<div class="floatright">(https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZucIT.png)</div><div class="floatleft"><div align="center">(https://i.imgur.com/LTqjjIm.gif)<br/><strong><acronym title="Red Wolf">Червен вълк</acronym><br/>(01/09/2019)<br/>(23:45 PM)</strong></div></div><br/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_u">The Introduction of the Wix and Why You Should Be Supportive</span></div><br/>The magical community of our world has never been exclusive of gender in the same way our non-magical counterparts have. This does not mean we do not have these issues. They have simply manifested in different ways. A witch who accepts a higher career goal is still expected to marry and produce a child. She is also expected to excel above what a wizard would do in the same role, otherwise the choice to promote her is questioned. A wizard who chooses a position in life that is considered less than masculine is mistreated by the community as a whole. Should he choose to stay home to raise a child while his wife maintains all the finances is considered less of a man. Our youth are combating this in their own ways and we need to be supporting them.<br/><br/>We are seeing a large influx of witches and wizards who are not only defying the traditional roles of sexuality that was once imposed upon on, but the gender norms as well. Since the introduction of the Maginet, young magic users are redefining the way they wish to be seen. Where a witch who once used to refuse marriage and family would be deemed a spinster, no matter the level she reaches in other aspects of her life, these young witches are redefining themselves. They are rejecting the spinster image that would have once been cast upon them shamelessly from their family and taking charge of their own image. They refuse to be cast aside and forgotten. A young wizard who chooses to raise his family instead of pursuing a traditional career are rejecting the term housewizard and instead becoming respectable images for other men. They are raising themselves up by showcasing that homemaking can be just as taxing a career.<br/><br/>We have the Maginet to thank for this. It is allowing not only the new generation a chance to redefine everything, but a chance for those of my generation to take part in it and learn from it. We are at the forefront of a turning point and we need to be prepared for it.<br/><br/>I have had the upmost pleasure of conversing through Magimail with a wonderful young magic user in England. This youth has taught me more about gender and redefining these roles in the two months I have known them than any other witch or wizard of my own age in my whole life. This magic user refers to themself as a Wix. Wix is the singular gender neutral term for a magic user, as defined by this young Wix. In addition, Wixes is a gender neutral collective noun for wizards and witches. Wixen is an encompassing term for the magical community, or people who can do magic.<br/><br/>Some have claimed that 'witch' itself is neutral, which poses it's own problems. It has been heavily ingrained in our community that a witch is female. To simply brush off the inclusion of a purely neutral term is ignorant. To take away the term witch from those who do wish to be viewed as such is wrong. We need to embrace this new generation and it's definitions. They are our future and they deserve as much right to defining themselves as we have allowed our generation to do. Without the rebellion of youth and the redefining of a generation, we would all still be marrying our cousins and rejecting indoor plumbing. These changes are just as important as any change we have endured in the past.<br/><br/>I implore everyone of my age to encourage, support, and accept our youth in their endeavors to change our world. It's time for a change. It's time for us to see that the world is bigger than we ever realized it was. That self awareness and self defining are more important than ever before. Stand with our young witches, wizards, and wixes as they motivate themselves to be more than we could.<br/><br/><em>"Stereotypes lose their power when the world is found to be more complex than the stereotype would suggest. When we learn that individuals do not fit the group stereotype, then it begins to fall apart." -Ed Koch</em><br/><br/><div style="text-align: right;">-<acronym title="Red Wolf">Червен вълк</acronym></div>