Facebook Adds Custom Gender Field To Profiles

Facebook is joining the growing number of websites that have increased the options available when choosing one's gender on a profile. Today the social network has added the ultimate gender addition, one that seems most sensible to have — a blank text field in which users can enter their own desired gender designation. This offers flexibility to those who don't identify with any of the pre-defined options available for selection, which includes everything from standard "Male/Female" options to things like "two-spirit".

Last February, Facebook introduced more options besides "hide", "male", and "female". The changes took place for US users first, and involved more than 50 gender selection options, as well as the ability to choose one of three pronouns (his, her, and them).

It's a simple, but welcomed, update. Users can find it the same place they have previously been able to update their gender info: under Basic Information, which can be changed by clicking "Edit". If you don't want to specify your own gender, the pre-populated options are still available.

Facebook isn't the only social network to increase the flexibility of its gender option. Google Plus recently made similar changes, allowing users to more clearly define how their gender is listed, as well as manually enter their own designation if desired. Check out the timeline below for more Facebook news!

VIA: TIME