I had to write a paper for my gender studies class, in which we were told to interview somebody of the opposite sex and compare/contrast their experience with our own. Since I like going a little over the top for these things, and shoving it in my teacher's face that sometimes the non- or bi-gendered people are sitting right in your classroom, I interviewed a cis boy, a cis girl, my nongendered partner, and my bigendered self. I got full marks :3
In relation to unisex Spanish names, I was able to pull up this list from a baby names website. See if you can pick something out from there to use. And good luck!
Ha! That's really awesome. One of our assignments for the term is to "break a social norm," and all these straight cis boys are planning to go out dressed as goths or as flamboyant gay couples, so I'm trying to figure out the best way to do the project and emphasize my normal everyday genderBZERK self.
I had an assignment like that. I ended up not doing it because it's a bit impossible. I spend every waking minute breaking social norms. I mean, I probably could've just explained that and just talked about the times I have confused people and I probably would've gotten credit, but eh. Luckily, I was able to make it up by writing about a panel I attended at a convention that focused on misogyny in anime and fandom. It was rather fun.
As far as I can tell, most Spanish names are strictly gendered, although the rules are different, e.g. Maria is a common middle name for men, c.f. Jose Maria.
I can think of only a few androgynous names. Rosario, Odalis. Possibly Ariel and Carmen, although I think Ariel leans male and Carmen leans female.
Diminutives, however, can be more androgynous, because they might refer to both male and female first names. Eli (pronounced the Hebrew way) is sometimes also short for Elizabeth. Others: Dani, Gabi, Miki, Alex and Cris.
You could also go by initials, as long as you pronounce the letters as they would appear in the Spanish alphabet. This isn't as common in the Spanish speaking world as it is in the US, but I've seen it done.
Also, while you can pick an androgynous name, speaking in Spanish without gendering yourself can be tricky. The pronouns are usually okay. It's the adjectives that'll get you.
When you are tired, would you prefer to say that you are cansado or cansada? When people describe your hair colour, should they call you rubio or rubia?
If I were you, I would be super clear about this with your Spanish teacher so you can start learning the language with the gendered adjectives of your choice.
Thanks so much for your suggestions. Rosario seems to be a good possibility, although it appears to be more female based on my googling, but it doesn't make me cringe to hear in any case.
I'm actually pretty near fluent in Spanish, and irritatingly I've been speaking it longer than I've known I'm trans. I used feminine endings in previous classes but now I prefer masculine ones. Luckily my class is more of a history class in Spanish than a grammar class, so I probably won't have to worry about being marked down for personal adjective endings, only about being corrected while speaking. Which...blargh, my plan so far is "I'll figure it out when it happens." Most kids in the class screw up gender endings anyway, so it won't look too odd, I hope.
I've never understood this obsession I keep hearing about from time to time with forcing you to use a name from the language you're learning, unless it's Latin or Icelandic or something and the cases won't work right.
When I learned Spanish (and French, and Italian, and German), nobody tried to put me in a different name (at least not since grade six).
I sympathize! Especially since it sounds like your teacher is trying to cloak the weirdness in pedagogy. I like zevinboots' idea -- can you ask your teacher for an androgynous moment? If you play your cards right, it'll be a teachable moment and she'll get distracted.
(Pilar is another androgynous name, although it leans feminine, and so is Cruz, I think.)
Urgh, yes to the stereotypical thing - we have a German exchange program at my school as well, and when the German kids come here, they're always like, "Why are you using names that sound like they're from 1950s children's books?" (Incidentally, Wikipedia says that Kai is also Basque, which is theoretically just as legitimate, yet it's apparently not acceptable to maestra.)
:) Thanks for hopefully giving me enough courage to actually say that to her. I really don't want to give up being called my real name for 1/4 of the day after only two weeks of consistently having people use it.
Spanish class sure sounds like a hot mess. I have some ideas:
1. Insist on being called Kai, as others have suggested. 2. Tell your teacher how you identify. If as you said you prefer masculine endings, tell her that's the case. Just say "Me llamo Kai, me identifico como muchacho, asi que me deberian decir 'él' y no 'ella'." If on the other hand you adamantly identify with non-gendered endings, there is another strategy you could try, but it's less likely to be accepted. You could ask her to use the letter E for endings (i.e. Kai esta cansade), but this is not by any means a widespread practice in Spanish and if she even agrees to it, she'll probably fuck it up.
Your best bet might just be to insist on being referred to with masculine endings.
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In relation to unisex Spanish names, I was able to pull up this list from a baby names website. See if you can pick something out from there to use. And good luck!
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Thanks for the list, and the luck! :)
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I can think of only a few androgynous names. Rosario, Odalis. Possibly Ariel and Carmen, although I think Ariel leans male and Carmen leans female.
Diminutives, however, can be more androgynous, because they might refer to both male and female first names. Eli (pronounced the Hebrew way) is sometimes also short for Elizabeth. Others: Dani, Gabi, Miki, Alex and Cris.
You could also go by initials, as long as you pronounce the letters as they would appear in the Spanish alphabet. This isn't as common in the Spanish speaking world as it is in the US, but I've seen it done.
Reply
When you are tired, would you prefer to say that you are cansado or cansada? When people describe your hair colour, should they call you rubio or rubia?
If I were you, I would be super clear about this with your Spanish teacher so you can start learning the language with the gendered adjectives of your choice.
Reply
I'm actually pretty near fluent in Spanish, and irritatingly I've been speaking it longer than I've known I'm trans. I used feminine endings in previous classes but now I prefer masculine ones. Luckily my class is more of a history class in Spanish than a grammar class, so I probably won't have to worry about being marked down for personal adjective endings, only about being corrected while speaking. Which...blargh, my plan so far is "I'll figure it out when it happens." Most kids in the class screw up gender endings anyway, so it won't look too odd, I hope.
Reply
When I learned Spanish (and French, and Italian, and German), nobody tried to put me in a different name (at least not since grade six).
I sympathize! Especially since it sounds like your teacher is trying to cloak the weirdness in pedagogy. I like zevinboots' idea -- can you ask your teacher for an androgynous moment? If you play your cards right, it'll be a teachable moment and she'll get distracted.
(Pilar is another androgynous name, although it leans feminine, and so is Cruz, I think.)
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
:) Thanks for hopefully giving me enough courage to actually say that to her. I really don't want to give up being called my real name for 1/4 of the day after only two weeks of consistently having people use it.
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
Spanish class sure sounds like a hot mess. I have some ideas:
1. Insist on being called Kai, as others have suggested.
2. Tell your teacher how you identify. If as you said you prefer masculine endings, tell her that's the case. Just say "Me llamo Kai, me identifico como muchacho, asi que me deberian decir 'él' y no 'ella'." If on the other hand you adamantly identify with non-gendered endings, there is another strategy you could try, but it's less likely to be accepted. You could ask her to use the letter E for endings (i.e. Kai esta cansade), but this is not by any means a widespread practice in Spanish and if she even agrees to it, she'll probably fuck it up.
Your best bet might just be to insist on being referred to with masculine endings.
Reply
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