Aliagender

This page is about a gender identity that is not widely used among gender-variant people. This does not mean that the identity is not valid, but that very few people are known to use this term. More information on uncommon identities...

Aliagender

File:Https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Ali-A 2019.png

Aliagender (from Latin alius "other") is a specific nonbinary identity. As described by the person who coined it, Beck, aliagender is “A gender experience which is 'other', or stands apart from existing gender constructs.” As Zoë or Leo later described it, "we defined it then as a gender experience other from the traditional spectrum. I always meant for this to be a term for a specific positive gender that was not associated with the man/woman spectrum, but was a gender that existed and NOT genderless."

History

Beck, a moderator on the "askanonbinary" Tumblr blog, created the word "aliagender" in response to questions from Zoë or Leo (Tumblr user ZoboTheHob0, formerly ZoboTheHobo), in 2013 or before late January 2014. Zoë or Leo later described this event: "i was there when aliagender was coined. actually, i was the reason it was coined. I sent messages to askanonbinary and beck came up with the word. we defined it then as a gender experience other from the traditional spectrum. I always meant for this to be a term for a specific positive gender that was not associated with the man/woman spectrum, but was a gender that existed and NOT genderless."

Soon after, some Tumblr users began to argue "that aliagender is racist in that it is basically just a whitewashed version of third gender," for no other reason than it was a nonbinary gender. In response, another person coined "aporagender" as an alternative to aliagender, due to concerns that aliagender might be "racist or appropriative." Aliagender was never meant to be a whitewashed version of third gender, and there is no reason to interpret that way. Zoë or Leo clarified that "they did not intend for aliagender to be harmful in any way, and was created to describe an 'othering' concept of gender."

Vesper H., the blogger and vlogger behind Queer as Cat, has written against claims that terms such as aliagender, aporagender, and maverique (which they coined) are racist. According to Vesper, themself black, where third gender is "a prescriptive term forced onto others without their consent" used to other cultural identities, terms such as aliagender were specific gender identities that were not used to contain and erase cultural identities.

In the Nonbinary/Genderqueer Survey 2016, one respondent called themself aliagender. In the 2019 Worldwide Gender Census, four respondents called themselves aliagender.

In 2019, aliagender was included in a listicle titled "54 Gender Identity Terms Every Ally Should Know" on the website Refinery29.

See also

• List of nonbinary identities
• List of uncommon nonbinary identities
• Neutrois
• Agender
• Other gender