00:00:00
AC in a gender neutral award and then
00:00:02
the police force and a primary school in
00:00:04
North London decided to also Embrace
00:00:06
gender neutral uniforms so after the
00:00:09
over the past week Good Morning Britain
00:00:11
has been inundated about questions about
00:00:14
those who classify themselves as neither
00:00:16
male nor female people like Fox and Owl
00:00:21
who join us this morning uh is something
00:00:24
which as you know has got peers very
00:00:26
exercised and it is something that
00:00:29
frankly others us find quite confusing
00:00:32
so let's have a look back on our gender
00:00:34
debate so far gender neutral award shows
00:00:38
that's what the world has come to you
00:00:40
can be gender neutral you can be
00:00:42
polygender you can be a TWP person
00:00:46
little person arrived did you have a boy
00:00:47
or girl don't be so offensive I had a
00:00:50
person the queen can't be called the
00:00:52
queen anymore no she left to be called
00:00:55
can't wait for the Oscars can you best
00:00:57
person in a leading role can't we just
00:01:00
have male and female police officers
00:01:03
anymore why should the police be
00:01:05
pandering to a tiny tiny proportion of
00:01:09
the country who decide they don't want
00:01:11
to be called man or woman my grandmother
00:01:13
say little boys of your age should be
00:01:15
kept in a cage instead of a tool to a
00:01:17
hole in the wall she had it right I
00:01:19
might wear a skirt to work tomorrow as
00:01:22
part of my new gender neutral non-binary
00:01:25
uh identity be a woman disappointingly
00:01:28
Pier didn't wear a skirt to well no cuz
00:01:30
I realized it wouldn't be gender neutral
00:01:31
I would obviously be leaning towards
00:01:33
being female and we can't have that in
00:01:35
the modern world so uh Fox Fisher and Al
00:01:38
you don't have a surname Al uh I do it's
00:01:41
yter an Icelandic let's keep it Al yeah
00:01:44
um you're both
00:01:45
non-binary yes neither male nor female
00:01:49
yes I know I'm shading on eggshells here
00:01:51
so let's first of all welcome I
00:01:53
appreciate thank you for coming in
00:01:54
because frankly this is as our viewers
00:01:57
will know this is an an issue exercise
00:02:00
Pier uh with with great sort of vigor
00:02:02
and passion it is also something that
00:02:05
many of us feel really confused about we
00:02:07
want to be sensitive about it it it is
00:02:10
confusing Fox I can't even say can I
00:02:15
that you were born a certain gender
00:02:17
because you disagree with the idea that
00:02:19
you were born either male or well I say
00:02:21
I say you were born what were you born
00:02:23
can I answer PS absolutely so I was
00:02:25
assigned female at Birth and it's
00:02:27
perfectly okay to say that what does
00:02:29
that mean assign female so it means that
00:02:31
when I popped out and my sister's having
00:02:32
a c-section today actually so we're
00:02:34
going
00:02:35
to is she having has it been assigned
00:02:37
yet well that's the first thing people
00:02:38
ask isn't it are you a boy or are you a
00:02:40
girl and this an opportunity my book
00:02:42
comes out tomorrow are you boy much are
00:02:44
you a boy or girl I'm very much boy um
00:02:46
but let's get back to you fox so you
00:02:48
were born so I was a son female at Birth
00:02:50
so you born a girl I never felt truly
00:02:52
comfortable with my own body and so I
00:02:55
really struggled throughout my my
00:02:56
teenage years my the wrong puberty as I
00:02:58
was going to be that I felt more more
00:02:59
disconnected with myself I was really
00:03:02
confused with uh you know whether I fit
00:03:04
into this world and I took steps
00:03:07
eventually to start to transition but as
00:03:09
I did that I realized that I was going
00:03:11
from one set of expectations to another
00:03:13
set of expectations as well because
00:03:15
there extreme expectations for men and
00:03:17
women in this world and I thought it's
00:03:20
all about authenticity have you had have
00:03:22
you had a full transgender operation or
00:03:24
what have you had well it's not really
00:03:26
about that you know it's about gender
00:03:28
identity versus gender expression my
00:03:30
gender identity is nonbinary my gender
00:03:32
expression is more masculine so I hope
00:03:34
that clears it up it doesn't clear up at
00:03:36
all for me so I might be the stupid one
00:03:38
here what what are you now what what do
00:03:40
you call yourself what am I so I Define
00:03:42
as non-binary what does that mean that
00:03:44
means that I identify as neither male or
00:03:48
female fully and these identities are
00:03:51
recognized in other countries like New
00:03:52
Zealand Australia Malta and other places
00:03:55
what's on your passport at the moment on
00:03:56
my passport it says mail actually so
00:03:59
because you the transgender operation
00:04:01
