Gender nihilism

(DISCLAIMER: Near direct copy from lgbtqia.wiki; March 2026)

Gender Nihilism is a philosophy based around the idea of getting rid of gender in society altogether. It is rooted in anti-humanist queer feminism.

In this form of nihilism, it is believed that the self is entirely defined by social structure, and that at the core it is nothing until it interacts with said social structure. Gender nihilism focuses on how this philosophy applies to gender specifically, though it can be applied to any aspect of identity.

Gender nihilism declares that gender is an instrument created by institutions of power, and believes that the best/only way to get rid of the chains of gender-based oppression is to have the instrument destroyed. It seeks to combat the need for an identity, and believes that identity categories are simply not worth it.

Philosophy

Gender nihilism does not seek to restrict people's expressions, or prevent them from doing what they want with their bodies. These expressions would not disappear but gender nihilism would mean that none of these gendered traits would be gendered. individuals would be free to exist in whatever way they do, without the chains of misogyny, transmisogyny, and heterosexism. Categories like "man", "woman", "non-binary", "cis", and "trans" would cease to exist and would no longer make sense as categories. As there is no longer gender, there would no longer be gender minorities, and therefore no longer the possibility of gender based oppression.

Gender nihilists tend to consider their gender to be whatever they are seen as by those institutions of power. They may also feel apathetic or distant from the concept of gender and wanting to detach from it altogether. They do not care what gendered terms are used to describe them. They don't want to be men/women, but they accept that since these things are constructs of power, they are men/women for as long as they exist under those institutions of power. They do not necessarily see themselves as agender, but rather see everyone as genderless before interacting with these power structures which impose gender.

Gender nihilism also deals with questions regarding what would have happened in a society with no gender.

Practice

Most commonly, gender nihilists tend to treat every person with disregard to their gender identity. Gender nihilists do not infer with gender expression. A common way is to avoid any type of gendering language for everyone.

Examples are:

-Using genderneutral pronouns to everyone (in English).

-Avoiding third person pronoun use altogether (by name repitition or -s).

-Calling strangers "Friend" instead of Mr. or Miss.

-Referring to "females" and "males" only in strict necessary, biological sense (although even sex is sometimes being avoided).

-Asking people to measurements and capabilities based on their physiology rather than their gender or sex (e.g. in queer sporting events, blood donations or suspect descriptions).

-Citing data in genderneutral language when originally written in gendered form.

-Referring to ability of act rather than genus (e.g. "[crime] is most often done by the one with the [genital]")

-Translating genderneutrally to other languages or back.

-Prioritising genderneutral language over third person personal preferences.

Criticism

Many have pointed out that, while the philosophy of "Why is gender necessary?" is fine as a personal philosophy, it should not be forcibly applied to all individuals. For some individuals their gender means a lot to them, and the notion of doing away with gender may invalidate how strongly they identifies with their gender and all the steps they have taken in their transition.

That said, many gender nihilist are themselves trans*, non-binary, or queer. Some non-binary individuals may embrace gender nihilism to describe their experience of gender along with possibly being gender apathetic, agender, quoigender, gender agnostic, nihilgender, etc.