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thatother1dude from Land of the Ill, Annoyin' Since: Jan, 2001
#44501: Oct 24th 2016 at 6:17:56 PM

it's better than the Romance languages where every word has to gender itself.
Not just them, but also Russian and German. It's quite unusual that modern English doesn't do that, especially when it used to be like that a long time ago.

Us going back a singular "they" would not be that dramatic of a shift.
And while we're at it, can we get back separate words for second-person singular and plural? I know I can specify plural with "you all" (or "y'all" if I'm feeling especially hoosier), but just "you" remains ambiguous.

I've made the comparison before in a discussion that sexuality is less of a switch (straight/gay) and more of a slider (Straight ————Bi———— Gay)
The problem with that analogy is that it doesn't account for people with negligible sexual attraction to anyone.

I'd say quantified human sexuality, regarding male/female attraction, is a two-dimensional vector, contained to a single quadrant. Normalizing that vector gives you a unit vector quantifying sexual orientation. Asexuality is the null vector.

(I came up with this analogy months ago and don't care how few people understand it.)

Is non-binary basically that, but with gender?
Not quite. Gender isn't aptly described by magnitude or direction, rather it's a(n arbitrarily high) number of discrete, subjective categorizations. The oldest meaning of the word just means "class/kind/type".

If someone calls themselves "non-binary" they just mean "I don't see myself as male or female." They can think of themselves as having a gender between male and female, but can just as well identify as one completely unlike male or female—or none at all. This gender may have no name, but its significance is essentially internal so it doesn't really need one.

The name refers to being outside "the gender binary/dichotomy": the idea that all people are male or female.

neopronouns like zhe or xe are more affirmatively "this person is nonbinary"
Except when they're used for someone of unknown gender, even when you expect it to be male or female.

edited 24th Oct '16 6:26:13 PM by thatother1dude

PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#44502: Oct 24th 2016 at 6:25:02 PM

Also zhe and xe sound stupid and reek of Xtreme Kool Letterz.

edited 24th Oct '16 6:25:56 PM by PushoverMediaCritic

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#44503: Oct 24th 2016 at 6:27:48 PM

I'd say quantified human sexuality regarding male/female attraction is a two-dimensional vector, contained to a single quadrant. Normalizing that vector gives you a unit vector quantifying sexual orientation. Asexuality is the null vector.

Yep, although I'd add a second perpendicular biaxial plane indicating sexual and romantic attraction, where asexuality indicates a lack of sexual desire, rather than the orientation of said interest (perhaps it may be useful to coin a new word to distinguish the two, even if asexual would accurately describe someone who has a <0,0,0,0> value vector ). Such a scale can't account for more narrow terms like being "demisexual" or "autochorissosexual", but I would personally argue that it may be more beneficial to recognize those kinds of classifications as individual personality-based experiences that multiple people have in common than be a bona fide sexuality, in the same way "I prefer tall twinks" or "I prefer butch women with short hair" is not a distinct sexual orientation of gay, if that made sense.

[up]I don't know about "zhe", but I've been told the "x" in "xe" is essentially supposed to be a metasyntactic variable, the same way "Mx" can stand for "Mr" or "Ms" with binary-gendered people. It's not even supposed to be pronounced sometimes.

edited 24th Oct '16 6:34:36 PM by AlleyOop

thatother1dude from Land of the Ill, Annoyin' Since: Jan, 2001
#44504: Oct 24th 2016 at 6:56:01 PM

perhaps it may be useful to coin a new word to distinguish the two, even if asexual would accurately describe someone who has a <0,0,0,0> value vector
That's kind of why I said asexuality was the null vector. A vector with zero magnitude can be said to have any direction or none at all. It's practical a philosophical question because the only literal answer is "Error: Division by 0".

edited 24th Oct '16 6:56:29 PM by thatother1dude

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#44505: Oct 24th 2016 at 7:27:36 PM

It was meant more in the sense that it might be useful to split the currently semantically ambiguous term of asexuality into two more precise subdivisions, or to have asexuality refer to one of them while creating an original term for the other.

SalFishFin Since: Jan, 2001
#44506: Oct 24th 2016 at 8:38:28 PM

As a person who is currently floating about somewhere on the asexual continuum (please send me coordinates if you happen to find me), I would like to add, from personal experience, that a lack of desire isn't the, er... let's call it an "issue," even though it's anything but. The issue is a lack of direction. As in, a compass with no needle. As in me staring down at my junk going "okay, what do you want?" and not getting an answer.

edited 24th Oct '16 8:39:18 PM by SalFishFin

randomness4 Ghost '11 from The Land of Inconvenience Since: Sep, 2011
Ghost '11
#44507: Oct 24th 2016 at 8:47:59 PM

That's a fantastic example...

Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#44508: Oct 24th 2016 at 9:03:21 PM

I don't know about "zhe", but I've been told the "x" in "xe" is essentially supposed to be a metasyntactic variable, the same way "Mx" can stand for "Mr" or "Ms" with binary-gendered people. It's not even supposed to be pronounced sometimes.

