Nonbinary Wiki

List of nonbinary identities

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This alphabetical list of some of the more common nonbinary identities gives names of many kinds of gender identities that are nonbinary. That is, those other than just female and male, which are the binary genders. This list gives names for nonbinary identities in English-speaking cultures, as well as those that are part of other cultures. (For the latter, please never use a word for your gender that belongs only to a culture or ethnic group that is not yours.) Some of these words for nonbinary genders have been used in writing for thousands of years. Meanwhile, some of these words were created last year. This page lists fewer of the older gender-variant identities than the new ones, because it can be harder to say whether it's accurate to put those in the category of "nonbinary."

Note to editors: Identities added to this list must demonstrate notability and cite sources (telling who coined them, when, and showing that they're in use by people), or else the entry will be deleted.


A

 
Shown here live at Øyafestivalen 2013, Raeen Roes, better known by their stage name Angel Haze, is a well known agender rapper, as they announced via twitter in February 2015.
  • agender. 1. Some who call themselves agender have no gender identity (genderless). 2. Some who call themselves agender have a gender identity, which isn't female or male, but neutral.[1]
  • agenderflux. Coined by perfectlybrokenbones in 2014. "Where you identify as agender but have fluctuations where you feel feminine or masculine but not male or female".[1]
  • androgyne. This word is used for a wide variety of gender nonconforming and non-binary gender identities and gender expressions.[1]
  • aporagender. Coined in 2014, from Greek apo, apor "separate" + "gender".[2] A nonbinary gender identity and umbrella term for "a gender separate from male, female, and anything in between while still having a very strong and specific gendered feeling" (that is, not an absence of gender).[3][1]
  • ashtime. In Ethiopia, the Maale people had a gender role called Ashtime, for assigned-male-at-birth (AMAB) eunuchs who live as women, though later this became an umbrella term for all kinds of gender non-conforming AMAB people.[4]

B

 
Sworn virgin in Rapsha, Hoti, Ottoman Albania, at the beginning of the 20th century.
  • berdache. An old word used by European-American anthropologists as an umbrella term for nonbinary gender roles in Native American cultures. The term was replaced by Two-Spirit in 1990 at an Indigenous lesbian and gay international gathering.[5] Some Native American people can reclaim the word "berdache" for themselves, but it shouldn't be used by people who aren't Native.
  • bi-gender, bigender.[1] Bigender individuals have two gender identities, at the same time, or at different times.[6] These two genders might be female and male, or they might be a different pair of genders.
  • burrnesha. In Albania, the Burrnesha, "sworn virgins," are people assigned female at birth who have a masculine gender expression and role. This tradition goes back to at least the 1400s, and is still practiced.[7][8]
  • butch.[1] A queer masculine gender identity or expression, which some see as a nonbinary gender.

D

  • demiboy. A gender identity that is male-like, or both male and genderless.[9][1]
  • demigender.[1] An umbrella term for nonbinary gender identities that have a partial connection to a certain gender.
  • demigirl.[1] A gender identity that is female-like, or both female and genderless.[10]

E

  • enby.[1] Created in 2013 by a non-binary person named vector (revolutionator).[11] Based on an initialism of "non-binary," "NB". A common noun for a person with a non-binary gender identity. This is the nonbinary gender equivalent of the common nouns "boy" or "girl." Plural: enbies.

F

  • fa'afafine. In Samoa, the Fa'afafine are people assigned male at birth who have a feminine gender expression, and who don't think of themselves as female or male.[12]
  • femme.[1] A queer feminine gender, which some use as a nonbinary identity.
  • FTX. Female-to-X, covering people who were assigned female at birth, and who identify as nonbinary or X-gender.[13]

G

 
Asia's first gender queer pride parade in Madurai, 2012.
  • gallae. Originating in Turkey, and spreading to Europe, many of the ancient priestesses of the goddess Cybele were Gallae. The Gallae were eunuchs who were analogous to transgender women. Some see them as a nonbinary gender role. Today, some worshipers of Cybele call themselves Gallae. One of their temples is in New York.
  • genderfluid, or gender-fluid.[1] A gender identity that often changes, so that a person may feel one day like a boy, and another day like a girl. Fluid gender.
  • genderflux.[1] Coined by deergoths in 2014. "Genderflux means that your internal sense of how gendered you are varies over time. One day, you might feel really gendered, and the next day, you might have a very weak feeling of gender, or not feel like any gender at all. Whereas genderfluidity is a shift between different genders, genderflux is more like varying intensity." A gender identity that often changes in intensity, so that a person may feel one day as though they have almost no gender, or none at all, and another day they feel very gendered.
  • genderless.[1] Having no gender identity. Syn. agender.
  • gender neutral.[1] 1. That which has nothing to do with gender. 2. Having no gender identity; agender. 3. Having a gender identity that is neutral: not female, not male, not a mix. Neutrois.
  • genderqueer[1] is a non-normative gender identity or expression. This can be an umbrella term, or a specific identity.
  • gendervoid.[1] Coined by Baaphomett in 2014. "A gender consisting of the void (also/originally used to mean the same thing as genderless)."

