User:StephanieSkora/sandbox

Proposed edits to the Media Portrayal of LGBT People page already in existence.

Added text:

Media Representations of Non-Binary Gendered Individuals
Recognition of non-binary gender in media is very rare, despite many social media sites allow users to self-identify as non-binary. For example, the new gender options rolled out by Facebook during early 2014 include many different options for non-binary gendered individuals. However, allowing for self-identification does not necessarily equate to representation., as there are very few representations of individuals with non-binary gender in the media today. In fact, a large deal of non-binary gender media representation happens in communities made by and for people with non-binary gender, and contain largely self-made content, often about the content maker.

The only instance of a non-binary identified person that has become significant in the mainstream media is the video Break Free, created by Ruby Rose. As of November 20th, 2014, the video had garnered 1,833,889 views. Additionally, there was a Buzzfeed article written about the video, which received widespread media attention. The original Facebook post on Ruby Rose's official Facebook page has received over 135,000 likes, and 182,000 shares as of November 2014.

The other major instance of a character with non-binary gender being portrayed in mainstream media is the subject of some debate. The character BMO from the popular Cartoon Network television show, Adventure Time, has no set gender in the course of the show, and appears to change gender in multiple different episodes. This has led to some speculation that the character is genderqueer, or genderless.

There have also been made to create non-binary gendered children's books, made, as well, albeit very few. The most notable of these is the Polkadot Series, created by author, social worker, teacher, and activist Talcott Broadhead. The Polkadot Series features a non-binary gendered child as the main character and focus of the stories.

A possible reason for there being very little representation of non-binary gendered individuals in the media is a lack of repetition. According to Judith Butler's conceptualization of gender as performative, and her theory of gender performativity, we can understand that repeated instances of a concept, in this case, non-binary gender in the media, attribute legibility and coherence to that concept. Since there is a lack of repetition or multiple productions of representation of non-binary gender in the media, that absence will continue until such a time when there are more repeated representations of non-binary gender in the media.

However, there are additional representations of non-binary gendered individuals coming to various media outlets. One promising example of non-binary individuals being included in media is the Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (or MMORPG) called Pumpkin Online. Pumpkin Online is advertised as a "farming/dating sim MMORPG." While still in Alpha Development as of November 2014, the Kickstarter page made to fund this game promises non-binary gender options for players' characters, and pledges to not restrict features or clothing by a character's gender. However, the project has gained very little media attention, and, while it appears to be the only one of its kind, in terms of gender inclusivity, is still not significantly notable, and may not be until the game is finally released. While still very few representations of non-binary gendered individuals exist in media, we can be very hopeful for the future, as both transgender and non-binary gendered individuals gain visibility and advance politically, further representation in media sources may quickly follow.

Unfortunately, as there has been little attention paid to representing non-binary gendered individuals in the media, there has also been little attention focused on recognizing or addressing that absence. There have been no scholarly articles written to date specifically addressing non-binary gender, and media coverage of non-binary gender has been extremely limited.

StephanieSkora (talk) 07:55, 21 November 2014 (UTC)