#enbyproblems

Just like binary trans people, non-binary (or enby) trans people have been around for a long time. Only recently has it even come into the attention of the general public. 

Unfortunately, the concept of being outside of the gender binary is one that is often criticized or brushed over - most people who do not identify as enby often do not truly understand. Enby people can face invalidation from all angles, even in the transgender community itself. It is important to point out that people who identify as enby are not "special snowflakes", and most certainly not "the reason people shit on the transgender community".

This kind of lack of understanding in today's society tends to lead to the erasure or invalidation of the enby community. Here are some ways in which this may occur:

Language often excludes enby people. So many words in languages are unnecessarily gendered - right down to objects being labelled as masculine or feminine by languages such as French. While this cannot be helped - after all, these languages were created so long ago - simply consider how it may feel. Some enby people don't want to be associated with gendered words, while some do. Maybe keep it in mind the next time you're generalising a group of people with a gendered term!

People rarely perceive their (a)genders accurately. Unlike many binary transgender people, it isn't common for an enby person to have an end goal in their transition. There is often no possible endpoint where enby people can hope to be safe when being read as their true (a)gender identity. This means enby people can be misgendered more often, and tend to face denial, invalidation, and violence for most of their lives.

Some people go as far as to tell enby people what (they think) their pronouns should be. This generally comes with the excuse that their pronouns are wrong, hard, ungrammatical, or silly. God forbid non-binary people decide not to use pronouns at all  - the lack of respect for their pronouns (or rather, lack of) only gets more apparent in this situation.

Bathrooms. If an establishment even has gender-neutral bathrooms, they’re often far out of the way. This is inconvenient, time-wasting, and isolating. And if enby people aren't perceived as the "right gender" for the bathroom they do use, they aren't safe - physically or emotionally.

Transgender healthcare is scarce enough as it is - and it only gets worse for non-binary trans folks. Many enby people never seek healthcare for fear of discrimination, since non-binary people don't fit into the image of "legitimately transgender". This is not to say that all enby people even want to physically transition, but it is a big problem for those who do.

There is little to no coverage of non-binary people in the media. This is also true with gender nonconforming (GNC) binary transgender people. How are enby people meant to be understood or get respect when so many people don't even know they exist? We cannot understand something we do not know about or are not educated about. Medica coverage for non-binary or GNC transgender people could significantly help to educate people on the topic, and spread more understanding!

Non-binary erasure has some pretty huge impacts. Non-binary trans people are more likely than a binary-identified trans person to:

Attempt suicide (43% non-binary versus 41% binary trans)

Face police harassment (31% non-binary versus 21% binary)

Earn less than $10,000/year (21% non-binary versus 14% binary trans)

Face assault, physically (32% non-binary versus 25% binary) or sexually (15% non-binary versus 9% binary), due to gender bias.

These numbers only get higher for non-binary people of colour (POC).

So, what can we do to change this? Spread. Accurate. Information. About. The. Enby. Community. Seriously, the best way to tackle this problem, right now, is education - much like with ALL transgender issues! Misinformation, as well as an inadequate amount of education on these topics, that is the biggest enemy we have to face.

Sources:

https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/08/common-non-binary-erasure/

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/9-things-people-get-wrong-about-being-non-binary

https://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-not-to-say-to-nonbinary-people