well you don't actually don't need to
00:04:02
have a trans operation to have mail on
00:04:04
your passport you can be recognized as
00:04:06
that either way I didn't know that oh
00:04:08
you had uh what some people might
00:04:10
consider a complete opposite experience
00:04:13
so when you were born yeah I was
00:04:15
assigned M at Birth uh who assigned you
00:04:18
uh the doctor when I was born basically
00:04:20
what about your
00:04:21
parents you know every when you are born
00:04:23
people perceive you as male or female
00:04:25
based on your genitals but it's not it's
00:04:28
not a completely irrational thing to do
00:04:30
not at all no because
00:04:31
99.999% of the entire planet is quite
00:04:34
happy to be called boy or girl yeah of
00:04:36
course you accept that
00:04:38
yeah did your parents wait for the
00:04:40
doctor to assign you or did they say oh
00:04:42
we got a it's a system that's in our
00:04:44
society that has been made up did they
00:04:46
say we've got a little boy or did they
00:04:47
wait for the doctor to say your
00:04:49
assignation is your child is well I
00:04:52
don't recall that moment myself I can't
00:04:54
really say what happened in that moment
00:04:56
but you know they say this is a boy or
00:04:58
girl you thought you were also and by
00:05:00
the I completely respect people who feel
00:05:02
like they have been born in the wrong
00:05:05
sex I get that I completely support all
00:05:07
transgender rights I think that it's a
00:05:09
huge deal to go through what you guys go
00:05:12
through and I totally respect it and
00:05:13
would want Total equality for you so
00:05:15
that's just put that on the table it's
00:05:17
an important clarification my confusion
00:05:20
comes with the gender neutrality aspect
00:05:22
of this because to me you were born a
00:05:25
boy and I know you don't like that term
00:05:27
but you were born a boy and you've
00:05:29
become a girl now a woman but you
00:05:32
dispute that you don't think you are a
00:05:33
woman no because I think there's very
00:05:35
strong ideas about what it is to be a
00:05:37
man and a woman in our society and those
00:05:39
ideas are entirely socially constructed
00:05:41
the thing we expect of women and men to
00:05:43
do and as a trans person who's been
00:05:46
perceived as man through most part of my
00:05:48
life who transitioned I noticed how
00:05:51
people perceive you differently in these
00:05:53
expectations we we can't call you he or
00:05:55
she just to clarify one thing right you
00:05:56
can call us they that would be fine
00:05:58
singular plural but when you say they I
00:06:00
mean they is a plural word for more than
00:06:02
one person a sing yeah you can actually
00:06:04
use it as a singular pronoun nobody does
00:06:06
do they I mean my point course you do if
00:06:08
you don't know someone's uh gender you
00:06:10
would say well where are they or I hope
00:06:12
they win the competition or something
00:06:13
like that but I can't say like she said
00:06:15
something you have to say they said
00:06:16
something you could say they or you
00:06:17
could say our so they said something to
00:06:19
they to them to them sorry they said
00:06:22
something to them yeah does that mean
00:06:24
rather than she she said something to
00:06:28
him him is that because you feel like
00:06:29
you're two genders at the same time no
00:06:33
it feels because I sort of denounce the
00:06:35
idea of being a man or a woman so a
00:06:37
non-binary is an identity on its own
00:06:39
outside of this binary of but there are
00:06:41
71 different current Facebook ways of
00:06:43
identifying your gender including two
00:06:46
spirit person gender fluid and all sorts
00:06:48
of other stuff do you categorize
00:06:50
yourselves as any one of the 71 well
00:06:52
it's wonderful to have all those
00:06:53
different identifications is it or is it
00:06:55
just it mudes the waters a little bit I
00:06:58
me respect what people want to be called
00:07:00
but do have help why do I have
00:07:04
to I turn around right now and I said to
00:07:07
you I am a black woman you have said
00:07:10
that you said what you said you're black
00:07:11
non binary haven't you well I made a
00:07:12
joke yesterday but I'm being actually
00:07:13
partly serious if I just decided to
00:07:16
identify myself as a completely
00:07:18
different skin color to the one that I
00:07:20
am that would clearly be ridiculous
00:07:22
right but if I did would you respect my
00:07:25
right to identify myself how I choose
00:07:27
we're not here to talk about race we're
00:07:28
here to talk about asking you about race
00:07:31
I'm taking your logic to its logical
00:07:33
conclusion it doesn't really change
00:07:34
anything about my life about how person
00:07:37
you can identify in any way that you
00:07:40
want change how we Iden I'm just asking
00:07:42
a simple question if I just now identify
00:07:45
as a black woman would you both
