What Does Beyond Binary Mean on Tinder?

Beyond Binary is a gender choice on Tinder that sits alongside Man and Woman. Tinder says it exists for people who do not feel that the traditional categories describe them. That includes people who call themselves Gender Fluid, GNC or Intersex, among others. You will meet it in two places: in your own settings when you pick your gender, and on another person's card when they have chosen to show it.

Tinder's own explanation is about inclusion. Some members do not feel aligned with the categories of Man or Woman, and a two-box form gave them nothing true to select. Beyond Binary, and the more specific words under it, give those members a way to describe themselves without picking a box that is wrong.

For a man swiping, this is mostly a label on someone else's card. It tells you how that person chose to describe themselves, and it is theirs to share or hide.

If you are a man filling in your own gender, none of this changes much. You pick Man, and you are done.

Tinder lets you choose as many gender options as you identify with. There is one rule: you must select at least one of the primary categories. So a person can choose Man or Woman and add a more specific word beside it, but cannot leave the primary categories empty.

To change your own choice, tap the profile icon, tap the pencil icon or Edit Profile, and scroll down to Gender.

Gender and sexual orientation only appear on a card if the person chooses to share them. Tinder gives three options: show it under your name, hide it, or show only some of what you picked.

That means a card with nothing under the name tells you nothing. Do not read anything into a missing label. Plenty of people hide it, and the reason is their business.

Tinder says it is testing a wider selection of gender options in some markets. So the list a friend sees in another city may not match yours. If you cannot find an option someone mentioned, that is the likely reason, and nothing is wrong with your app.

Treat her the way you would treat any match, with a real first line about something specific on her page.

The label is not a topic. Opening with a question about it, or making it the joke, puts the whole conversation on a fact she may be tired of explaining. Read her photos and her words, pick one real thing, and write about that. a dating coach's rule for a first message is that it should prove you looked at her, and that holds here exactly as it holds anywhere else.

If she mentions how she likes to be addressed, use it, without a speech. Respect costs you nothing, and a man who gets it right without fuss stands out from the ones who make it awkward.

Some men wonder whether picking a particular option, or hiding one, changes who Tinder shows them. The pages we read say nothing of the kind. They describe these fields as a way to describe yourself, shown or hidden as you choose.

So answer truthfully and move on. An answer picked to chase attention only produces matches who expected a different man, and those conversations end quickly.

Once the gender field is set, it stops mattering. Your lead photo should show your face, alone, in good light. The rest of the set should show you somewhere real, doing something. What you write should give her one specific thing to react to.

Then comes the part many men skip. When a match arrives, the first line decides whether it becomes a conversation. a dating coach's advice on testing is to change one thing at a time and compare. Track your likes and matches for a week, swap one photo, then compare the same days.

That is where a man's results move, far more than in any setting. Set your gender honestly, treat every card with the same plain respect, and put your attention on the photo and the first line.