<img style="float: left;" src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2023/mar/Rahul-op_e.jpg" alt="Rahul Da Cunha" width="200" height="69" />Natasha aka Nats, my driven Gen Z neighbour, came over looking quite radical... not&nbsp;
Che Guevera-esque, just in her manner and countenance.
&ldquo;What&rsquo;s up Natasha&hellip; why so serious?&rdquo; I asked a trifle cautious.
Natasha resembled the Sandman, Spiderman&rsquo;s enemy as she swirled around my room.
&ldquo;I hate being bracketed dude, just hate it&hellip; so limiting,&rdquo; she said.
&ldquo;Care to explain,&rdquo; I enquired, genuinely concerned.
(Deep breath + eye roll).
&ldquo;So my dad asked my mom &lsquo;how I&rsquo;m doin&rsquo;,&rdquo; Nats thundered.
&ldquo;Sounds reasonable, your dad showing concern, very paternal, very normal,&rdquo; I said.
&ldquo;He had the audacity to ask mom, &lsquo;how&rsquo;s SHE doing&rsquo;?&rdquo;
&ldquo;Fair question I&rsquo;d say, no reason to get uptight,&rdquo; I insisted.
&ldquo;He asked &lsquo;How&rsquo;s SHE doing&hellip; what&rsquo;s up with HER? You find nothing wrong with that?&rdquo; Nats&rsquo; decibel level was rising.
I looked Nats up and down.&nbsp;
&ldquo;Uhm I&rsquo;m still not fully getting your uhm grouse, Natasha. you are a &lsquo;she&rsquo; and a &lsquo;her&rsquo; after all, are you not?&rdquo;
&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a &lsquo;she&rsquo; or a &lsquo;her&rsquo;, got it, bruh. I&rsquo;m not &lsquo;she&rsquo; or &lsquo;her&rsquo;?&rdquo; Nats yelled.
I stopped.
&ldquo;Natasha&hellip; I&rsquo;m so sorry&hellip; if I&rsquo;m being insensitive, but you&rsquo;re so feminine, look so beautiful&hellip; never knew that you uhm&hellip; felt like... uhm... that you were considering a... uhm... are you looking to have an...&rdquo;
&ldquo;Dude, Rahul! Get with the programme! I&rsquo;m not considering any of the &lsquo;things&rsquo; you are suggesting.&rdquo;&nbsp;
&ldquo;Okay! But if you&rsquo;re not a &lsquo;she&rsquo; or a &lsquo;her&rsquo;, are you saying you&rsquo;re a &lsquo;HE&rsquo;?&rdquo; I asked, now genuinely confused.
(Double eye roll)
&ldquo;Dude, Rahul. I&rsquo;m saying &lsquo;I&rsquo;m gender fluid&rsquo;, got it &lsquo;gender fluid&rsquo;.&rdquo;
&ldquo;Gender what?&rdquo; I queried.
&ldquo;Gender fluid! I can be &lsquo;she&rsquo;, I can be &lsquo;her&rsquo;, I can be &lsquo;hers&rsquo;&hellip; I can be &lsquo;he&rsquo;, I can be &lsquo;him&rsquo;, I can be &lsquo;his&rsquo;, &nbsp;I can be &lsquo;them&rsquo;, I can be &lsquo;they&rsquo;,&rdquo; Nats rattled off.
I shuddered suddenly. Just the thought of multiple Natashas made me shiver with mortal fear. I imagined, &ldquo;Rahul bruh!&rdquo;, &ldquo;Dude Rahul&rdquo;, &ldquo;Rahul uncle!&rdquo;, multiple eye rolls coming at me from different angles. How can a singular person be a &ldquo;they&rdquo;? I wondered.
&ldquo;Natasha you have me at a loss. Is this some &lsquo;evolution theory&rsquo; that I missed? How can you be he, she, him, hers, they, them, how can singular people be &lsquo;them&rsquo; and &lsquo;they&rsquo;?&rdquo;
(Triple eye rolls + multi sighs)
&ldquo;Dude, let me slow down for your benefit&hellip;. just try and keep up ya?&rdquo; Nats paused, then continued.
&ldquo;I may have been born a female, and you may have been born a guy, physically, anatomically, but that&rsquo;s so limiting. So uhm&hellip; straitjacketed! In our world, the world of Gen Z, you are not defined by masculine or feminine. We don&rsquo;t abide by societal norms and expectations that classify people within a binary&mdash;I&rsquo;m neither male or female, capeesh?&rdquo;
&ldquo;Uhm no, not capeesh. Let me ask you a question, say you have to fill in a form, yes? It asks you your sex. What do you put, male or female.&rdquo;
(Eye roll) &ldquo;I put He/She/They/Them,&rdquo; Nats said definitively. &ldquo;I repeat, I believe in gender fluidity.&rdquo;
I was flummoxed. I proceeded hesitantly.
&ldquo;Uhm... Nats, so are you transgender?
(Mini explosion)
&ldquo;Hrmmph, dude you&rsquo;re narrowing the narrative. This isn&rsquo;t so simple&hellip; your generation just wants to fit everything complex into convenient cubby holes... this is about how one feels internally... about self- expression..we need to break free of &lsquo;male&rsquo; &lsquo;female&rsquo; stereotypes.&rdquo;
&ldquo;So uhm... how do you feel just now... male or female&hellip; Natasha or uhm&hellip; Navin?&rdquo; I asked.
&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t kid around, Rahul bruh, this is serious stuff. Gender identity defines who we are..&rdquo;&nbsp;
I was getting brain fried.
&ldquo;Okay, Natasha, I have a meeting to go to, I have to leave.&rdquo;
&ldquo;I gotta bounce too, bruh&hellip; can I hitch a ride?&rdquo; she asked
&ldquo;Yes&hellip; LGBT?&rdquo; I said.
&ldquo;Whaaaa, what do you mean LGBT? Are you making fun of me? Making a mockery of all that I&rsquo;ve said to you, Rahul bruh?&rdquo; Nats yelled.
&ldquo;No no Nats chill&hellip; LGBT simply means &lsquo;Lets Go By Taxi,&rsquo;&rdquo; I said with a twinkle in my eyes.
Nats finally smiled.
Rahul daCunha is an adman, theatre director/playwright, photographer and traveller. Reach him at rahul.dacunha@mid-day.com
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“Care to explain,” I enquired, genuinely concerned.

Nats and gender neutral pronouns

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Nats and gender neutral pronouns

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