#he's a nonbinary icon and you can't tell me otherwise

[magicalmikuri]

Nonbinary flag color picked from Secret Squirrel.

[rjalker]

just got this PM on iNaturalist:

I am deliriously crazy about your profile. You have made my day. As mother of a non-binary adult, I've read lots of people's stories but I can't remember every reading anything more eloquent. I can't wait to tell them about your participation in iNaturalist. I am also a vertebrate biologist with broad interests in biology.

Here's the part of my iNaturalist profile they're referring to:

And here's a link:

https://www.inaturalist.org/people/nonbinary-naturalist

here's the quote lol

Pronouns are it/its, I am autistic, aroace, and nonbinary :)

-What does it mean that my pronouns are it/its?

It means that when reffering to me, you should use "it" in place of "she" or "he", and "its" in place of "hers" or "his".

Here's an example:

"That's nonbinary-naturalist, it's the top identifier for small-flower pawpaws! It lives in Savannah, and is always taking pictures of birds and plants when it goes on walks or rides its bike!"

-What does nonbinary mean?

Nonbinary means not-binary. Binary means two, and in this case, the binary refers to the "gender binary" of "male/man" and "female/woman".

Someone who is nonbinary is transgender, but instead of "going from" one binary gender to the other (male to female, or female to male), they are instead a gender that isn't just male or female.

Nonbinary people can be no gender (sometimes called agender), both male and female, male or female and something else, constantly moving between genders, and anything and anywhere in between.

Anyone can be nonbinary, yes, even you reading this! There's no age limit for questioning your gender. If you don't feel that "man" or "woman" suit you, you can be nonbinary :)

I am nonbinary, and I am also aroace, otherwise known as aromantic and asexual.

-What do these words mean?

Asexual or ace = someone who doesn't experience sexual attraction, or only experiences it in specific circumstances, or very rarely. (This isn't the same thing as being celibate, which is when people /choose/ not to pursue sexual relationships, usually for religious reasons.)

Aromantic = someone who doesn't experience romantic attraction, or only experiences it in specific circumstances, or very rarely.

Aroace means you're both asexual and aromantic in some way, and for me, it means I never experience sexual or romantic attraction, nor do I want a relationship of any kind.

My orientation affects my gender identity, since I am not attracted to anyone and don't want anyone to be attracted to me.

So I like to describe my gender as being like a nonhumanoid alien who is visiting Earth for the first time, who is confused and alarmed by humans flirting with it.

My icon is a flower with a wasp on it in the colors of the aroace flag (orange, yellow, white, light blue, navy blue), and the flower petals in the colors of the xiqyne flag, which is the name I gave the way I describe my gender.

This is known as a "xenogender", or a gender that is described using metaphors or comparisons, rather than just "I'm male" or "I'm female". The xiqyne flag colors are dark magenta, magenta, sky blue, ice blue, pale green, and pale yellow. Xenogenders can be about just the way you describe your gender, or, like mine, they can combine your orientation with your gender to show a better picture of your experiences.

If you haven't heard of iNaturalist before, it's a website (and mobile app, but the site works much better than the app since they don't have a lot of funding) where anyone--yes, including you, person who only has the camera on their phone!!--can post pictures or sound recordings of any plants, animals, or mushrooms they find!

The "observations" as they are called help not only the people in your community learn what species are nearby, the site is used for research by scientists all over the planet to track species and their behavior!

Just the other day someone in south africa helped me identify a flower that's native to north america, but invasive where they live!

You can upload pictures at any time, as long as you now approximately when and where they were taken. So if you've got pictures from decades ago, but you know when and where they were taken, you can still upload them, and they'll help keep track of where the species were years ago!

It's all completely free, and super fun if you want to learn about what species are in your local ecosystem, or if you just enjoy taking pictures :)