#beyondbinaries #5 Nthabiseng – Intersex and Genderqueer

#beyondbinaries #5 Nthabiseng. Intersex and Genderqueer. Pronouns: They/Them/Theirs.

Who are the people behind the hundreds of gender descriptor options on Facebook?

“I am an intersex and genderqueer Afrikan person. I am not female, I am not male, I am intersex. I also do not identify as a man or a woman: I am neither, I am both, I am across and beyond. The two “neat” gender binary boxes have never worked for me and never will. Intersex people have been forced into shame and invisibility for ages. I have taken a political position to not only be visible as an intersex person but to integrate my intersex status into my identity. I do not have a Disorder of Sexual Development (DSD), no! I am intersex and there is nothing shameful or disordered about me. I am genderqueer because it makes sense for me personally; it is my reality and I will not be forced into a box. It also makes sense politically because the medical violence against our bodies is often to “normalise” us and to force us into conforming to stereotypical notions of sex and eventually gender. I was born outside of the policed, forced and stereotypical notion of the sex binary and I choose to live outside of the forced, policed and stereotypical notion of the gender binary. This is not every intersex person’s story, but it is my story and it is real.” – Nthabiseng

#beyondbinaries is a photodocumentary project focusing on the people behind these identities – gender non-conforming (GNC) peeps in South Africa. GNC people are a growing community in South Africa’s trans* population. Their gender is very different to transgender as they are neither of the binary genders, or a combination of both, or a highly personalised hybrid of genders on the gender spectrum (or even better, the gender constellation), emphasising the fact that there are more than two genders and that gender is less of a stable fact and more of a very personalised, fluid and performative journey.

There are as many different queer identities and terms as there are people in this community, with genderqueer (GQ), non-binary (NB) and GNC being just a few. As the identity is constantly transformative and without a destination, the language used to describe these people is constantly in flux and metamorphosing.

I’ll be collaboratively documenting this community in celebration of the art that is self-identification, the creativity that is diversity, a literal graffiti-ing over the walls of the conventional, in a country ravaged by gender violence based on difference.

Follow the #beyondbinaries project here and at http://www.germainedelarch.co.za/beyondbinaries
#GNC #NB #GQ #gendernonconforming #nonbinary #genderqueer #queer #transmasculine #androgyne #androgyny #boi #boisofinstagram #genderbender #transgender #trans #trans* #intersex #inter #graffiti