Genderqueer

Genderqueer, also called GenderQueer or gender queer, is an umbrella term that refers both to non-normative gender identity and gender expression. The label may also be used by individuals wishing to identify as holding queer or non-normative gender without being any more specific about the nature of their gender.

Genderqueer

Meaning Lavender: mixture of pink (female) and blue (male); White: gender neutral or agender; Dark green: inverse of lavender, meaning the third gender
Related identities	Nonbinary
Under the umbrella term	Transgender
Frequency	35%
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« There's a real pressure on nonbinary folks to present a front of absolute security and certainty about their identities. You have to project confidence at all times, so no one ever has the space to question your gender. And I think that's too bad, really, because we run the risk of putting more importance on certainty than we do on exploration. The only times we can be vulnerable is with other queer people, who understand that gender is a journey and a process. » — Anonymous, 26 (Genderqueer)

As an umbrella term, Genderqueer has a similar scope to nonbinary, with many nonbinary-identifying individuals also considering themselves genderqueer. However, the terms have different historical scopes and connotations. The word genderqueer was used at least ten years before nonbinary.

Genderqueer Visibility Day is observed annually on April 25th.

History

Genderqueer was coined in the 1990s as 'Gender Queer,' and was for a time written as 'GenderQueer' before becoming a single word. The original meaning was literally queer gender, including anyone who felt the way they experienced or expressed gender was queer. The term carries the non-normative and anti-assimilationist connotations of the Queer Movement and applies these to gender rather than sexuality.

A 1990 book titled "The Welcoming Congregation Handbook" defined "Gender Queer" as "A person whose understanding of her/hir/his gender identification transcends society's polarized gender system".

Another early usage of the term was by Riki Anne Wilchins in the Spring 1995 newsletter of Transexual Menace:

«

...this is not just one more civil rights struggle for one more narrowly-defined minority. It's about all of us who are genderqueer: diesel dykes and stone butches, leatherqueens and radical fairies, nelly fags, crossdressers, intersexed, transsexuals, transvestites, transgendered, transgressively gendered, and those of us whose gender expressions are so complex they haven’t even been named yet.

»

Riki Wilchins' essay from the 2002 anthology GenderQueer describes how the original 'Gender Queers' adopted the label because the intended-to-be-inclusive umbrella term transgender had begun to be most strongly associated with transsexual, gender binary identified and medically transitioning people, pushing out those who did not fit this dominant transgender narrative.

By 1999/2000, online communities such as the Sphere mailing list were using the term genderqueer as an umbrella to unite a number of nonbinary gender identities and identifications that are now thought of as under the nonbinary umbrella. An example of this use of the word appears on the "Genderqueer Links" page of a personal website from 2002:

Worthwhile websites by and about third-, bi-, poly-, inter-, other-, un- and non-gendered people.

Around 2002, a college student created genderqueers.com as an educational resource and "artistic, emotional, intellectual, and social outlet" for genderqueer people. They hosted an FAQ, a compilation of links to gender variance-related sites, a library of writing by genderqueer people, profiles of gender variant people, and a peer support forum. Per the FAQ:

What does the term "genderqueer" actually mean? The term "genderqueer" is a relatively new term in gender theory and identity, only becoming popular within the last couple of years. Basically when used as an identity, genderqueer means that person's gender is not contained within the traditional gender binary -- this means that they might identify as transgendered, transsexual, non-gendered, poly-gendered...the list is infinite. Genderqueer is to the male/female gender binary (or genderstraight) as being queer is to being straight -- the term queer encompasses anything that is outside the "norm." But, as should be remembered with all identities, it is up to the person to decide what it actually means, and the term genderqueer's definition is unique for every person who uses it to describe themselves.

Also in 2002, a genderqueer Livejournal community appeared, using a similarly broad definition:

This community is for those of us who don't feel we fit the binary gender system in use by most of society. Ungendered, many gendered, a gender other than the one society thinks you should be? Do you express your gender(s) in nontraditional ways? You just might fit in here!

As of 2024, the community had 2,036 members and 4,030 journal entries; the last post was in January 2017.

In the 2000s, genderqueer developed as a standalone identity with particular (sub)cultural expectations and connotations, while the tendency to identify particular experiences under its umbrella seemed to diminish. In a 2005 zine, Rocko Bulldagger critiqued the expectations that genderqueer identity acquired in this period, observing that people in genderqueer scenes were more concerned with constructing an identity that "reject[ed] M/F" than including a wider range of people who transgressed or engaged consciously with gender. She criticized the scene's increasing unfriendliness to people outside a narrow range of embodiments and expressions. Increasingly, "genderqueer" meant white, young, female-assigned and masculine people who did not use she/her, adhered to specific fashion trends, and had not passed certain milestones in medical transition. However, both uses are still visible in different online and in person communities.

In the 2010s, a group called Genderqueer Chicago held weekly in-person discussion groups, hosted events, and maintained a community blog. The group was officially inclusive of anyone interested in discussing gender.

Difference between Genderqueer and Nonbinary

Genderqueer means non-normative or queer gender while nonbinary means gender that falls outside the gender binary model. Both of these terms are extremely similar in scope, however in practice their connotations are significantly different.

