This might be a bit harsh, but I find them both conceptually very close to sexuality more broadly. And while sexuality makes the world go round, it is also the most boring aspect of humanity to debate—and the fact that it’s not important is precisely what makes conservatives’ strange obsession with it as well as the pop rise of genderisms the last decade in contrast, such a problem. They’re ultimately a waste of time in a world with more dire problems.

Personal preferences simply are not consequential if they don’t belong to you. And I wish everyone would move past it so things of paramount importance can have more energy spent on them.

Having said that…

I think the fact that hormone therapy and hormonal prescriptions for transitioning, both work so effectively, prove that the chemical origin of our emotional tendencies upon this “spectrum” as it were, are completely determinant of our preferences therein.

It is a fact that everyone can find within themselves pleasure in the indulgence of their own masculine or feminine qualities and experiences. Accepting that fact is more meta and a subject of one’s upbringing or lack thereof impacting the internal monologue about it.

When you love yourself, it’s all fun. :)

I find the terms themselves useful to describe aspects that are often linked to but not dependent on gender. For example, I like weight lifting, which is often considered to be a masculine activity. Part of my working through internalised misogyny as an adult has been acknowledging the various ways that I do and don’t fit into what a “typical woman” is or “should be”.

Another example is how when I was a kid, I was super into pink stuff. Then as a teenager, I had a deep “not like other girls” phase, but now I’m well into adulthood, I’ve chilled the hell out and can enjoy pink more. I got a fancy stationary set last month and it was pink. That’s just one part of a wider trend of how as I mature, I feel more free to embrace what I understand to be femininity.