H

 
A Pakistani hijra at a protest between two hijra groups from Islamabad and Rawalpindi. 2008.
  • hijra. In south Asian countries including India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, the Hijra are people assigned male at birth who have a feminine gender expression. This is a very ancient tradition. Today, Hijra are legally recognized as a gender other than female or male.[14][15][16][17][18][19]

I

  • intergender.[1] Coined in the 1990s or earlier. A certain nonbinary gender identity in between female and male. In the 1990s, this was an identity label that any person could use, even if they were born with non-intersex (dyadic) bodies,[20] but others say it should only be used by people who were born with intersex bodies.

J

  • juxera.[21] "a gender relative to female, but is something separate and entirely on it’s own." Coined 2014 by tumblr user ren, along with proxvir. Intended for use as an adjective, not a noun.[22]

M

  • Māhū. In Hawaii, in the Kanaka Maoli society, the Māhū is a nonbinary gender role, made of people who can be either AFAB or AMAB. This tradition existed before Western invaders, and survives today.[23]
  • maverique.[1] Coined by Vesper H. (queerascat) in 2014. A specific nonbinary gender identity "characterized by autonomy and inner conviction regarding a sense of self that is entirely independent of male/masculinity, female/femininity or anything which derives from the two while still being neither without gender nor of a neutral gender."[24]
  • MTX. Male-to-X, covering people who were assigned male at birth, and who identify as nonbinary or X-gender.[13]

N

  • neutrois.[1] Coined by a neutrois person named H. A. Burnham in 1995.[25] Having one non-binary gender identity that is neutral. Not female, not male, and not a mix. Some neutrois people are transsexual, experience gender dysphoria, and want to get a physical transition.[26]
  • ninauposkitzipxpe. In North America, the Blackfoot Confederacy recognizes a gender called ninauposkitzipxpe, "manly-hearted women," who are assigned female at birth, and occupy a gender role different from that of women and men.[27]
  • nonbinary[1] is an umbrella term for all who don't identify as just female or male. Though there are many kinds of nonbinary gender identities, some people identify as "nonbinary" only.

P

  • polygender.[1] Having several gender identities, particularly four or more of them. This can mean at different times, or at the same time.
  • proxvir.[21] "a gender relative to male, but is something separate and entirely on it’s own." Coined 2014 by tumblr user ren, who felt he no longer identified with "demiboy" because of that word's focus on "boy" and implication of a split/mixed gender. Intended as an adjective.[22]

Q

  • quariwarmi. In Peru, the pre-colonial Incas recognized quariwarmi, a nonbinary mixed-gender role.[28]
  • queer.[1] A reclaimed slur for the LGBT+ community, and an umbrella term for identities that are not heterosexual and/or not cisgender. Some people use this as the name for their nonbinary gender identity.

S

  • sekhet. In ancient Egypt (Middle Kingdom, 2000-1800 BCE), there were said to be three genders of humans: men, sekhet, and women, in that order. Sekhet is usually translated as "eunuch," but that's probably an oversimplification of what this gender category means. It may also mean cisgender gay men, in the sense of not having children, and not necessarily someone who was castrated.[29]

T

 
Two-spirited pride marchers at San Francisco Pride 2014.
  • trans feminine.[1] A transgender person who transitions in a feminine direction, but who doesn't necessarily identify as female. They may have a non-binary gender identity.
  • transgender[1] is an umbrella term for all genders that go beyond society’s ideas of gender, which includes some kinds of binary gender people. Some call their gender identity simply "transgender," as a nonbinary identity itself.
  • Two-spirit. Hundreds of cultures throughout North and South America have long had gender roles for those other than cisgender women and cisgender men. Internationally, "Two-spirit" is the agreed-upon modern English umbrella term for these gay, transgender, and nonbinary gender roles.[30]

V

  • vaguegender, or gendervague[1] (coined by neurodivergentkin and strangledlove)[31] is defined as a gender identity that is highly influenced by being neurodivergent, and feels undefinable or partly definable because of one’s neurodivergence. Specific kinds of vaguegender include vagueflux, vagueboy, and vaguegirl.

