Facebook announced Thursday that it will allow its users to customize their gender on their timeline. Previously, the only options available were female and male, but now there’s a custom option for users to identify as their preferred pronoun.
Currently, this is only available to users who view Facebook in U.S. English, but the site hopes to expand this internationally.
Facebook announced this in a post on the Facebook Diversity page:
When you come to Facebook to connect with the people, causes, and organizations you care about, we want you to feel comfortable being your true, authentic self. An important part of this is the expression of gender, especially when it extends beyond the definitions of just “male” or female.” So today, we’re proud to offer a new custom gender option to help you better express your own identity on Facebook.
We collaborated with our Network of Support, a group of leading LGBT advocacy organizations, to offer an extensive list of gender identities that many people use to describe themselves. Moreover, people who select a custom gender will now have the ability to choose the pronoun they’d like to be referred to publicly — male (he/his), female (she/her) or neutral (they/their).
We also have added the ability for people to control the audience with whom they want to share their custom gender. We recognize that some people face challenges sharing their true gender identity with others, and this setting gives people the ability to express themselves in an authentic way.
To change your gender to a custom option, go to your timeline and edit the basic information on the “about” section. For U.S. English users, there will be an option for custom. For further assistance, consult the Help Center guide.
Top image courtesy of the Facebook Diversity page.
Source: Inside Facebook
Facebook allows users to enter a custom gender
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