Prompt Suggestions

This is a copy of the planning around prompt suggestions I did in a Pillowfort post linked on the Themes page (originally posted 20 Dec 2020, and last updated on 17 Jan 2021). Some readers may have been aware that Pillowfort’s site has been down for maintenance (30 Jan through 7 Feb, 2021), so I want to have a backup in case posts made available for everyone to view are not available to see for very long. It is not a requirement that the months listed here be the exact month chosen for a suggested theme. (This has been written and posted on 7 Feb 2021, but it’s been backdated to 30 Jan 2021.)

March – In past years, the Gender Census has started in February and gone through at least the end of March (sometimes into April or May). Theme: Surveys.

Suggested questions:

• What do you do when a survey doesn’t include an option for your gender?
• How do you answer when questions assume a gender that remains unchanged as a genderfluid, genderflux, and/or multigender person?
• Have you heard of the Gender Census already?
• Would you like to share your thoughts on some of that survey’s questions or past results? (Identity words, titles, pronouns, and the like.)
• The matter of age and where you hear about a survey when sharing something like this online. Do you have ideas for how to spread a survey, not necessarily restricted to the Gender Census, to more places and people who aren’t already on certain sites (like tumblr)?
• For those familiar with making and analyzing surveys: Do you have any experience you’d like to share about being on the other end compared to those of us who solely fill them out?

May – Theme: Pronouns.

Suggested questions:

• Do you have any thoughts about “preferred pronouns” versus “pronouns”? Does it depend on the audience or who you’re having a discussion with? (Inspired by this post.)
• Do you like, prefer, or use only one set of pronouns? Two, three, or more sets? Do you want someone to try to avoid using pronouns for you when possible?
• Do you use or indicate auxiliary pronouns? (While this can overlap with using more than set of pronouns, auxiliary pronouns are usually alternates. For example, emoji-self pronouns in text based spaces and a different pronoun set in spoken usage.)
• If you indicate or use more than one set of pronouns, how do you handle other people only using one pronoun set for you? (This can overlap with misgendering, but sometimes, it can be a refusal to alternate using two sets of pronouns or switching pronouns when you’ve switched to a second name.)
• How do you approach pronouns in other languages? Do you seek out gender neutral options (elle in Spanish, hen in Swedish, etc.), or do you feel differently about using pronouns usually associated with binary genders? Does it depend on your level of language learning (A1 or beginner versus fully immersed into another language and bi/tri/etc. -lingual), or when you started learning your language?

August – Theme: Academia.

Suggested questions:

• Did you attend school before institutions established means of indicating a name and pronouns to teachers and staff?
• Do you prefer handling a conversation about your name and pronouns ‘by yourself’ in direct communication with teachers, or do you prefer the name and pronoun indicator options some schools allow? Does it depend on the type of school (K to 12 versus university) or how many staff you’d have to communicate with?
• How do you feel about those “go around the room and share your pronouns with the class” exercises that some teachers do on the first day of class? (If applicable, you can also respond to how you feel about this when done outside of classrooms.)
• Do you have an ‘academic persona’ that you use as a student, or have used in the past? Does this extended to having one set name you publish academic work under (inspired by “Academia and the Name Change issue“)?
• If your academic institution has it as an option, have you used gender neutral dormitories/housing? What about gender neutral bathrooms or uniforms?
• Do you feel like you’ve run into issues with staff because you weren’t following their expectations around not being cisgender? For example, you use pronouns not available in the indicator options, you use more than one set of pronouns, you go by more than one different name, or you would ideally like to use existing bathrooms for men and women at will (instead of only ever using one).

November – Theme: Neopronouns.

Suggested questions:

• How do you tend to see “neopronoun” used outside of a definition (any set of singular third-person pronouns that are not officially recognized in the language they are used in, typically created with the intent of being a gender neutral pronoun set)?
• Do you include ‘non-standard’ pronoun sets that are typically discussed with neopronouns but not indicated as explicitly included in the definition (it, one, noun-self, emoji-self)? Keeping in mind that potential readers may use these pronoun sets, were you aware that such non-standard pronoun sets are included in some discussions of neopronouns?
• How did you decide that a neopronoun set (or non-standard pronoun set) was right for you? Did you use a practice method (example: Pronoun Dressing Room) or encounter the set in a different circumstance? Was it easier if there was historical precedent (example: thon)?
• Do you find that historical examples might be situationally interesting or useful, but are ultimately besides the point when discussing pronouns and neopronouns? (For example, a writer might find the historical usage of thon relevant for a character they don’t want to use he or she for, but you personally find modern usage more relevant to figuring out pronouns.)
• If you don’t use neopronouns, why not? Do you have issues pronouncing or spelling certain pronoun sets you’ve come across? Is it hard to judge whether you like being referred to with a pronoun set you’ve never encountered for other people before?

