DR Z PHD Interviews Addison Rose Vincent.
In this groundbreaking interview, Dr. Z speaks with Edison Rose Vincent (they/them), a trans non-binary educator, founder of Breaking the Binary, and elite consultant providing LGBTQ training to businesses, schools, and organizations internationally. Edison identifies as a "third gender"—not somewhere between man and woman, but something outside the binary entirely—and has been openly non-binary since 2013.
This conversation explores Edison's journey of embracing their beard in 2019 after years of feeling pressured to shave to appear "palatable" and "feminine enough" for both mainstream society and the LGBTQ community. They describe the profound moment of looking in the mirror with breast growth from hormone therapy, a feminine waist, and their beard—and everything suddenly clicking. Edison calls it their "beautiful feminine beard" and explains how their partner Ethan (featured in a separate interview) provided the safe space to explore this gender expression without fear.
Edison delivers a paradigm-shifting explanation of their company name: Breaking the Binary isn't about eliminating binary identities, but breaking free from the idea that binary is the only option. They extend this concept beyond gender (man/woman) to include expression (masculine/feminine), attraction (straight/gay), sex (male/female, forgetting intersex people), and even broader binaries like good/bad, Republican/Democrat, black/white thinking. They trace these limiting frameworks back to colonization and Western imperialism, noting that cultures worldwide recognized third, fourth, fifth genders for millennia before colonization.
Key topics include: experiencing Instagram censorship and mass reporting (account shut down multiple times, accused of being "spam"), receiving hate from both the general public and older trans women who feel non-binary identities invalidate their survival struggles, holding compassionate space for that pain while refusing to disappear, the reality of leaving home with anxiety every single day worried about harassment, and why online spaces feel safer but still attract waves of threatening messages.
Edison shares vulnerable truths about their relationship with Ethan (trans masculine non-binary), how they've both evolved through supporting each other's gender exploration, navigating public spaces where Edison gets harassed while Ethan appears cisgender and tries to protect them, and their plans for future parenthood despite fears their kids might be embarrassed by their "fabulous self." They discuss fertility preservation challenges after being off hormones for nine months and still not being fertile, considering adoption or Ethan potentially carrying.
This interview addresses Edison's top three self-care cornerstones for managing shame: therapy (individual and couples), curated social media feeds filled with trans/non-binary representation, and physical activities to combat dissociation and ground themselves in their body. They explain how colonization taught all of us to be ashamed of not fitting narrow roles, and that addressing internalized shame is the most important self-care work.
Edison envisions not a genderless society but a "genderful" one—a mosaic of infinite gender identities and expressions where people aren't limited by expectations tied to their genitals at birth. They call for ending "genital reveal parties" (gender reveal parties) and allowing children to explore gender freely until they choose their own path. They emphasize that trans and non-binary identities are Western terms but the concepts have existed across cultures for thousands of years.
This conversation offers radical hope, practical wisdom, and unflinching honesty about the cost of visibility, the power of partnership, why rest is revolutionary resistance, and the importance of saying "fuck it" to social pressures in a world that demands conformity—because we only have one life to live authentically.
