Selecting “Custom” allows users to enter the gender term they would prefer to be known as

 UK Facebook users can now choose from one of 71 gender options, including asexual, polygender and two-spirit person, following the feature’s successful integration in the US

Users can choose a different gender option from the previous male and female choices by selecting ‘custom’ in the gender tab of their profiles.

In addition, people who select a custom gender will now have the ability to choose the pronoun they’d like to be referred to publicly — male (he/his), female (she/her) or neutral (they/their).

Facebook worked with UK groups Press for Change and Gendered Intelligence to:

add 21 new options to ensure the list best reflected the ways UK users may choose to describe themselves.

“By challenging the gender binary, Facebook will finally allow thousands of people to describe themselves as they are now and it will allow future generation of kids to become truly comfortable in their own skins.” said Professor Stephen Whittle, vice-president at Press for Change.

Other websites have already implemented similar policies as transgender issues became more widely considered. Google+, for instance, allows users to choose from “male”, “female” or “other”.

The company says that around one per cent of people identify as “other”.

Source: The Telegraph