Nonbinary gender in fiction: Difference between revisions

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 *In the Netflix kids' show ''Ridley Jones'', Fred the Bison is nonbinary and is voiced by nonbinary actor [[Iris Menas]].<ref name="Walsh-RidleyJones">{{Cite web |title=New Netflix Show For Preschoolers Features A Nonbinary Bison—And LGBTQ+ Fans Are Cheering |last=Walsh |first=Mike |work=Comic Sands |date=8 July 2021 |access-date=9 July 2021 |url= https://www.comicsands.com/ridley-jones-netflix-nonbinary-bison-2653716236.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605074906/https://www.comicsands.com/ridley-jones-netflix-nonbinary-bison-2653716236.html |archive-date=17 July 2023 }}</ref>
 *In the Disney show ''The Owl House'', the character Raine Whispers is shown to be nonbinary, using singular they pronouns throughout their appearances. They are voiced by [[Avi Roque]]. Raine debuts in episode 7 of season 2.<ref name="Zogbi">{{Cite web |title=The Owl House Introduces Disney's First Non-Binary Character |author=Zogbi, Emily |work=CBR |date=24 July 2021 |access-date=25 July 2021 |url= https://www.cbr.com/the-owl-house-disney-first-non-binary-character/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230403210732/https://www.cbr.com/the-owl-house-disney-first-non-binary-character/ |archive-date=17 July 2023 }}</ref>
+*[https://www.inanimateinsanity.com/ ''Inanimate Insanity''] is an animated webseries that features two nonbinary characters, [[Paintbrush (Inanimate Insanity)|Paintbrush]] and Bot. Paintbrush starts out as the subject of a somewhat-transphobic running gag about their gender ambiguity, but is later revealed to be nonbinary and is referred to with they/them pronouns from then on. Bot similarly begins going by they/them pronouns after a journey of self-discovery. Paintbrush and Bot are both currently voiced by nonbinary actors, Jazzy Oliver and Shooshies, respectively.
+*In the animated webseries [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL24C8378F296DB656 ''Battle For Dream Island''], the characters Winner, Price Tag, and Profily all go by they/them pronouns.
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 |''She-Ra and the Princesses of Power''
-|Noelle Stevenson
+|N.D. Stevenson
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 * In ''Splatoon 3: Side Order'', Acht (also known as their stage name Dedf1sh) is an Octoling DJ who makes their physical debut in the DLC, and has their pronouns confirmed to be [[they/them]]. Previously, the pronouns used for them in English promotional material for ''Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion'' were she/her, where they in-universe created the music for the Stations, but they are not mentioned in game. The [https://splatoonwiki.org/wiki/Inkipedia:Twitter_archive/2023/September#1705206569498017804 promotional] and in-game material for ''Splatoon 3: Side Order'' uses exclusively they/them. Marina, who has known Acht since their schooldays, refers to them as they/them automatically, implying that their previous pronouns were retconned. In the Japanese version of ''Splatoon 3: Side Order'', they use the personal pronoun ボク, which is generally considered a masculine pronoun.
+* In the furry drama video game ''Goodbye Volcano High'', the protagonist Fang uses [[they/them]] pronouns and is voiced by nonbinary actor [[Lachlan Watson]].<ref>https://store.steampowered.com/app/1310330/Goodbye_Volcano_High/ [https://web.archive.org/web/20230226074304/https://store.steampowered.com/app/1310330/Goodbye_Volcano_High/ Archived] on 17 July 2023</ref>
+====2025====
+*The dating sim ''The Office Type'' has equal numbers of male, female, and nonbinary characters for the player to romance. Every character's bio, even the cis ones, lists their pronouns. As listed on the game's website, the nonbinary characters available are Syl ([[demiboy]], they/them), Benny ([[agender]], they/them), Cal ([[demigirl]], they/she), Toni ([[agender]], xe/xem/xir), Ty ([[demiboy]], they/he), Addie ([[egogender]], prefers name as pronoun, but accepts they/them), Bee ([[genderfluid]], they/them), and Mx. Hura Stapleton ([[bigender]], he/she/they). There are also binary trans women and binary trans men among the cast.<ref>[https://www.heavythoughtstudios.com/projects/ Heavy Thought Studios - Projects] [https://web.archive.org/web/20230527212505/https://www.heavythoughtstudios.com/projects/ Archived] on 17 July 2023</ref>
 ====Unreleased (currently in development)====
-* In the furry drama video game ''Goodbye Volcano High'' (to be released 2023), the protagonist Fang uses [[they/them]] pronouns and is voiced by nonbinary actor [[Lachlan Watson]].<ref>https://store.steampowered.com/app/1310330/Goodbye_Volcano_High/ [https://web.archive.org/web/20230226074304/https://store.steampowered.com/app/1310330/Goodbye_Volcano_High/ Archived] on 17 July 2023</ref>