Genderqueer comes with the anti-assimilationist political connotations of queer, a reclaimed slur word that has strong associations within and without the LGBT community as well as a countercultural sexuality movement that sets itself apart from the mainstream LGBT community. (Note that the word "queer" is still actively used as a pejorative and hate speech in many regions.) As such genderqueer implies a similar counterculture, setting itself apart from mainstream nonbinary and transgender discourse. Many genderqueer people also consider themselves to be queer and there is a strong trend of rejecting the gender binary and normative gender roles within the Queer Movement as a whole.

By contrast, nonbinary is more politically neutral in its connotations. Nonbinary was coined as a descriptive term, originally simply 'nonbinary gender', used to describe the range of experiences that fall outside of the binary gender model. There is no countercultural discourse connotation, nor is there a connotation of association with the wider Queer Movement. Nonbinary is intended to simply cover the widest range of identities and experiences without intending to describe their political or cultural philosophies and affiliations.

Observed differences between people who hold each identity

While genderqueer and nonbinary are theoretically extremely similar in their scope as umbrella terms, in practice genderqueer slants more towards those who identify as queering gender while nonbinary tends to attract those who hold specific trans* or transgender identities that fall outside of the gender binary.

Genderqueer-identified people seem to be more likely to hold binary gender identities (eg, 'Genderqueer Woman') while considering their gender expression or gender performance to be queer or non-normative, while nonbinary-identified people are more likely to consider their gender identity (or lack of gender identity) to fall outside of the binary.^{[citation needed]} Genderqueer-identified people seem to be more likely to consider themselves to be queer or a member of the queer community.

Nonbinary-identified people generally seem more comfortable with considering themselves transgender and more likely to use the language of gender dysphoria. The adoption of the term 'nonbinary' by parts of the genderqueer community may reflect a trend of adopting the language of the transgender rights movement in order to make use of and expand on the legal protections now afforded to transgender people in some localities. Nonbinary-identified people may be more likely to be seeking access to transgender medical care or legal recognition (aka transition).

Some nonbinary people reject the term genderqueer as an umbrella term because they are offended to be associated with queer sexuality, or still see queer as an offensive word.

Despite these trends and connotations, both terms are used by some members of each group and so may be considered as wide inclusive umbrella terms. Some genderqueer-identified people have sought 'transition', some nonbinary-identified people hold binary gender identities and consider themselves to be nonbinary by gender expression, and it is currently common for nonbinary-identified individuals to also identify as genderqueer (especially as this term predates nonbinary by at least a decade).^{[citation needed]}

Is Genderqueer Transgender?

There is controversy within the genderqueer community over whether genderqueer people fall under the transgender umbrella. Despite the work of Leslie Feinberg in the 1990s to coin transgender as a wide and inclusive umbrella term covering all forms of transgressive gender, the term genderqueer developed out of a frustration with the association between transgender and transsexualism, gender dysphoria and the dominant transgender narrative.^{[citation needed]}

It is common for genderqueer-identified people to consider trans and transgender to be synonymous with transition and so to claim genderqueer as a non-transgender identity. This is especially true with people who are genderqueer by gender expression only, but also applies to some genderqueer people who are comfortable with their body and see transgender as synonymous with bodily gender dysphoria.^{[citation needed]} As such, it is important when talking about genderqueer and nonbinary people to recognise that not all people who hold these identities consider themselves to fall under the transgender umbrella.

Notable people

JD Samson

Some notable people who specifically describe themselves with the label "genderqueer" include:

• musician JD Samson
• model Rain Dove
• drag performer Violet Chachki
• internet personality Jeffrey Marsh
• comedian Hannah Gadsby
• cartoonist and author Maia Kobabe
• author and activist Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore

For more, see this wiki's genderqueer people category.

Genderqueer characters in fiction

There are many more characters in fiction who have a gender identity outside of the binary. The following are only some of those characters who are specifically called by the word genderqueer, either in their canon, or by their creators.

• In Rhiannon Collett's play Wasp, the protagonist Wasp is genderqueer.
• In Ann Roberts' young adult book In The Silences, the protagonist Kaz describes themself as nonbinary and genderqueer.
• Creators of the webcomic Mahou Shonen FIGHT! have "confirmed that Raji and Raji's fiancé both identify as gender queer and non-conforming".
• Whirlwind, by Reese Morrison, is a collection of interconnected short romance/sex stories. One of the main characters, Carla, describes himself as genderqueer and masculine-of-center.

See also

• Nonbinary gender
• Gender nonconformity
• Gender variant
• Genderqueer flag
• Intergender
• Androgyne

External links

• Wikipedia's Genderqueer article
• Genderqueer Identities
• Genderqueer Identities: The Non-binary vs Genderqueer Quandary
• Riki Wilchin's essay on the origins of Genderqueer from the 2002 anthology GenderQueer
• A Gender by Any Other Name: What Does the Term Genderqueer Mean to Us in 2021?

Further reading

• Nestle, Joan, Clare Howell, and Riki A. Wilchins. GenderQueer: Voices from Beyond the Sexual Binary. Los Angeles: Alyson Books, 2002. Print.
• Sycamore, Mattilda B. Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press, 2006. Print.