Now you can be gender fluid !

I think this is a difficult issue for us to understand particularly if we are not directly affected by it, but it is interesting that many young ones can accept the concept without prejudice. Personally I think how we view gender is conditioned by society's norms, and in many non Western parts of the world gender fluidity is quite accepted.

When a child becomes a teenager and reaches the 12/13/14 year old category then this is when puberty usually unleashes the tornado of hormones that virtually turn a young persons world upside down.

To take the step to switch gender whilst this uncontrollable turmoil is taking place is surely unwise. Especially if the decision is made because "some of my mates are doing it"......and when it all settles down, then what?

Therapists, and especially the quack variety, are surely raking in fat fees for handing down 'advice' which at best is even more confusing and at worst can lead to thoughts of self-harm and suicide. God forbid......

Trans gender is not the same thing as gender-fluid as I understand it. You can switch back and forth as you feel and may be at different life stages?

LondonMzFitz well said,things change ,we cant stop them changing so accept it and move on .

This isn't so much a question of gender as of good manners and a due consideration of the feelings sof ohers. Sadly, some minority groups have been ebcouraged to believe that their rights now trump those of their fellows when equality and acceptance were all that were needed. They will find that being demanding, vengeful and strident is not popular in our quiet, self effacing and well mannered society. THose who egged them on have done these minorities no favours.

I have no problem with the transgender issue at all . I DO have an issue with a person who one day wants to be a man and everything that entails and the next be a woman and all that entails.

I have a bloody life LondonMz and I object to police funds , already in short supply, being diverted to shore up nonsense like this.

I don't mind which gender you want to be or even if you want to change gender but for gods sake pick a side and stick with it !

This could prove quite cost effective for me. I have worn my hair short for years and get it cut every 6-7 weeks. Compared to what a bloke would pay it costs a fortune. Maybe I could bimble down to the unisex salon in male guise and take advantage of this. Result. (Just thought, would I be offered "something for the weekend?)

If nothing else, it must be an administrative nightmare. I don't have a problem with anybody being gender fluid if it makes them feel happy but why not choose a gender fluid name?

Well he has chosen a name...2 names in fact Ican one for when he's being a man and one for when he's being a woman. So , its not like he has one name for all the days he has 2 depending on what he fancies that day????

Alima - since DH needed to be accompanied to the Barbers, I have had my short hair cut there too and must say that the Barber makes a better job of it than any hairdresser. He charges £6 for a pensioner haircut and £10 for a ladies cut. He is full of banter so I insist that I am a pensioner too, albeit a lady one and will only pay for 2 pensioners' cuts. Then I give him a £4 tip and we are all happy.

I do think there have always been individuals who have been gender fluid the phrase makes me think of the opening of "Tales of the Unexpected"!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0itlB23fFY

Look on the bright side, when there is a very long queue for the ladies toilet we can simply decide we are men.

Ah, but Esspee, the gents loos always seem to smell horrid, think I'd take my chances in the ladies queue.

Oh I loved tales of the unexpected Penstemmon and was allowed to watch it at grandmas house. My mum would have had a pink fit if she knew!

My sister, cousin and I used to imitate the dancer at the beginning, who just watching it again.... I think might be Lady Diana before she married Charles.

I think I might be tempted to be a man, even although I would clearly be bereft of certain skills and vital knowledge, such as that loos need cleaning (some more than others) meals do not appear on the table by magic, the innate skill and perception women are expected to have regarding ironing, button sewing on, whether or not there are socks in the drawer, the eyes in the back of the head when little people are visiting. The ability to listen to 3 different conversations at once, where the f***ing remote is, the ability to buy stuff in a supermarket which is a) useful b) needed and c) does not cost eleventy billion pounds.
It would clearly be a sacrifice.

the younger generation are more open about a lot of things ,many of my sons friends are happy to say they are bi sexual .that wouldn't have happened a few years ago ..this is not any different If someone is gender fluid it wont make any difference to how they do their job.I dont know why older folk get their knickers in a twist about this type of stuff.Just live and let live ,it doesn't affect you unless YOU want to be gender fluid.

I do not care two hoots about a police officer being gender fluid, transgender, whatever race, colour, creed or sexual orientation they are. I do not care if they are from the Planet Zog as long as they fulfil their duties to the best of their ability without fear, favour or discrimination and *uphold law and order through the detection, prevention and investigation of crime*.

I do not wish to know about anything other than the fact they are doing their job.

paddyann I wonder if some people have a really prurient interest in others' sex lives when it is obviously different from their own? When I first(knowingly) got to know a woman who was gay I had a couple of other friends ask if I was worried she would come on to me. They never asked that about my male friends
What people choose to do in their very personal lives is their business and as long as it does not harm them or anyone else why does anyone give it any thought?

Who said "I don't care what they do as long as they don't do it in the street and frighten the horses"? Seems exactly right to me. It really doesn't matter. Except I wish there was a different name for it.
I thought it was something like masking fluid or Jeyes Fluid.

There are people who are gender fluid, or intersex, or a number of other possibilities. There are unfortunately a large number of people who stick their noses into other people's affairs and pontificate on subjects they know nothing about.

I'm the main carer for a friend who is having identity problems so I need to know something about it, and about their complex situation.

I'm glad to hear that a police force is not discriminating against someone just because they are a member of a minority group.

When I first(knowingly) got to know a woman who was gay I had a couple of other friends ask if I was worried she would come on to me

That exact same thing used to happen to my DD Penstemmon her two best friends are a (now married) lesbian couple whom my DD introduced to each other having worked with them both (in different places). My DD often got asked if her friend "tried it on" with her.

How on earth do you determine what gender you are, anyway.

I would say gender is to do with your `plumming` Widgeon3 . It really doesn`t matter what you call yourself , your biology decides what gender you are .

You have made me think widgeon3

There are quite a lot of different possibilities?

Woman who feels like a woman and is attracted to men.
Woman who feels like a woman and is attracted to other women.
Woman who feels like a man and is attracted to other women.
Man who feels like a man and is attracted to women.
Man who feels like a woman and is attracted to men.
man who feels like a man and is attracted to men
Man who wants to be a woman and is attracted to men
Women who wants to be a man and is attracted to women.

Then you have man/woman feeling like a man/woman not attracted to either sex at all.

There are probably a lot more different scenarios/genders?

Gender is the state of being male or female.Most commonly used for addressing social and cultural differences rather than biological