-*The dating sim ''The Office Type'' has equal numbers of male, female, and nonbinary characters for the player to romance. Every character's bio, even the cis ones, lists their pronouns. The nonbinary characters listed so far are Syl ([[demiboy]]), Benny ([[agender]]), Cal ([[demigirl]]), Toni ([[aporagender]]), Ty ([[anogender]]), Addie ([[egogender]]), Bee ([[genderfluid]]), and Mx. Hura Stapleton ([[bigender]]). There are also binary trans women and binary trans men among the cast.<ref>[https://www.heavythoughtstudios.com/projects/ Heavy Thought Studios - Projects] [https://web.archive.org/web/20230527212505/https://www.heavythoughtstudios.com/projects/ Archived] on 17 July 2023</ref>
 ==Fictional sexes==
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 *Izana Shinatose in ''Knights of Sidonia'' is neither female nor male, but has the ability to eventually choose a sex if they fall in love.  Izana's uniform is different from that of her classmates, reflecting their lack of gender (while females have skirts and males wear pants, Izana wears shorts). This gender is given the name of "middlesex" in the second season. Izana's body does eventually become female after falling in love with Nagate, against their conscious wishes and to their dismay.
 *The Sailor Starlights in the ''Sailor Moon'' anime are male in their human form, but they can change to female when transformed into Sailor Senshi.
+*The animated webseries ''[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL24C8378F296DB656 Battle For Dream Island]'' features characters based on numbers, variables, and mathematical symbols (commonly called Algebralians) which are heavily implied to be a genderless race. When the topic of gender comes up, the character Four simply responds, "we don't have that where I'm from."<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGIZyD5-5gE BFB 10: Enter the Exit]</ref> The Algebralians Four and X are referred to with he/him and they/them pronouns, and Two, another major Algebralian, is referred to with they/them.
 === Audio ===
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 *Adam Rex's sci-fi novel, ''The True Meaning of Smekday'' (2007), features the Boov, an alien people with seven genders (boy, girl, girlboy, boygirl, boyboy, boyboygirl, and boyboyboyboy) based on their fish-like role in fertilizing an egg after they lay it in a designated part of town. Because of the impersonal way they reproduce, Boov society is egalitarian and aromantic. The sequel, ''Smek for President'' (2015), has a girlboy character named Ponch Sandhandler. She-he is addressed as "ladyfellow," and by she-he pronouns. The movie loosely based on the books, ''Home'' (2015), doesn't directly mention anything about Boov gender, and only refers to any Boov by he pronouns.
 *In ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Left_Hand_of_Darkness The Left Hand of Darkness]'' by [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin Ursula K. Le Guin], the inhabitants of the planet Gethen are referred to as ambisexual, and lack sex characteristics for the majority of the lunar cycle, which they acquire in order to reproduce.
-* In Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's collaborative novel ''Good Omens,''  Neil Gaiman has confirmed that both of the main characters are non-binary, and they present as different genders at times in both the book and the 2019 tv-series (Crowley presenting as female as a nanny, and Aziraphale presenting as female while possessing madame Tracy). The characters usually present as males, and don't show any inclination to correct people on using masculine pronouns, but this is presented more as them not caring, and less them defining themself as males. The book specifically says that all angels and demons in it are neither male nor female, which is the standard belief about [[Gender variance in Christianity#Angels in Christianity|angels in Christianity]].
+* In Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's collaborative novel ''Good Omens,''  Neil Gaiman has confirmed that both of the main characters are non-binary, and they present as different genders at times in both the book and the 2019 tv-series (Crowley presenting as female as a nanny and at Jesus's cruxification, and Aziraphale presenting as female while possessing Madame Tracy). The characters usually present as males, and don't show any inclination to correct people on using masculine pronouns, but this is presented more as them not caring, and less them defining themself as males. The book specifically says that all angels and demons in it are neither male nor female, which is the standard belief about [[Gender variance in Christianity#Angels in Christianity|angels in Christianity]].
