Jul 12, 2012 03:45
CHRISTIE ELAN-CANE
NON-GENDERED
Fighting for legal and social recognition outside the gendered societal structure
NatWest Bank
I’ve often written about the limitations placed on the life of a human being whose identity is unrecognised within the gendered societal structure and that non-gendered human beings are generally excluded without justification because a gendered role is assumed by society. And I’ve written before about the use of gender as a marketing tool within the commercial sector where non-gendered are frequently excluded due to an inappropriate and unnecessary requirement to enter a gendered role in the course of an organisation’s registration process.
I am not sure whether I’ve ever specified before that right now - in the year 2012 - I still do not have online banking facilities with my current bank account. This is because my bank - NatWest - requires a gendered role as part of its online registration process. This offensive question is a mandatory field in NatWest’s online registration process and not possible to avoid.
I had written to NatWest (informally) and requested the bank revise this discriminatory policy and received no reply. That was some months ago and I did not pursue further at the time due to heavy workload.
Earlier today I had another look and found no change - no surprise there. I then looked at the websites of NatWest’s main competitors and checked the process for personal online banking registration for HSBC, Barclays and Lloyds Banking and none appear to require their customers to enter a gendered role in order to access online banking facilities for a current account.
I have written again to NatWest - where I’ve held a personal current account for about 25 years - and I’ve demanded the organisation amend this discriminatory policy - while reminding that NatWest’s main competitors do not have this inappropriate and unnecessary requirement as part of their online registration procedure.
I will update as soon as known - either NatWest change its discriminatory policy or I change my bank.
The denial of existence is the worst act of discrimination by the gendered majority against the non-gendered
Copyright ©2012 Christie Elan-Cane
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