–

Note that two public Pillowfort posts are linked in the prompts and other links are to other sites. The first link for the discussion of “preferred pronouns” vs “pronouns” by Siggy [~trivialknot] has 18 comments with different perspectives, and I don’t think it’s absolutely necessary to host a copy of that. The second link goes to “Academia and the Name Change issue” by ~coleoptera. In the event that it’s not available, only the post itself has been copied under the read-more.

Volunteer As Host

Please leave a comment on this post indicating the month you’d like to be a host for and the account you’ll be hosting with. Optional: Indicating the theme in your comment if you’re volunteering for the next month, and leaving a link to your Call for Submissions post.

If you’re volunteering for a month that is not the upcoming one (such as commenting in May about wanting to be July’s host), I will ask about an idea of the theme you have in mind when replying.

Examples:

Person 1: I’ll host January 2031 on tumblr (@ExampleUsername1). I haven’t made up my mind what theme I want yet, but I’ll leave a link to the Call for Submissions in a reply.

– Reply: I went with “Atmospheric Phenomenon”. {Link to Call for Submissions.}

Person 2: I’ll host February 2031 at {link to their account} with the theme “Respectability.”

In the event that more than one person tries to claim the same month, whoever comments on this post first will get the current month and the other person will get the next available month to host. Please be aware that if I don’t get a comment within the first 7 days of the month, I may put out a self-hosted theme. I cannot guarantee that I’ll stumble across your Call for Submissions in time to link to it and promote it here on the WordPress if you don’t leave a comment.

Prior COTB Themes

Prior Themes from the Carnival Outside the Binary (@carnivaloutsidethebinary):

August 2018 – Questioning and Exploration. (Personally, I think some of the suggested prompts cover at least two more potential themes – Pride and Coming Out/Disclosure.)

Call for Submissions:

One of the most asked questions I get on the nonbinary advice blogs I help out on is how does somebody know if they are nonbinary. So let’s open up and get to know each other and share our journeys fo how we came to identify outside of the binary! If you need some help thinking of things you could talk about, here are some ideas, though any posts inspired by the subject Questioning and Exploration are welcome:

• When did you begin realizing you may not be cis, may not be simply just a boy/man or girl/woman?
• What was it that prompted you to think beyond being cis? What kind of feelings or experiences were you having?
• How did you explore your gender? Is it the same as how you present it now?
• What was most helpful to you in finally accepting you were not cis?
• What particular self-doubts made it hardest to accept your identity? Or was it more external pressures?
• What sort of labels did you try out before settling on your current one? Why did you keep experimenting with terms?
• How do you now connect to and find pride in your identity? Or are you not there yet? What is your goal towards your relationship with your gender?
• How did you hear about non-cis identities? Did that start your questioning or did questioning come later?
• Have you come out? How did you do it/how often have you done it? Or if not, what are your thoughts on coming out?

Roundup.

September 2018 – Expression.

Call for Submissions:

Something so many of us struggle with and explore for a multitude of reasons, this month, I want to hear about how you express your gender! Here are some ideas of things you can write about, though anything inspired by the topic Expression is welcome:

• Do you feel a pressure to look/present a certain way in order to feel valid or be accepted by others?
• Do you express your gender specifically through physical looks/clothes?
• Do you connect to your gender in other ways, such as meeting up with other not-binary folk or perhaps by following some creative passion?
• How do you validate yourself and your gender? 
• Do you have any routines or self-care rituals for when you’re doubting yourself?
• What’s your relationship with your gender? Do you feel pressured to have a different relationship with your gender? Does it impact how you present or who you come out to?
• Has how you’ve expressed your gender changed with different phases of questioning/acceptance?
• Do you have any goals for your eventual ideal way to express your gender?

Roundup.

October 2018 – Sexuality.

Call for Submissions:

Although separate identities and concepts, gender and sexuality can heavily interplay with each other, so I want to hear about how your gender has impacted your sexuality or your understanding/view of your sexuality! Here are some ideas of things you can write about, though anything inspired by the topic Sexuality is welcome:

• Does your gender interplay with your sexuality and how you identify (or vice versa)?
• Did questioning/realizing/accepting that you identified outside the binary change your understanding of your sexuality?
• How do you navigate the world of gendered sexualities?
• Do you identify with a sexuality specifically created to include nonbinary people? What is your relationship to this term/have you come out and how did that go?
• How do you express your sexuality if your gender creates self-doubt about being in a relationship (if you want to be in a relationship)?
• Do you have a gender that is defined by or impacted by your sexuality, and how does this feel or express itself?
• Do you consider your gender and sexuality separate or intertwined and why?
• Did discovering your gender/sexuality before the other help you accept when you started questioning the other? Did you start questioning both at the same time? Was one easier to understand or accept than the other?

