gender-blind

Gender-blind (or unisex) is a term describing activities undertaken and services provided without regard to the gender of those who participate. An example would be a college offering a gender-blind dormitory. In the gender-blind dorm, roommates could be assigned without regard to any persons sex. This allows transgender persons and persons who do not accept gender labels to live in more comfortable settings than may otherwise be possible in single-sex housing. It is also good for heterosexuals who otherwise couldn't live with their partners while at the university. The first gender-blind dorm in the United States opened in the fall of 2003 on the campus of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. Hair stylists and beauty salons that serve both men and women are often referred to as unisex, although that usage was probably more common in the 1980s when men first started to go to hair stylists in large numbers instead of to barbers.

Choice of words

Unisex is an older term and some feel it carries the connotation of actually being duo-sex, whereas gender-blind goes against most tenets of heteronormativity, by not looking at gender at all.

Gender-blind

Choice of words

See also