 * In ''Wyvern'', a kids book by Kyle McGiverin, there is a sentient race of beings called wyverns. The wyverns are genderless and use "wy/wym/wys" pronouns.<ref name="Helkio">{{Cite web |title=ALDIA: A World Where Gender Is Meaningless |last=Helkio |first=Raymond |work=theBUZZ |date=2017 |access-date=14 June 2020 |url= https://thebuzzmag.ca/2017/03/aldia-world-gender-meaningless/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221204213811/https://thebuzzmag.ca/2017/03/aldia-world-gender-meaningless/ |archive-date=17 July 2023 }}</ref>
 * The ''Lilith's Brood'' series by Octavia Butler (three novels: ''Dawn'', ''Adulthood Rites'', and ''Imago'') features the oankali, an alien race with three genders: male, female, and ooloi.<ref name="SturgeonFW">{{Cite web |title=17 Pathbreaking Non-Binary and Gender-Fluid Novels |last=Sturgeon |first=Jonathon |work=Flavorwire |date=11 May 2015 |access-date=9 December 2020 |url= https://www.flavorwire.com/518203/17-pathbreaking-non-binary-and-gender-fluid-novels|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210032841/https://www.flavorwire.com/518203/17-pathbreaking-non-binary-and-gender-fluid-novels |archive-date=17 July 2023 }}</ref>
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 * In ''Ice Song'' and ''Tattoo'', fantasy/sci-fi/paranormal books by Kirsten Imani Kasai, the protagonist, Sorykah Minuit, is a type of person known as a "Trader", meaning her physical [[sex]] changes at certain times due to her genetics. Traders are treated with superstition and harassment. Sorykah's male persona is Soryk, and his memories are separate from Sorykah's. Sorykah has twin children, Leander and Ayeda, who are also Traders.
 * ''Everybody Loves Large Chests'', a (dark)comedy-fantasy webnovel by Exterminatus, features several sentient species who have no or only one biological sex. Some of them display gendered features and behavior, like the "motherly" Dryads and the various kinds of demons. Boxxy, the anti-hero protagonist, is explicitely stated to be genderless in the chapter "Mindgames 2".<ref>{{cite web |url= https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/EverybodyLovesLargeChests |website= TV Tropes |access-date= 20 May 2021 |quote= The irony of a genderless creature with zero sex drive somehow surrounding itself with all manner of lewd women was so thick that one would probably need to dig through it with a pickaxe. |title= Literature / Everybody Loves Large Chests |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230315111851/https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/EverybodyLovesLargeChests |archive-date= 17 July 2023 }}</ref> The story follows its life from Dungeon-Mimic to walking calamity.
+* In the ''Wayfarers'' series by Becky Chambers (''<nowiki/>'The Long way to a Small, Angry Planet', 'A Closed and Common Orbit', 'Records of a Spaceborn Few'<nowiki/>'' and ''<nowiki/>'The Galaxy, and the Ground Within''') there are multiple interpretations of gender within the alien species.
+** The Aeluon species are a four-gendered species, and separate them based on reproductive capability: Those who produced eggs, those who fertilised eggs, those who shifted between both reproductive abilities in phases (called shons) and those who could not do either. In galactic society, they used the common feminine-masculine-neuter pronoun set, which in the universe is she/he/xyr. Shons used the pronoun set that their body matched, unless they were in the middle of a shift. Children and those who could not reproduce used xyr. In book two, ''A Closed and Common Orbit,'' there is a Aeluon fertility festival called a ''Shimmerquick'', and the Aeluon taking part wear colour-coded clothing to illustrate their gender.
+** In ''The Galaxy, and the Ground Within'', Tupo, a Laru child, is referred to with xe/xyr pronouns, as xyr has not yet reached adulthood where gender is chosen.
 ===Comics and graphic novels===
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 *"[http://sulmere.tumblr.com Ask Sulmere]" by Draque Thompson is an ongoing ask blog featuring aliens of a race that never evolved sexual dimorphism or the concept of gender.
-*The animated webseries ''[https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL24C8378F296DB656 Battle For Dream Island]'' features characters based on numbers, variables, and mathematical symbols (commonly called Algebralians) which are heavily implied to be a genderless race. When the topic of gender comes up, the character Four simply responds, "we don't have that where I'm from."<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGIZyD5-5gE BFB 10: Enter the Exit]</ref> The Algebralians Four and X are referred to with he/him and they/them pronouns, and Two, another major Algebralian, is referred to with they/them.
 ==Gender nonconformity in fiction==