00:07:47
absolutely think that's fine but you
00:07:49
don't this isn't hypothetical thing and
00:07:51
you don't I just you're just doing it
00:07:53
for the sake of the AR I'm doing it as a
00:07:54
hypothetical to get your response to a
00:07:56
logical extension to the argument that
00:07:58
you can basically if Y in any way you
00:08:00
you can you can the problem is that this
00:08:02
is a hypothetical intellectual
00:08:04
discussion for you
00:08:05
but yours is hyp you want the right well
00:08:09
okay so basically you want the rights to
00:08:11
identify how you choose and we all have
00:08:13
to and we all have to respect that and
00:08:15
now have non-binary Awards and so on but
00:08:17
you do not want to afford me the same
00:08:19
rights to give myself an identity of my
00:08:22
choice and that's my point about this
00:08:23
there seems to be a hypocrisy and
00:08:25
inconsistency there's no hypocrisy if
00:08:27
you truly want to identify in that way
00:08:29
you can but I know that you don't but
00:08:31
would you respect my right to call
00:08:33
myself I'm serious can I call myself a
00:08:37
black woman can I identify as that can I
00:08:39
put it you know can I say I'm now a
00:08:41
black woman or do you or it's a serious
00:08:44
race is race different to gender I would
00:08:46
say it's a completely different
00:08:47
discussion animal that of course you
00:08:49
would it's your argument to say that but
00:08:51
it is right it's all about self identity
00:08:53
and my issue with this is you've now got
00:08:55
I told the story A friend of mine has a
00:08:57
girl at school and eight girls in her
00:08:59
year are now non-binary right so schools
00:09:02
are now running Riot with kids who
00:09:04
running Riot yes they are running Riot
00:09:06
when there's eight kids in one year in
00:09:07
one school in this country it means it's
00:09:09
now like a contagion of young kids who
00:09:12
no longer want to be classified it's not
00:09:14
a disease well a contagion can be like
00:09:16
something that spirals around well
00:09:18
that's what they said about
00:09:19
homosexuality 20 years ago it's
00:09:20
completely different to homosexuality
00:09:22
then why is race and gender suddenly
00:09:24
because you you you want to be
00:09:25
non-gender nonb no not non-gender what's
00:09:29
difference well you keep talking about
00:09:31
gender neutrality and it's not like I go
00:09:33
around telling people that I'm gender
00:09:34
neutral there's there's no lack of of
00:09:36
anything I just Define as non-binary so
00:09:38
I I refuse to to be to identify myself
00:09:43
as male or female man or a woman wonder
00:09:45
if we can because it's obviously you
00:09:47
know it's it's been a big subject on our
00:09:49
program gets a huge response whenever we
00:09:51
talk about it I know this interview will
00:09:52
generate a lot of comments and we admire
00:09:55
you coming on to debate this no we do I
00:09:56
do it you know and it is really
00:09:58
important debate to have I just wonder
00:10:00
how many people it affects I just think
00:10:02
that non-binary issues aren't going to
00:10:04
go away so it's either you get on board
00:10:06
or you know we end guess with how many
00:10:08
how many people are we in terms of
00:10:10
thetion population thing you know a lot
00:10:12
of people you know what does non-binary
00:10:14
look like that's we're here to kind of
00:10:16
show you that actually gender expression
00:10:17
and gender identity are two different
00:10:19
things and nonbing people aren't just
00:10:21
wearing paper bags let me give you
00:10:22
another hypothetical yesterday we
00:10:24
interviewed a guy from a police force in
00:10:26
Northampton they've gone gender neutral
00:10:27
made a point of saying that um I said to
00:10:30
them okay what about if criminals decide
00:10:31
to be gender neutral and so when they're
00:10:35
convicted they do not want to be put in
00:10:37
a male or female prison do we now have
00:10:40
to build prisons for non-binary
00:10:42
criminals it's a very interesting
00:10:44
question what's the answer I don't know
00:10:45
if I have the answer to that you would
00:10:47
presumably encourage them to have
00:10:50
because they can't be put in a male or
00:10:51
female prism right well if I went to
00:10:53
prison or I went to prison what would
00:10:54
happen well where would you where would
00:10:55
you be put we would be I would be put in
00:10:57
a female prison because of my gender
00:10:59
marker in my passport right but would
00:11:01
you be happy about that more than going
00:11:03
to a m prison for sure right so actually
00:11:06
you don't mind being gender fine if it's
00:11:10
convenient we exist in a very binary
00:11:12
world you know so we have to if it was
00:11:14
up to us obviously you see the point the
00:11:16
worry I have about this and it's more
00:11:17
based on confusion to be honest with you
