Facebook unveiled a bold new feature that put the social media giant back in the headline again: Gender Options.
The new option allows the users to identify their sexual orientation not restricted by the socially accepted gender codes. The customisable category consists of over fifty gender identifiers that include "transgender," "intersex" and "fluid."
Facebook software engineer Brielle Harrison told The Associated Press that the feature will "impact the world."
"All too often transgender people like myself and other gender nonconforming people are given this binary option, do you want to be male or female? What is your gender? And it's kind of disheartening because none of those let us tell others who we really are," Harrison said. "This really changes that, and for the first time I get to go to the site and specify to all the people I know what my gender is."
The gender customization button is only available for those who are using Facebook in US English, but plans to expand globally are slowly being arranged.
Not everyone is amused. Jeff Johnston of Colorado's Focus on the Family, an influential national religious organization openly criticized the development:
"Of course, Facebook is entitled to manage its wildly popular site as it sees fit, but here is the bottom line: It's impossible to deny the biological reality that humanity is divided into two halves - male and female," The issue analyst said. "Those petitioning for the change insist that there are an infinite number of genders, but just saying it doesn't make it so. That said, we have a great deal of compassion for those who reject their biological sex and believe they are the opposite sex."
Though lauded as controversial, the expanded Facebook gender options were not an issue for CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Director of the company's growth, Alex Schultz explained its impact in their office:
"Really, there was no debate within Facebook about the social implications at all. It was simple: Not allowing people to express something so fundamental is not really cool so we did something."
Schultz added, "hopefully, a more open and connected world will, by extension, make this a more understanding and tolerant world."
