Intergender: Difference between revisions
Adding more sources and quotes.
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==History== | ==History== | ||
During the 1990s, usenet newsgroups were informal public discussion groups on the Internet that were oriented around topics of interest, such as hobbies, fandoms, and LGBT issues. Starting sometime before 1998, people who identified as intergender created a discussion group in the alt.support.intergendered newsgroup, which was created by an intergender and non-intersex person named Donna Lynn Matthews.<ref name="Matthews_Genderqueer">Donna Lynn Matthews, “Being genderqueer – What it means for me.” 2006-10. http://cydathria.com/ms_donna/genderqueer.html</ref> The [http://cydathria.com/ms_donna/asig_charter.html charter (last updated in 1998) for that newsgroup] explains its purpose, and what intergendered means: | |||
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"The intent of this newsgroup is to provide a supportive, informative and friendly environment for intergendered individuals. Intergendered individuals do not gender themselves as 'men' or 'women', but somewhere inbetween, as a mix of both masculine and feminine qualities. Others gender themselves as neither 'men' nor 'women' ([[agender|agendered or non-gendered]]), thus placing themselves 'outside' of the gender 'spectrum' completely. Given this, intergendered individuals tend to present (to varing degrees) in a non-descript or ambiguous manner by means of androgyny, partial crossderssing [sic], genderbending, and part-time cross-gender living, to name a few. Intergendered should not be confused with intersexed, as the two are quite different. It is not the intent of this to be an intersexed support forum. This newsgroup is open to anyone (intersexed individuals included), provided that posted articles are on topic and of relevance to intergendered individuals."<ref name="newsgroup_charter">http://cydathria.com/ms_donna/asig_charter.html</ref> | |||
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From the above description, at the time, "intergender" was posed as an umbrella term in the 1990s, similar to how "nonbinary" came to be widely known as an umbrella term in the 2010s. Intergender included a variety of gender identities (even genderlessness) and gender expressions that didn't fit into the binary. It was an identity label that any person can use, even if they are not [[intersex]].<ref name="Matthews_Intergendered" /> | |||
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> There were enough people who identified as intergender that there was an intergender webring. A webring was something that any site with something in common with its theme could choose to join, so users could browse a list of sites on the same subject matter. Webrings were important for finding sites about any particular kind of content before the advent of large search engines like Google. This means that on the intergender webring, there was a list of personal websites by many different intergender people, similar to blogs.<ref>"Welcome to the Intergendered Webring." ''Donna's Hideout.'' c. 1998. http://donnas-hideout.org/igring.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 name="Matthews_Intergendered" /> | 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 name="Matthews_Intergendered" /> | ||
In 2000, a non-intersex and 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> | In 2000, a non-intersex and intergender person named [http://cydathria.com/ms_donna//interdressing.html 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> | ||
In 2014, one intersex intergender person named Aeshling (Tumblr usernames quietlyloud-intersex, indonintersex) independently coined the word "intergender," with the rule that this word is for the use of intersex people only. Otherwise, the word's meaning is the same as it had been when it had been coined and used by non-intersex transgender people. Aeshling's definition of it is "A gender that is between and among male and female."<ref name="Aeshling_Mogai" /> Aeshling's post didn't show awareness that the word had already been in use for people of any birth sex for at least sixteen years. | In 2014, one intersex intergender person named Aeshling (Tumblr usernames quietlyloud-intersex, indonintersex) independently coined the word "intergender," with the rule that this word is for the use of intersex people only. Otherwise, the word's meaning is the same as it had been when it had been coined and used by non-intersex transgender people. Aeshling's definition of it is "A gender that is between and among male and female."<ref name="Aeshling_Mogai" /> Aeshling's post didn't show awareness that the word had already been in use for people of any birth sex for at least sixteen years. | ||