Roundup.

November 2018 – Hiatus.

December 2018 – Hiatus.

January 2019 – Terminology.

Call for Submissions:

Something that has probably confused most nonbinary people is trying to decide on a specific label that fits them. There are so many terms, and a lot of them overlap. Some people use multiple terms, and some people don’t use any of them for one reason or another. For this month, write about your thoughts on the long list of nonbinary terms, how they do or don’t apply to you, your experiences with all the different labels, etc. Some ideas could be:

• What do you think about the multitude of terms someone outside the binary can use? Are there too many? Not enough? In your opinion, are these terms helpful?
• There are many terms that overlap, and many people use more than one to identify as- therefore what do you think the purpose is of having more specific gender identity terms? Are the umbrella terms too general? What are the pros and cons of identifying with more than one nonbinary term?
• How have gender identity labels changed over the years? Are there some labels that aren’t as common now that used to be more well-known? Do you think there are other as-of-yet-unnamed identities that should be defined?
• If you identify with more than one label, how do you come out to people? Do you use one term more than the others? If so, why?

Roundup.

February 2019 – Culture.

Call for Submissions:

More and more people are discovering that they’re nonbinary in some way, shape or form. What I’m curious about is how different cultures have impacted the way people identify. For this month, write about how, if at all, your culture has impacted your gender identity, how other people in your culture react to nonbinary genders, how this view or culture may have changed, etc. Some ideas are:

• Do you think the culture you grew up with influenced how you identify, either now or in the past? How so?
• How do different cultures recognize nonbinary genders? Has this changed from the past to the present? If so, why do you think this occurred?
• Do you think different cultures recognize the same nonbinary genders, just with different terminology?
• Are there nonbinary genders that are specific to a certain culture?

Roundup.

Example Roundup

This is just an example for people who benefit from seeing a format in use (and without all of the insert such-and-such notes). The theme was chosen at random (see: Example Call for Submissions) and is not considered an active theme with submissions being requested.

The theme for the Gender Exploration Carnival for January 2031 was “Atmospheric Phenomenon.” Thank you to everyone who participated ^_^

I received the following submissions:

@ExampleUsername1 – A poem about Fata Morgana and misgendering from others.

– Content warning: Deadnaming and depression.

Rowan (he/they) – “How My Search for the Green [Sunset] Flash Has Parallels With My Transition.”

It has taken years for me to get to this moment. I raise my camera to the sun (and to the mirror) in the hopes of capturing this fleeting moment before I forget. I can’t deny that having proof for how far I’ve come may factor in to some degree, but that’s for future me and other people to look back on. This moment of documenting my transition is my own.

@ExampleUsername2 – A submission about a potential connection between sundogs and the simultaneous nature of multiple genders that are each slightly different from one another.

Cloudie – A personal comic about how it figured out it is cloudgender (including illustrations of several atmospheric phenomenon).

My submission – A poem titled “On Moonbows & Closets.”

–

Zeph (@ExampleUsername3 on tumblr) is hosting next month’s theme, “Respectability.”

{Note: As with the example Call for Submissions, I don’t have hyperlinks to include here.}

Roundup Format

The theme for the Gender Exploration Carnival for [month] [year] was “[insert your theme].” I received submissions from the following participants:

Username (or name/alias) – Title or quick summary with a hyperlink.

A quote or longer summary with any trigger or content warnings.

{Repeat as necessary. Depending on how many submissions there are, some hosts may have a straight forward bullet list with titles and links, but others might have a quoted section for each submission.}

If it’s been released by the time you make your roundup, you can also include at the end: [insert name] is hosting next month’s theme, [insert their theme with a hyperlink to the Call for Submissions].

–

Note: If you don’t want to sound quite so formulaic, you can sprinkle in your own personal touches like thanking participants, providing a comment about writing your submission, a small joke about meeting the deadline, or something else not included here.

Some blogging carnivals include an indication of pronouns when commenting or messaging with a link, but due to how ambivalent or variable that may be for participants for a carnival about gender exploration, that will be not be a requirement for this.

Spelling of “Roundup” may vary: Round-up (with a hyphen), Roundup (one word), or Round Up (two words).

Example Call for Submissions

This is just an example for people who benefit from seeing a format in use (and without all of the insert such-and-such notes). The theme has been chosen at random and is not considered an active theme with submissions being requested.

The Gender Exploration Carnival is one of several blogging carnivals – an event where a host blog puts out a theme for the month, participants create content and share the links with the host, and the host posts a round-up at the end of the month. For more information, you can check out the FAQ.

