to “Chelsea,” and Vice President Joe Biden calling transgender discrimination the “the civil rights issue of our time.”
Facebook’s move, although not earth-shaking, should go a ways toward helping users feel more comfortable identifying themselves on the social network.
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