Blog Post Week 8

 For this week I read "Between the Binary: My Gmail Won't Stop Deadnaming Me" and "What It Means to Be Intersex." "Between the Binary" is a column where the author explains what it means to be nonbinary in a society that isn't. The writer of the article is transgender and explains her struggles with technological issues. Gmail does not allow users to change the name of one's email address, which you can clearly tell would be a problem for those who identify as transgender and would like to change their name. You can of course change the display name but you cannot change the address itself and the only suggestion Gmail has to give is to create a new account altogether. At first one may not run into many problems with the creation of a new Gmail but it can become frustrating having no contacts be aware of your new address and having all of your data stored elsewhere. More frustration can arise in many areas of technology. It seems as if after going about changing your name your devices will "deadname" you, or in other words, cannot simply understand a name change. The author has not just run into the problem with Google, but with other things such as Airdrop and Spotify. The topic in "What It Means to Be Intersex" is that not all bodies are binary. When you are born your doctor assigns either male or female based on your body's biology. We have learned that gender is not something that fits into two categories and we need to recognize that neither do our bodies. The article explains that people born outside of what we think makes someone a male or what makes someone born a female is debated but it still exists. There are way more factors that go into your sex than just your biology. A study has shown that it is just as likely for a person to be born intersex as it is for them to be born a redhead. These two articles have definitely shown me new perspectives and shed light on these topics.