For January 2031, the theme I have chosen is “Atmospheric Phenomenon.” For those who may not be aware, the simple definition would be a named optical phenomenon “due to the interaction of light from the sun or moon with the atmosphere, clouds, water, or dust and other particulates” (Wiki). Examples may include but are not limited to: Saint Elmo’s fire, the blue hour, a sundog (or a parhelion), and a Fata Morgana (type of mirage). The following prompts are suggestions, and you are not required to answer one question (or all of them) in order to participate as long as your submission is connected to the theme.

Suggested prompts:

• Have you ever experienced an atmospheric phenomena? Did the euphoria or awe feel different from any gender euphoria you may have experienced?
• For xenogender folks, have you ever connected a gender experience with an atmospheric phenomena?
• Even if you are not xenogender, is there something about a fleeting moment of any atmospheric phenomena that resonates with your experience of gender, finding a label, realizing what type of gender expression you want, etc.?
• Or if a highly variable or shifting state doesn’t align with your experiences, does the dependability or consistency of certain atmospheric conditions that create particular phenomenon or atmospheric phenomena that happen over a longer span of time resonate with you?

The deadline for submissions is 2 am EST (UTC-5) on 1 Feb 2031. I will post the round-up around 8 pm on 2 Feb and will accept late submissions until then. You can submit an anonymous entry for this month by emailing genderexplorationcarnival@pm.me (the post will be self-hosted on the WordPress), commenting with a link on the Call for Submissions WordPress post, commenting on this post, commenting on the Pillowfort post, or sharing a link with me directly on tumblr (submissions are open, and you are welcome to send a chat message).

{Note: I’m not creating example posts just to include the hyperlinks, but the text would be roughly like that. It’s not a requirement that you have to follow my date / month order, and I am aware that most US folks would write it out as “Feb 1st, 2031” or “02/01/2031.”}

What does ‘Here There Be Genders’ mean?

The phrase ‘Here There Be Monsters’ or ‘Here There Be Dragons’ denotes uncharted territory, and it’s possible that certain maps might have a creature of some sort drawn in a particular area for that concept instead of having the words written out. Only certain maps? A creature of some sort? Well, detailed art in the midst of the ocean wasn’t exactly practical for navigation, and some of the creatures were rather ordinary on land, such as pigs and owls (“The Enchanting Sea Monsters on Medieval Maps“).

During the discussion around what to name this blogging carnival, there was a connection between the idea of gender exploration, non-binary genders as uncharted gender territory, and ‘Here There Be Dragons’ was humorously turned into ‘Here There Be Genders’. The use of sea monster imagery is a reference to those old nautical maps, and this is not meant to be literal equivalence between non-binary genders and monsters.

Sea Monsters:

• The Header image is a cropped portion of the Carta Marina (Wikimedia Commons). The Carta Marina is a nautical map by Olaus Magnus that dates between 1527 and 1539, and features a variety of sea monsters (“Can You Spot all the Sea Monsters in this 16th-Century Map?“).
  • A detail from the Carta Marina appears on the Contact page: A red sea serpent entwined around a ship.
• The elephant headed fish on the FAQ page comes from a 1606 map of Ireland, “Irlandiae Accurata Descriptio, Auctore Baptista Boazio” (Wikimedia Commons).
• Current mod icon: A sea dragon’s head above the surface of the ocean with a drop of green water color on the snout and mouth. It comes from a 1638 map of the world by Willem Blaeu called “Nova totius terrarum orbis geographica ac hydrographica tabula” (Norman B. Leventhal Map Center Collection). This is being used under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license (CC BY-NC-SA).

Images that are not sea monsters:

• The Home page has a compass.
• The Themes page has a life preserver.

Call for Submissions Format

The Gender Exploration Carnival is one of several blogging carnivals – an event where a host blog puts out a theme for the month, participants create content and share the links with the host, and the host posts a round-up at the end of the month. For more information, you can check out the FAQ page.

For [month] [year], the theme I have chosen is “[insert your theme].” {Optional: Provide context or give a definition.} The following prompts are suggestions, and you are not required to answer one question (or all of them) in order to participate as long as your submission is connected to the theme.

Suggested prompts:

[Insert a list with at least three or four questions.]

The deadline for submissions is [time] on [date]. I will post the round-up at (or around) [time] on [date] and will accept late submissions until then. You can submit an anonymous entry for this month by emailing genderexplorationcarnival@pm.me (the post will be self-hosted on the WordPress), comment with a link on the Call for Submissions WordPress post {share the link}, comment on this post, or if applicable, share a link with me directly.

{Note that this may vary on the host’s comfort level with direct/private/chat messaging or sharing their own email for contact purposes and the limitations of certain sites. For example, Tumblr ask boxes do not let hyperlinks through, reblogs and posts with hyperlinks may not be visible while searching a tag, and submissions have to be enabled to accept a post with a link directly.}