Facebook’s new gender options

Facebook is now giving you unlimited possibilities when it comes to your gender identity. On Thursday the social network update their site with a new custom field in profiles’ gender section. The custom field allows you to type in anything you want!

Previously Facebook provided a pre-set list that consisted of a few dozen options you could choose from. Well, now you can choose either male, female or custom. If you decide to choose custom, you can type in anything your heart desires.

The company wrote in a statement on its diversity page – “As before, you can add up to ten gender terms and also have the ability to control the audience with whom you would like to share your custom gender."

The people at Facebook recognize that some users face challenges when sharing their true gender identity with others, and this new setting gives people the ability to express themselves in an authentic way.

If these words all sound very familiar, its because the company used words very similar when they explained the “real name policy” following a high profile backlash. At the time Facebook promised to update their policy, but many users in the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community remain unsatisfied with the policy.

Many Facebook users praised the move, but many others took the opportunity to call the social network’s naming policy into question.

What do you think of the social networks new gender options?

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Written By: Christine Romans
CopyWriter at The Computer Guyz Cape Town