Intergender: Difference between revisions

[[Intergender]] is a [[gender identity]] under the [[nonbinary]] and [[transgender]] [[umbrella terms]]. Intergender people have a gender identity that is in the middle between the [[binary gender]]s of female and male, and may be a mix of both. The word "intergender" has been independently coined by different people at different times, resulting in two main differences in meaning:

1. Some of them have given it as an identity label that any person can use, even if they are not [[intersex]] ([[dyadic]]) themselves. This definition seems to have been coined earlier, at least in the 1990s.<ref>Donna Lynn Matthews, “What is intergendered?” 1998-10. http://cydathria.com/ms_donna/intergen.html</ref>

2. Others have said that "intergender" can only by used by people who are intersex, and that intergender is an identity only for intersex people.<ref>Aeshling. "Intergender." ''Mogai-Archive.'' http://mogai-archive.tumblr.com/post/92026280519/intergender</ref> Intersex people need words for gender identities that correlate only with intersex bodies. In that case, dyadic nonbinary people should respect intersex people by taking up a different label than intergender for themselves, such as [[androgyne]] or [[bigender]].

On the other hand, dyadic people who identified as intergender before this rule was created may be no less entitled to it. There is also the matter that some nonbinary people who were born dyadic describe their [[transition]] as one that will make their body more intersex, and call themselves female-to-intersex or male-to-intersex transsexuals.<ref>Raphael Carter, "Angel's Dictionary." 1996-07-14. [http://web.archive.org/web/20050308185631/http:/www.chaparraltree.com/raq/angels.shtml]</ref> (However, some intersex people have said they were uncomfortable with this.) Either way, both definitions agree that "intergender" means a gender identity between female and male, which may be a mix of both.

==History==

In the 1990s, people who identified as intergender had a discussion group in the alt.support.intergendered newsgroup, which was created by a dyadic intergender person named Donna Lynn Matthews.<ref>Donna Lynn Matthews, “Being genderqueer – What it means for me.” 2006-10. http://cydathria.com/ms_donna/genderqueer.html</ref> Some participants of that newsgroup used gender-neutral [[pronouns]].<ref>"GNP FAQ." [https://web.archive.org/web/20120229202924/http:/aetherlumina.com/gnp/listing.html]</ref>

In 1998, Matthews described intergender as "a gendered state ''between'' the polar endpoints of man and woman. […] I'm both and neither at the same time. […] As we do not gender ourselves along the either/or lines of the binary gender system, we often choose not to present along these lines. […] We are not really interested in ''passing'' as women or men. We want nothing more than to be able to simply be who we are without having choose between two extremes."<ref>Donna Lynn Matthews, “What is intergendered?” 1998-10. http://cydathria.com/ms_donna/intergen.html </ref>

In 2000, a dyadic intergender person named Deird Duncan coined the word "interdressing," meaning intergender [[gender expression]] in clothing, possibly without any intention to be seen as any particular gender.<ref>Deird Duncan, “Interdressing.” 2000-04-10. http://cydathria.com/ms_donna/interdressing.html </ref>

 

 

 

==References==

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