Bigender/en: Difference between revisions

[[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>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>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>

A 1997 paper concerning the "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>

In a 2010 encyclopedia, bigender is listed as a type of "[[androgyne]]" gender: "Androgyne identities include [[pangender]], [[bigender]], [[ambigender]], nongendered, [[agender]], [[gender fluid]], or [[intergender]]."<ref>''Encyclopedia of Curriculum Studies'', page 894, SAGE Publications, 2010.</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>Case, L. K.; Ramachandran, V. S. (2012). "Alternating gender incongruity: A new neuropsychiatric syndrome providing insight into the dynamic plasticity of brain-sex". ''Medical Hypotheses'' 78 (5): 626–631. doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2012.01.041. PMID 22364652. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22364652 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22364652]</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]</ref><ref>Stix, Gary (2012-04-20). "'Alternating Gender Incongruity' Causes Rapid Shifts Of Gender, Scientist Claims". ''The Huffington Post''. [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/19/alternating-gender-incongruity_n_1438911.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/19/alternating-gender-incongruity_n_1438911.html]</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.

Bigender people "move between feminine and masculine gender-typed behaviour depending on context. Some bigendered individuals express a distinctly ‘en femme’ persona and a distinctly ‘en homme’ persona […] others have shades of grey between the two."<ref>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>

[[File:RB Lemberg.jpg|thumb|200px|Ukrainian author [[R.B. Lemberg]], who descibes themself as bigender.]]

''See main article: [[Notable nonbinary people]]''

*The Slovakian musician [[B-Complex]] B-Complex (Matia or Maťo Lenická) is a drum and bass music producer and DJ. Prefers the name Maťo when presenting as a man and the name Matia when presenting as a woman.<ref name="denn_Prel">{{Cite web |title=Prelomil/a B-complex: Keď som muž, tak som Maťo, keď žena, tak Matia |trans-title=B-complex explained: When I'm a man, I'm Mato, when a woman, Matia |last=Pecíková |first=Laura |work=Denník N |date= |access-date=28 March 2020 |url= https://dennikn.sk/321936/prelomila-b-complex-muz-mato-zena-matia/ |language=sk}}</ref> The artist's first major label release was "Beautiful Lies", which appeared on the compilation ''Sick Music'' from Hospital Records. The compilation went on to reach the top 30 on the iTunes UK Download Chart, and was in the top 5 on the Beatport Drum and Bass Chart.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brokenbeats.co.nz/london-elektricity-b-complex-interview/|title=Interview: London Elektricity & B-Complex|publisher=Broken Beats|date=15 June 2009|accessdate=2014-09-17|author=Kivex|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150117125947/http://www.brokenbeats.co.nz/london-elektricity-b-complex-interview/|archive-date=17 January 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Hospital Records - B-complex |url=https://www.hospitalrecords.com/shop/artist/b-complex |publisher=[[Hospital Records]] |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514041421/https://www.hospitalrecords.com/shop/artist/b-complex |archivedate=2013-05-14 }}</ref> B-Complex goes by she/her pronouns (according to her [https://soundcloud.com/b-complex Soundcloud bio]), and says, "I happen to be a transgendered person as well, bi-gender in particular."<ref>[https://www.facebook.com/bcomplex/posts/10153953399843312 Facebook post], June 6, 2015</ref>

*The Ukranian writer [[R.B. Lemberg]] is bigender.<ref name="RBL-about">http://rblemberg.net/?page_id=16</ref><ref name="RBL-tweet">{{cite tweet|user=RB_Lemberg|number=1022283262906048513|date=July 25, 2018|title=@bogiperson is my spouseperson and Mati the Child is our childperson. We are all #ActuallyAutistic :)

I forgot to mention that I am bigender and use the pronoun "they."  

Good to see you here - come say hello if you feel like it!

<3}}</ref> Lemberg's speculative fiction has been published in Lightspeed, Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Sisters of the Revolution, and Uncanny Magazine.

''See main article: [[Nonbinary gender in fiction#Nonbinary genders in fiction|Nonbinary gender in fiction]]''

*''[http://erinptah.com/catperson/ But I'm A Cat Person]'' by Erin Ptah - Urban fantasy webcomic featuring a bigender character - Timothy/Camellia Mattei - as well as numerous 'Beings' who are able to take on both male and female forms. Also features various LGB characters. Updates three times a week.