X

  • X-gender (Xジェンダー). In Japan, this is a common transgender identity that isn't female or male.[13]
  • XTX. A nonbinary, neutral, and/or x-gender counterpart to FTM (female-to-male) and MTF (male-to-female).[13]

Y

 
Jia Baoyu, the main character of the 18th century novel, The Dream of the Red Chamber. He is described as a yinyang ren, and is based on the novel's author.
  • yinyang ren (陰陽人). In China, yinyang ren are people who have an equal amount of both feminine (yin) and masculine (yang) qualities. Usually this means gender nonconforming and bisexual, but can also mean transgender or intersex.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 NB/GQ Survey 2016 - the worldwide results, March 2016.
  2. ↑ Anonymous asked: "could I ask the etymology of the prefix apora- ?", posted October 2014.
  3. ↑ Aporagender, date unknown, captured April 2016.
  4. ↑ Epprecht, Marc. Heterosexual Africa?: The History of an Idea from the Age of Exploration to the Age of AIDS, p.61-62
  5. ↑ "Two Spirit 101" at NativeOut: "The Two Spirit term was adopted in 1990 at an Indigenous lesbian and gay international gathering to encourage the replacement of the term berdache, which means, 'passive partner in sodomy, boy prostitute.'" Accessed 23 Sep 2015
  6. ↑ Schneider, M., et al, American Psychological Association, APA Task Force on Gender Identity, Gender Variance, and Intersex Conditions, 2008 Answers to Your Questions ABOUT TRANSGENDER PEOPLE, GENDER IDENTITY, AND GENDER EXPRESSION (PDF), date unknown, captured April 2016.
  7. ↑ Whitaker, (1984) p. 146
  8. ↑ Shaw (2005) p. 74
  9. ↑ Definitions Master List, asexualityorg proboards, posted August 2012, captured April 2016.
  10. ↑ AVEN: Definitions Master List
  11. ↑ vector (revolutionator). Untitled post, September 2013. revolutionator's blog is password-protected, but the post has been reblogged many times, eg: here, date unknown, captured April 2016.
  12. ↑ "The evolutionary puzzle of homosexuality", BBC News, Feb 2014.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Selected links on nonbinary gender in Japan, Marilyn Roxie, March 28, 2013.
  14. ↑ Reddy, Gayatri, With Respect to Sex: Negotiating Hijra Identity in South India, 310 pp., University of Chicago Press, 2005 ISBN 0-226-70755-5 (see p. 8)
  15. ↑ "India's third gender gets own identity in voter rolls", Harmeet Shah Singh, CNN.com, Nov. 2009
  16. ↑ Mitch Kellaway. "Trans Indian's Predicament at Border Shows the U.S. Lags Behind." May 9, 2015. Advocate. http://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2015/05/09/trans-indian-womans-predicament-border-shows-us-lags-behind
  17. ↑ "Pakistan Recognizes Third Gender", Ria Misra, Politics Daily, Dec. 2009
  18. ↑ "Hijras now a separate gender", Mohosinul Karim, Dhaka Tribune, Nov. 2013
  19. ↑ http://www.attn.com/stories/868/transgender-passport-status
  20. ↑ Donna Lynn Matthews, “What is intergendered?” 1998-10. http://cydathria.com/ms_donna/intergen.html
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 [1]
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 [2]
  23. ↑ The men-women of the Pacific, tate.org.uk/Tate Britain, archive URL 6 March 2015.
  24. ↑ maverique, Vesper H. (queerascat), June 2014, captured April 2016.
  25. ↑ Axey, Qwill, Rave, and Luscious Daniel, eds. “FAQ.” Neutrois Outpost. Last updated 2000-11-23. Retrieved 2001-03-07. [3]
  26. ↑ Define, Neutrois Nonsense, date unknown, captured April 2016.
  27. ↑ Gender Identity and Historical Context in Native Cultures by Emily Zogbi on 15 December 2014.
  28. ↑ Horswell, Michael J. (2006). Transculturating Tropes of Sexuality, Tinkuy, and Third Gender in the Andes, introduction to "Decolonizing the Sodomite: Queer Tropes of Sexuality in Colonial Andean Culture". ISBN 0-292-71267-7. Article online.
  29. ↑ Egyptian Third Gender, gendertree.com, last modified December 2013, captured April 2016.
  30. ↑ Eve Shapiro, Gender circuits: Bodies and identities in a technological age. Unpaged.
  31. ↑ Untitled post, reblogged by Queer As Cat, July 2014, captured April 2016.
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