Gender fluidity: How it made its mark in 2015

Kids develop a sense of gender identity by age two or three, says Diane Ehrensaft, author of Gender Born, Gender Made.

As a society, we are becoming more accustomed to the idea of gender as a spectrum rather than a binary. The changes are beginning to become more pronounced.

Let’s observe some ways in which this new spectrum has make an influence in 2015 and in the future:

Stores moving to suit gender neutrality: We might remember an influential day last August when Target made the shift to a more gender neutral toy section.

Months later, Target continued to debut new toys void of gender, the most recent: The Pillow Fort, a gender neutral decor item for children.

Although Target may be the most notable for pioneering this change, the Disney store has also made strides by creating costumes for “kids” rather than segregating “boys” costumes and “girls” costumes.

The word of the year: 2015’s word of the year, they, signifies a gender neutral singular pronoun for a known person.

Anne Curzan writes, it is also known as “a non-binary identifier.”

Although attendees at the meeting argued that “they” has been in existence as a singular pronoun for hundreds of years, they could not ignore its revitalization.

The plural pronoun they was also considered. Dr. Thomas Hamill’s History of the English Language class has been studing the useage of “they.”

Gender and television – More stars and shows are beginning to highlight this aspect of our society.

Orange is the New Black actress Ruby Rose, who plays Stella Carlin in Season 3, has been receiving notice for her explanation and support of gender neutral individuals.

In an interview with Elle, she said “The thing to be considered is that “only you know who you were born to be,” and “you need to be free to be that person.”

Gender Fluidity is becoming more and more prevelent as society becomes more accostomed and exposed with this change in how gender is viewed.