Bigender: Difference between revisions

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{{infobox identity

| flag = bigender.png

| meaning = Pink: Woman; Blue: Man; Purple: Androgyne/mix of woman and man; White: Agender.

| related = [[Androgyne]], [[Bigenderfluid]], [[Ambigender]], [[Ambonec]], and [[Bigenderflux]]

| umbrella = [[Multigender]]

| frequency = 2.3%

| gallery_link = Pride Gallery/Bigender

}}

[[Bigender]], or '''bi-gender''', is a [[gender identity]] under the [[multigender]], [[nonbinary]], and [[transgender]] [[umbrella terms]]. Bigender people have two ~~distinct~~ gender identities, either at the same time, or at different times. The latter is a form of [[genderfluid]] identity, and may involve only two distinct genders, or it may involve "shades of gray between the two."<ref name="Schneider2008">Schneider, M., et al. ''APA Task Force on Gender Identity, Gender Variance, and Intersex Conditions'', 2008 [http://www.apa.org/topics/sexuality/transgender.pdf http://www.apa.org/topics/sexuality/transgender.pdf] (PDF)</ref> The two genders of a bigender person can be the two [[binary genders]], [[female]] and [[male]]. This is what people usually assume bigender means. However, some people who identify as bigender have a different pair of genders. For example, their two genders might be female and [[neutrois]]. Or the two genders might be both nonbinary, such as [[agender]] and [[aporagender]]. Bigender is recognized by the American Psychological Association (APA) as a subset of the transgender group.<ref name="~~Schneider2008~~" />

[[Bigender]], '''bi-gender''', or sometimes '''dual-gender'''/'''dual-gendered''', is a [[gender identity]] under the [[multigender]], [[nonbinary]], and [[transgender]] [[umbrella terms]]. Bigender people have two different specific gender identities, either at the same time, or at different times. The latter is a form of [[genderfluid]] identity, and may involve only two distinct genders, or it may involve "shades of gray between the two."<ref name="Schneider2008">author=Schneider, M., et al. ''APA Task Force on Gender Identity, Gender Variance, and Intersex Conditions'', 2008 [http://www.apa.org/topics/sexuality/transgender.pdf http://www.apa.org/topics/sexuality/transgender.pdf] (PDF){{dead link}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20230326002419/http://www.apa.org/topics/sexuality/transgender.pdf Archived] on 17 July 2023</ref> The two genders of a bigender person can be the two [[binary genders]], [[female]] and [[male]]. This is what people usually assume bigender means. However, some people who identify as bigender have a different pair of genders. For example, their two genders might be female and [[neutrois]]. Or the two genders might be both nonbinary, such as [[agender]] and [[aporagender]]. Bigender is recognized by the American Psychological Association (APA) as a subset of the transgender group.<ref name="Schneider2006">{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100705005410/http://www.apa.org/topics/sexuality/transgender.pdf |title=Answers to Your Questions About Transgender Individuals and Gender Identity |url=http://www.apa.org/topics/sexuality/transgender.pdf|date=2006 |archive-date=5 July 2010|publisher=American Psychological Associaton|last1=Schneider |first1=Margaret |last2=Bockting|first2=Walter|last3=Ehrbar |first3=Randall |last4=Lawrence|first4=Anne|last5=Rachlin|first5= Katherine Louise |last6=Zucker|first6=Kenneth}}</ref>

==History==

In the 1980s, an organization called the Human Outreach and Achievement Institute defined "bigenderist" as a type of [[androgyne]], with the latter being defined as "a person who can comfortably express either alternative gender role in a variety of socially acceptable environments."<ref>"Brochure for the Human Outreach and Achievement Institute." Ephemera. 1980. Digital Transgender Archive, https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/8g84mm373 (accessed October 02, 2020).</ref><ref>The Human Outreach and Achievement Institute. "Abstracts of a Symposium on Gender Issues for the 90s (Jul. 20, 1988)." Pamphlet. Digital Transgender Archive, https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/5q47rn80n (accessed October 02, 2020).</ref>

In the 1980s, a trans organization called the Human Outreach and Achievement Institute defined "bigenderist" as a type of [[androgyne]], with the latter being defined as "a person who can comfortably express either alternative gender role in a variety of socially acceptable environments."<ref>"Brochure for the Human Outreach and Achievement Institute." Ephemera. 1980. Digital Transgender Archive, https://web.archive.org/web/20201003071900/https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/8g84mm373 (accessed October 02, 2020).</ref><ref>The Human Outreach and Achievement Institute. "Abstracts of a Symposium on Gender Issues for the 90s (Jul. 20, 1988)." Pamphlet. Digital Transgender Archive, https://web.archive.org/web/20200815041041/https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/5q47rn80n (accessed October 02, 2020).</ref>

In 1992, Donna Mobley wrote in ''The Femme Mirror'' magazine:

{{quote|I'm neither a man pretending to be a woman nor a woman pretending to be a man. I'm dual-gendered and happily so. Don and Donna coexist and together they make up who and all that I truly am. To lose either part would leave me empty, since neither can exist without the other.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mobley |first=Donna |title=A Question of Balance|date=Winter 1992 |journal=The Femme Mirror}} [https://archive.org/details/tvtstapestry65unse/page/48/mode/2up Reprinted in a 1993 issue of ''TV/TS Tapestry Journal''.]</ref>}}

A trans man named Gary Bowen defined "bigendered" as "having two genders, exihibiting[sic] cultural characteristics of male and female roles" in his 1995 ''Dictionary of Words for Masculine Women".<ref name="Bowen">{{cite web|author=Bowen, Gary|title=A Dictionary of Words for Masculine Women|work=FTM International|date=15 May 1995|url=http://www.ftm-intl.org/Wrtngs/ftm-words.gary.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961105010926/http://www.ftm-intl.org/Wrtngs/ftm-words.gary.html|archive-date=5 November 1996|access-date=9 November 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>

A 1997 paper concerning the "[[gender spectrum|gender continuum]]" in ''International Journal of Transgenderism'' noted that "a person who feels or acts as both a woman and a man may identify as bi-gendered." The paper also described individuals who were "genderblended", being both binary genders but either "more man than woman" or "more woman than man".<ref name="Eyler">{{cite journal|last1=Eyler |first1=A.E.|last2=Wright |first2=K.|year=1997|url=https://cdn.atria.nl/ezines/web/IJT/97-03/numbers/symposion/ijtc0102.htm|title=Gender Identification and Sexual Orientation Among Genetic Females with Gender-Blended Self-Perception in Childhood and Adolescence.|journal=International Journal of Transgenderism|quote=}}</ref>

A 1997 paper concerning the "[[gender spectrum|gender continuum]]" in ''International Journal of Transgenderism'' noted that "a person who feels or acts as both a woman and a man may identify as bi-gendered." The paper also described individuals who were "genderblended", being both binary genders but either "more man than woman" or "more woman than man".<ref name="Eyler">{{cite journal|last1=Eyler |first1=A.E.|last2=Wright |first2=K.|year=1997|url=https://cdn.atria.nl/ezines/web/IJT/97-03/numbers/symposion/ijtc0102.htm|title=Gender Identification and Sexual Orientation Among Genetic Females with Gender-Blended Self-Perception in Childhood and Adolescence.|journal=International Journal of Transgenderism|quote=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210718084440/https://cdn.atria.nl/ezines/web/IJT/97-03/numbers/symposion/ijtc0102.htm|archive-date=17 July 2023}}</ref>