“I have to do so much more work… to let them know I’m different” : X Gender Markers, Binary Logics, and Nonbinary Labour

Victoria Clowater

doi:10.18357/anthropologica67220252728

Authors

Victoria Clowater McMaster University https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4353-0151

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18357/anthropologica67220252728

Keywords:

nonbinary, X markers, transgender studies, anthropology of the state, Government of Ontario, complaint

Abstract

Nonbinary Ontarians may now get an X gender marker on IDs and birth certificates, and gender markers have been removed from Ontario health cards. These changes are part of a broader movement to prevent discrimination against nonbinary and transgender people in Canada. Nonetheless, those who adopt X markers still find that the gender binary structures their experiences in institutional contexts in ways that render nonbinary existence unthinkable. This paper explores the shortcomings of gender marker reform by considering how, to have their identities recognized, nonbinary people must initiate institutional change themselves. By bringing Ahmed’s (2021; 2019) work on complaint into conversation with reproductive labour, this paper discusses how nonbinary people must labour to reproduce conditions that allow for their existence as nonbinary. While gender marker reforms may help dismantle binary logics, the current implementation of gender marker expansion and removal in Ontario cannot accomplish this.

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Editor & editorial board: profiles
Academic society: Canadian Anthropology Society
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