Facebook has added what, in the scheme of things, is a relatively minor technical update to the social network but its effect should make a very large section of the world very happy indeed. Of course it will also annoy its share of people but we can probably disregard their feelings on the matter. The company has announced, through a post on the Facebook Diversity page, that new gender options are now available to users.
A whole new list of possible gender identities, selectable by choosing ‘Custom’ in place of either a male or female designation, are now available on Facebook. The listings seem to cover just about every possible way that a person can identify as a specific gender, or none at all, and users have the option to select which pronoun the social network will use to refer to them as well.
Facebook also seems to realise that not everybody will be happy about the change and that not everyone will want to share their whole gender identity with their entire group. The company said that “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.”
Source: Ars Technica