Pretty much, this yes.

Personally I just use "they" in these types of situations because it's a catch-all and most people i've run into have no problems with it or sometimes even specifically request it.

Part of the problem is that I feel the neopronouns will probably fail to catch on in the long run in the mainstream, since they only really work well as written word and not so well when spoken, as you said.

That's sort of the problem the latin-american social justice community is running into right now by attempting to push "latinx" as a substitute to be inclusive to nonbinary latin-american people. It's catching on in social justice circles, and I find myself using it more and more, but it's just not something I ever see catching on with non US latin-americans at all, because our languages are gendered and we don't really have a conception of those languages as non-gendered. Not to mention the liability of it being seen as an attempt from US people to dictate the social justice conversations in other countries with a completely different history and social reality, which is a sentiment I've seen expressed often before.

-

Anyways I'm sure you all know this already but I just found out SU is set to come back sometime in November. Glad we won't be waiting long.

thatother1dude from Land of the Ill, Annoyin' Since: Jan, 2001
#44509: Oct 24th 2016 at 9:23:16 PM

"Gem Harvest" premiering in November apparently comes from this post on the CN Facebook. Frankly that's so remote a source that I wouldn't rely on it, but it's long enough anyway.

Of course, every Cartoon Network show goes on hiatus for most of December, so the next run of episodes might not be so long.

darkabomination Since: Mar, 2012
#44510: Oct 25th 2016 at 12:21:01 PM

Still, I'm pretty hype for another half hour special. It should be good. More Peridot and Lapis, especially together is always a good thing. They're good apart, but together make an excellent Boke and Tsukkomi Routine.

CodeXYZ Ice Ice Baby from Under the Stars Since: Mar, 2015 Relationship Status: [TOP SECRET]
Ice Ice Baby
#44511: Oct 26th 2016 at 5:04:21 PM

I love how Steven doesn't give carving a pumpkin in front of his pumpkin creation or eating the watermelon guy who saved him a second thought [lol]. It's kinda dark but food is food.

Speaking of dark has this been posted already?

I like this cover

"Procrastinate now, don’t put it off." Ellen De Generes
randomness4 Ghost '11 from The Land of Inconvenience Since: Sep, 2011
Ghost '11
#44512: Oct 26th 2016 at 6:03:11 PM

Oooh, Realistic proportions.

Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.
PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#44513: Oct 26th 2016 at 6:27:49 PM

Steven Edgyverse.

SonOfSharknado Love is Love is Love Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
Love is Love is Love
#44514: Oct 26th 2016 at 7:54:15 PM

That looks like fucking gobshite.

My various fanfics.
Ninjaxenomorph The best and the worst. from Texas, Texas, Texas Since: Jun, 2009 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
The best and the worst.
#44515: Oct 26th 2016 at 8:18:33 PM

The inverted pentagram Sigil Spam felt gratuitous until I realized it was standing in for the Crystal Gem star. Which is everywhere.

Me and my friend's collaborative webcomic: Forged Men
SmartGirl333 New account is voidify Since: Nov, 2014
New account is voidify
#44516: Oct 27th 2016 at 2:42:05 AM

it's like the underfell of su

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#44517: Oct 27th 2016 at 2:44:10 AM

Too SFW for that. It's pretty well drawn, shame so many of the designs are bad because the other half are actually kinda cool.

darkabomination Since: Mar, 2012
#44518: Oct 27th 2016 at 8:57:53 AM

That, and the point of Underfell is the inherent combat system still works and you can pacify all the evil opponents.

HextarVigar That guy from The Big House Since: Feb, 2015
That guy
#44519: Oct 27th 2016 at 11:09:52 AM

People who post annotations that obnoxiously large need to have their thumbs broken

I know they can be turned off, but still.

Your momma's so dumb she thinks oral sex means talking dirty.
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#44520: Oct 27th 2016 at 11:20:17 AM

Raven what are YOU doing there?

edited 27th Oct '16 12:47:17 PM by Ultimatum

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
RhymeBeat True colors from Eastern Standard Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: In Lesbians with you
darkabomination Since: Mar, 2012
#44522: Oct 27th 2016 at 6:35:11 PM

Suspiciously Rob Sugar's upload was taken down fairly quickly, but fans provide.

Yinyang107 from the True North (Decatroper) Relationship Status: Tongue-tied
thatother1dude from Land of the Ill, Annoyin' Since: Jan, 2001
#44524: Oct 28th 2016 at 5:02:32 AM

Rebecca and Steven Sugar's father.

He was probably given the video a while ago, and took it down either because he thought it was still too early (I don't think it is, though) or for copyright reasons.

higurashimerlin Since: Aug, 2012
#44525: Oct 28th 2016 at 5:54:54 AM

I don't know if any mention this already, but Mark is watching Steven Universe now.

When life gives you lemons, burn life's house down with the lemons.

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