Facebook to allow users to define their gender themselves

A year after Facebook introduced preset custom genders like "cisgender" or " transgender," it has now started rolling out a new version of its custom gender field where users can type in any word to represent their gender across Facebook.

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A year after Facebook introduced preset custom genders like 'cisgender' or ' transgender,' it has now started rolling out a new version of its custom gender field where users can type in any word to represent their gender across Facebook.

While the earlier feature allowed users to choose their gender from a set of pre-defined options, they will now be able to define their gender themselves. The version although populates suggestions as you type but you can choose any word and then a pronoun to represent yourself on the platform, reported The Verge.

It works the same way as the 'infinite' gender option feature rolled out by Google+ last year. However, Facebook will also allow users to tweak the privacy settings of their gender, allowing them to control who could see their gender on the platform.

It's not clear how fast the option will be made available to all users.

Meanwhile, people who are not logged into Facebook will only see the male / female options on the quick sign-up section of the page.