Bigender: Difference between revisions

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[[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>

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=|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>

A 1999 survey conducted by the San Francisco Department of Public Health observed that, among the transgender community, less than 3% of those who were [[AMAB|assigned male at birth]] and less than 8% of those who were [[AFAB|assigned female at birth]] identified as bigender.<ref>Clements, K. "The Transgender Community Health Project." San Francisco Department of Public Health. 1999. [http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/InSite?page=cftg-02-02 http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/InSite?page=cftg-02-02] [https://web.archive.org/web/20230531053748/http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/InSite?page=cftg-02-02 Archived] on 17 July 2023</ref>

In 2012, Case and Ramachandran gave a report on the results of a survey of [[genderfluid]] people who call themselves bigender who experience involuntary alternation between female and male states. Case and Ramachandran gave this condition the name "Alternating gender incongruity (AGI)." Case and Ramachandran made the hypothesis that gender alternation may reflect an unusual degree (or depth) of hemispheric switching, and the corresponding suppression of sex appropriate body maps in the parietal cortex. They said that "we hypothesize that tracking the nasal cycle, rate of binocular rivalry, and other markers of hemispheric switching will reveal a physiological basis for AGI individuals' subjective reports of gender switches... We base our hypotheses on ancient and modern associations between the left and right hemispheres and the male and female genders."<ref name="CaseRamachandran2012">{{cite journal|last1=Case|first1=Laura K.|last2=Ramachandran|first2=Vilayanur S.|title=Alternating gender incongruity: A new neuropsychiatric syndrome providing insight into the dynamic plasticity of brain-sex|journal=Medical Hypotheses|volume=78|issue=5|year=2012|pages=626–631|issn=03069877|doi=10.1016/j.mehy.2012.01.041}}</ref><ref>"Bigender - Boy Today, Girl Tomorrow?". ''Neuroskeptic''. April 8, 2012. [http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.com/2012/04/bigender-boy-today-girl-tomorrow.html http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.com/2012/04/bigender-boy-today-girl-tomorrow.html] [https://web.archive.org/web/20221206064913/http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.com/2012/04/bigender-boy-today-girl-tomorrow.html Archived] on 17 July 2023</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Stix|first=Gary|date=20 April 2012 |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/alternating-gender-incongruity_n_1438911|title='Alternating Gender Incongruity' Causes Rapid Shifts Of Gender, Scientist Claims |website=The Huffington Post|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907041247/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/alternating-gender-incongruity_n_1438911|archive-date=7 September 2023}}</ref> These doctors think that when bigender people feel a change between their gender identities, it might have to do with a change in how they use parts of their brains. The gender change might also have to do with one of the cycles that everyone has in their body, specifically, a valve in the nose that changes sides every two days (the nasal cycle). This is only a hypothesis, meaning that it is an interesting idea that doesn't have proof for now.

In July of 2014, two bigender pride flag designs by Tumblr user no-bucks-for-this-doe were posted on the blog "pridearchive".<ref name="pridearchive">{{Cite web |title=Bigender Pride |author= |work=Pride Archive |date=30 July 2014 |access-date=6 July 2021 |url= https://pridearchive.tumblr.com/post/93315678776/bigender-pride|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531074105/https://pridearchive.tumblr.com/post/93315678776/bigender-pride |archive-date=31 May 2022 }}</ref> The first flag has seven horizontal stripes: two shades of pink on the top, followed by a lavender stripe, white middle stripe, another lavender stripe, and two shades of blue on the bottom. The second flag is the same except that the middle stripe is a gradient of white-to-grey. The color meanings were given thusly:

In later years, many alternate bigender pride flags were created after allegations that no-bucks-for-this-doe, aka Sunny, was transphobic and predatory.<ref name="SymbolSage">{{Cite web |title=Bigender Flag – What Does It Represent? |author= |work=Symbol Sage |date=2021 |access-date=6 July 2021 |url= https://symbolsage.com/bi-gender-flag-explained/ |quote=A few years back, there were accusations flying around that the original creator of the 'official' bigender flag showed signs of being transphobic and predatory. Thus, many members of the bigender community felt uncomfortable associating with the original bigender flag. There have been many attempts across the years to conceptualize a brand-new bigender flag – one that's free from the questionable reputation of its designer.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602075428/https://symbolsage.com/bi-gender-flag-explained/ |archive-date=17 July 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://belmonnt-remade.tumblr.com/post/631901475300327424/a-little-note-on-the-bigender-flag-i-do-not-know|title=a little note on the bigender flag|date=13 October 2020|access-date=6 July 2021}}{{Dead link|date=July 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite tweet |user=SidiPopsicle |number=1404717734819160065 |title=BEGGING people who add Bigender to pride tweets to research that the original flag was made by a transphobic and abusive pedo, and that there are two other popular redesigns to choose from (i personally prefer the one with the purple stripe in the middle, pictured below)!|date=15 June 2021}}</ref> In April 2022, a tumblr user claiming to be Sunny posted that the allegations against them were "more or less true" and also wrote that "I don't like the idea of my flag being used widely because it reminds me of the person I used to be. But it isn't up to me. Flags belong to the community as a whole, not the creator. Regardless I'm glad it seems to be phasing out."<ref>{{cite web|title=I’m Sunny, the creator of the old bigender flag|date=28 April 2022|author=031exuberantwitness|url=https://www.tumblr.com/031exuberantwitness/682756338431016960/im-sunny-the-creator-of-the-old-bigender-flag-a |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230526164816/https://www.tumblr.com/031exuberantwitness/682756338431016960/im-sunny-the-creator-of-the-old-bigender-flag-a |archive-date=26 May 2023}}</ref>