Metagender

Metagender is a term that has been coined multiple times with varying definitions, including multiple nonbinary gender identities, spiritual and cultural identities, a combined gender identity and romantic and sexual orientation, a gender modality, a synonym for gender modality, a description for gender-nonconforming behavior, and a super-set for all gender possibilities. Different definitions have been used for LGBT self-identifiers, in feminist/queer theory and activism, and in academic settings.

Usage through history

Metagender existed as a technical term prior to its use by LGBT individuals, dating back at least to the 1980s, initially concerned with being outside or transcending binary gender, whether of imagery, perspectives, data, or people. Its use as a technical term with various definitions has persisted into the 2020s.

LGBT definitions

1990s

Metagender's early usage by queer communities was recorded in queer and feminist publications, where its definition included post-gender concepts, gender variance, gender-bending, and being neither a man nor a woman.

In a 1994 letter to the San Francisco Bay Times, an intersex womyn used metagender as an umbrella descriptor for gender-variant and intersex.

In a 1998 BITCH magazine essay titled "Metagender and the Slow Decline of the Either/Or," Lisa Voldeng and Laura Kloppenberg coined "metagenderism" to "encapsulat[e] all existing, evolving, and unborn gender models: It is the unlimited superset of all possible (non)genders and gender (non)identities, of individual and cultural existence free from binaristic cat­egorization and definition." This definition was coined in contrast with the contemporary "transgenderism" as defined by trans woman and cultural theorist Sandy Stone. Whereas transgender was a category to "include everyone not covered by our culture's narrow terms man and woman," metagenderism entailed "a comprehensive reenvisioning of gender," to serve as "container for all gender identities, encompassing the two-gender system to transgender and beyond."

In a 1999 interview printed in the magazine Femme Fatales, musician/poet/filmmaker Phoebe Legere said "I am metagender, metasexual, not a man or a woman."

2000s

The term was coined again by 1997 by Rook Hine, an identity Hine characterized as being a "conscientious objector" in "the war of the sexes." This concept of metagender was further developed by Phillip Andrew Bernhardt-House. E defined the term in a 2003 anthology as a spiritual identity that was a "'wholly other' third/fourth/eighty-seventh" gender category that was not derived from any combination of woman, man, feminine, masculine, neuter, or androgyne. E described being "a metagender" as similar to being a third gender with a spiritual component while being in a culture that lacked this concept. Metagender developed into a discrete identity as a spiritual functionary inside neopaganism, combining social gender and sexuality (latter being similar to pansexual), which it has remained since 2008 as described by P. Sufenas Virius Lupus.

In a 2004 zine, Katie Cercone listed metagender as a term for "gender-bending."

In a 2006 book on transgender journeys, metagender was defined as "individuals who do not identify as either male or female."

2010s

In 2012, metagender was defined in HaifischGeweint's Gender 101 as "a gender identity describing a person whose subjective experience of gender is not adequately described by any existing terminology (i.e., I never “met a” gender like you before)."

In 2014, Metagender was proposed for four different meanings on Tumblr.

1. In February, "meta-gender" was suggested by Tumblr user unquietpirate as the label for one's relationship to one's assigned gender at birth, similar to gender modality, to contrast with "experiential gender." Unquietpirate listed cisgender, transgender, and genderqueer as examples of meta-gender, last also being an "experiential gender."
2. In June, metagender was suggested by Tumblr user collectivetey as an alternative word for pangender.
3. In July, metagender was coined by Tumblr users autisticlapis-blog, agenderchrismclean, and lordmoriarty. The definition was: "to identify around or beyond a gender. Where your gender identity is almost that gender, but not quite, and also extends beyond that. Imagine that — is you, and | is the gender identity (and identifying fully with a gender is —|), then metagender is — | —". For example, meta-boy, meta-girl, meta-nonbinary, and so on. The "—" is also written as "—-".
4. In November, metagender was coined by Tumblr user arquus-malvaceae as "a tangential or tenuous connection to the concept of gender.  Existing in that sort of floaty space where there is no gender, but still connecting with another label.  Identifying with as opposed to identifying as. Can be narrowed down and specified as one sees fit.  Eg, Metawoman, Metaman, Metaqueer, etc."

At Pantheacon 2015, a neopagan convention, at least two persons spoke about their metagender identity at a roundtable discussion on gender diversity as derived from the spiritual definition by P. Sufenas Virius Lupus.