00:11:20
uh and just trying to get my head round
00:11:21
I'm happy to be persuaded if it makes
00:11:23
logical sense my problem with everyone
00:11:25
just being free to identify themselves
00:11:27
in any way they choose is where does
00:11:29
that end where do they where are any
00:11:32
boundaries for kids for instance at
00:11:34
school if you can basically come in and
00:11:35
say I'm not a boy or girl anymore what
00:11:38
else can you say you're not you know if
00:11:39
I identify now as anything is it is is
00:11:43
anything fine I mean can I be anything I
00:11:45
want can I be an elephant can I
00:11:46
literally literally say I'm now an
00:11:48
elephant and do I get afforded elephant
00:11:51
rights can I get a London Zoo I know you
00:11:54
think it sounds silly but I'm taking
00:11:55
your AR can I go to London Zoo and
00:11:57
demand to be put in an elant
00:12:00
I decided I'm an elepant the real
00:12:01
question should be why is it that 48% of
00:12:05
trans youth are attempting suicide and I
00:12:07
think we need to look into that how many
00:12:09
a real thing okay how many trans youths
00:12:12
in Britain last year committed suicide I
00:12:14
can't tell you that it's like I can find
00:12:16
out for you I heard it's like two or
00:12:17
three people which two or three people
00:12:19
it's incredibly that's what I heard
00:12:20
right is that true or not well I'd say
00:12:22
that that's definitely not true well
00:12:23
that's just a statistic I read I don't
00:12:24
know if that's true or not my point
00:12:25
about it is this however terrible for
00:12:28
those people and anyone who commits
00:12:29
suicide it's awful right we all accept
00:12:32
that but the idea that the entire gender
00:12:36
of the planet has to be changed because
00:12:39
a very tiny percentage of people have
00:12:41
decid it's not this isn't just a modern
00:12:43
phenomena as well it's important to look
00:12:45
at other cultures cultures sorry it's
00:12:48
not about erasing gender nobody's saying
00:12:50
that people cannot be men or women we're
00:12:52
saying that people can also be
00:12:53
non-binary and
00:12:55
gender what about the names Fox and Al
00:12:59
well okay so for me Fox was my drag King
00:13:01
name so before I transitioned I would
00:13:03
dress up and and perform okay and that
00:13:06
was a way to to kind of real it was it
00:13:08
was about experimenting with myself oh
00:13:09
it's a translation as my Icelandic name
00:13:11
which is ugla and it means but you know
00:13:13
what I admire you for coming in I I
00:13:16
think it is really important that these
00:13:18
discussions it's an ongoing conversation
00:13:19
I think absolutely is I know it's a real
00:13:22
fact it's a real thing it's happening
00:13:24
now all over Britain schools are very
00:13:27
very fast moving with a lot of kids now
00:13:29
wanting to be non-binary conc please
00:13:32
stop Fe
00:13:33
monging but my problem is that actually
00:13:36
it's a massive new fad and we're going
00:13:38
to end up with half kid realize it's not
00:13:40
a fad Pier no I think for a lot of
00:13:42
people it isn't you're not telling me
00:13:43
that eight kids in one year at one girl
00:13:45
sto this country suddenly woke up and
00:13:47
said we feel nonbinary they heard you
00:13:50
guys talking about being nonbinary I
00:13:51
think it's cool it's not about being
00:13:53
cool it's about an inner sense of self
00:13:55
and an identity that you girls in one
00:13:58
year at a girl school
00:14:00
one month all suddenly decided we want
00:14:02
we want to be nonbinary whatever it is
00:14:04
why can't they what does it change do
00:14:06
change a discuss about how does it
00:14:08
affect your life and what they do you do
00:14:10
you abide by the laws of the
00:14:13
land J it what does that mean I do you
00:14:15
abide by do you recognize there are laws
00:14:17
and boundaries in society where are you
00:14:20
going with this period know you know
00:14:21
where I'm going with this go on isn't
00:14:24
isn't gender a societal thing that we
00:14:26
should just respect and acknowledge that
00:14:28
that's the way it is isn't everything
00:14:30
subject to change and what what maybe
00:14:32
you might be right and that's exactly
00:14:33
what we're trying to say you need to
00:14:35
respect people's gender and their
00:14:36
identity we're going to have to hugely
00:14:38
change this program unless I bring this
00:14:39
to an end but Fox Andel thank you very
00:14:41
much to it is good to see you apprting
00:14:45
read the book it's for threeyear olds
00:14:46
and plus so it should be good for you P
00:14:48
are you a boy or are you a girl very
00:14:51
binary title but uh yeah yeah it's it's
00:14:53
an introduction you have a lot of stuff
00:14:55
on YouTube I have to leave this
00:14:56
discussion to continue because Andy's
00:14:58
here with a competition
00:15:02
good morning