The Queerview Mirror: Genderfork.com
By What are you thinking about Gender right now? Do you think someone could benefit from reading those thoughts, but don’t have a platform to share them on? The World Wide Web awaits, my dear, specifically Genderfork.com.
The website is called Genderfork.com and its tagline is “Beauty in Ambiguity.” The purpose of the website is to provide “a supportive community for the expression of identities across the gender spectrum.” It does actually ask visitors to the site to respond to the prompt “What are you thinking about Gender right now?” and will publish many of the responses after a few weeks. I found it by googling “queer websites.” It was the fifth option that came up.
The main page immediately displays the site’s most recently posted content, below a series of tabs (All Content, Photos, Videos, Quotes, Profiles) that provide options for what type of content you are interested in viewing. A panel to the right contains a very small “About” section, above a pair of menu bars, one titled “Participate,” the other titled “Stay Connected.” For a person who stumbled across the site at random, the way I did, the point of the site is not immediately apparent, but the content is likely to be attention grabbing. When I first visited the site, the visible content was a photo titled “Double Sided” of a person whose face was divided in half along the nose, with one half projecting feminine gender expression, the other presenting masculine gender expression (see below). I had no idea why I was looking at that image, but it was very cool and I began to scroll down through the rest of the recent content. There were more photos, profiles of genderqueer people, quotes and questions posed to the Genderfork community.
I went through all of the tabs in the menu bars before clicking a small link in the “About” section for FAQs. It was only there that I got a better idea of what the site is trying to do and where its content comes from. My favorite question and answer was the following:
“Q: Why do you make me feel so warm and fuzzy?
A: Because that’s what we’re going for. We are a supportive, celebratory project that’s out to shine a big spotlight on how freaking lovable everyone is.”
Genderfork.com is by no means the only genderqueer website out there. Also consider checking out Genderqueer Identities, the genderqueer tumblr, Genderqueer Revolution, and Genderqueer on Reddit, if you haven’t already. However, as they intend, Genderfork stands out because of its cozy feel. It isn’t just one more tumblr or Reddit page, it is a stand-alone website, lovingly maintained by a team of volunteers. And while its content may not incite revolution or provide all the answers to your most urgent questions, positivity and acceptance shine through every photo and every quote.
There is no explanation of what the term “genderfork” means anywhere I could find on the website, but I get the feeling that, like a tuning fork, it is about creating resonance. Go browse for a while and let the images and words resonate with your boldest, most genderbending self.
The Queerview Mirror is a semi-regular feature where Queereka contributors review a variety of media. Look for Queerview Mirror posts on Friday afternoons.
