Genderfluid

Genderfluid aka Gender-fluid, Gender Fluid, or Fluid Gender is an identity under the multigender, nonbinary, and transgender umbrellas. Genderfluid individuals have different gender identities at different times. A genderfluid individual's gender identity could be multiple genders at once, and then switch to none at all, or move between single gender identities. For some genderfluid people, these changes happen as often as several times a day, and for others, monthly, or less often. Some genderfluid people regularly move between only a few specific genders, perhaps as few as two (which is one of the meanings of the label bigender), whereas other genderfluid people never know what they'll feel like next.

To be easy to read, this article uses the word "genderfluid" for all people who experience fluid gender. Some people who experience fluid gender don't use the word "genderfluid" for themselves. Some people with fluid genders call themselves by a word such as genderqueer, bigender, multigender, polygender, or other words. This can be because the people haven't seen the word "genderfluid," or it can be because they don't think it describes them well. It's important to understand that each person has the right to decide what to call their gender identity, and that they're the only one who can do that.

History
The word "genderfluid" has been in use since at least the 1990s. In the 1990s and 2000s, it seems that it might have been more common for them to call themselves bigender or genderqueer. Earlier than that, they may have called themselves cross-dressers.

The earliest extant entry for "gender fluid" in the Urban Dictionary was added in 2007.

In 2010, the Gender-Fluid community was created on LiveJournal.

In 2014, "Gender Fluid" was one of the 56 genders made available on Facebook.

In 2015, Dictionary.com added an entry for "gender-fluid," which it defined as an adjective meaning "noting or relating to a person whose gender identity or gender expression is not fixed and shifts over time or depending on the situation." It listed as synonyms genderfluid, gender fluid, and gender-flexible.

Influences on gender fluidity
Usually, gender fluidity happens by itself, so that a person feels like, say, a girl at a certain time, rather than choosing to be a girl at a certain time. Some genderfluid people find that no outside or inside things tend to influence their gender identity to change. They find that their gender fluidity is unpredictable and happens randomly. Other genderfluid people find that their gender changes depending on the situation, and is influenced by inside or outside sources. Each person who is genderfluid finds that different things can make their gender identity change. For some, their gender fluidity moves from one gender to the next by a regular cycle, resembling a lunar cycle, or synchronizing with their menstrual cycle. Yet other genderfluid people are sometimes able to use their willpower to guide their gender to change in way and/or at the time that they want it to.

For genderfluid people who think their changes in gender might have to do with their menstrual cycle, they think it might be caused by how the natural hormone levels rise and fall during that cycle. It’s possible that a person might think that they tend to feel male during their periods even if that’s only rarely the case for them, because the incongruence of that situation would feel noticeable and memorable. The only way to know for sure whether there’s any correlation between a fluid gender identity and a menstrual cycle is if a person keeps a daily journal of it. Here’s how to do science to this research question. For a few months, record your gender fluidity, and fill out a table that looks like this:

That’s how you collect the data. After a few months, draw up another table to analyze the data. Make a column for each menstrual cycle, and a row for each day in the cycle. Then you’ll be able to see whether there are any patterns. Are there certain days of your cycle in which you tend to have a certain gender identity? Did you go through the same genders at the same time in each menstrual cycle?

Compare those results with charts that show how hormones fluctuate during a menstrual cycle. Does a certain gender identity correlate with when a certain hormone is higher? Lower?

You can also create a table similar to the above to see if your gender fluidity consistently matches up with some other factor that you think might be related to it.

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." 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.

Gender expression
It's common for genderfluid people feel a need to change their gender expression to match whatever their current gender has become. This may mean having groups of different kinds of clothing in their closet, so they can dress as a woman, man, or otherwise, depending on how they feel that day. It can also mean temporarily changing their body shape by using binding, packing, breast prostheses, or tucking. However, sometimes changing their gender expression isn't possible. This can be because the changes happen more than once a day for them, or because they don't look androgynous, or they don't feel safe in society if they were to present a certain way.

Genderfluid people don't necessarily look androgynous. They don't necessarily have an ambiguous face, body, or way of dress.

Feeling painfully uncomfortable about how one's body and social role don't match one's gender (gender dysphoria) isn't a requirement in order to be genderfluid. It depends on the person, and each person is different, experiencing gender fluidity in their own way. Some genderfluid people experience gender dysphoria at times, or all the time. Some want to change their bodies, and some take a physical transition to do so, which may include hormones or surgery. Others don't take a transition, because in their personal case, any change they make to their body would only feel right to them when they were in a certain gender, and would feel wrong in others. Yet others have a difficult time planning their transition path, because their feelings change about what they want.

Some genderfluid people ask to be called by a different name and pronouns depending on what gender they feel at a certain time. For people who switch between only two genders, this can mean switching between two names. These may be feminine and masculine versions of the same name, but they could also be names that don't sound alike at all. They may also take a gender-neutral name that works for them at any time, either in addition to these names, or instead of them.

Compared with multiple personalities
Genderfluid people don't think of themselves as having multiple personalities. Some genderfluid people feel like the same person all the time, with the same likes and dislikes, just with a different gender. For them, it isn't like multiple personalities, and they don't have a concern about this. However, some genderfluid people switch between specific personas along with their genders, where each persona has their own likes and dislikes. Those people may notice similarities between this and multiple personalities, and may ask a therapist if they have that condition.

The unhealthy form of multiple personalities is called Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). It used to be called Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD). In DID, a switch between personalities means that the other personality isn't aware of the amount of time or things that happen while they weren't the one who was active. When the other personality switches back, they don't remember what happened during that time. That's called a blackout or lost time, and it's the main thing that makes DID risky. The main difference between gender fluidity and DID is that genderfluid people don't have these blackouts. Another difference is that DID is usually thought to be caused by a traumatic experience, such as having been abused as a child. (However, this is debated. It isn't certain that all cases of DID have an origin in trauma.) Genderfluidity isn't caused by trauma. Another thing that makes trouble in DID is that the personalities can't communicate with one another.

A healthy form of multiple personalities isn't formally recognized by psychology, but there is a community of people who say they have healthy multiplicity or plurality. Personalities within a healthy plural system don't experience lost time, have worked out living agreements similar to house rules, can communicate with one another, and are on friendly terms with one another. A typical case of DID has none of these characteristics, and these characteristics make it possible for a healthy plural system to function well. This is a sign that multiplicity can be just another way that some people's minds work, in the wide spectrum of neurodiversity.

If someone is considering that their gender fluidity might be like DID or multiplicity, this characteristic is important: "Everybody has different sides to their personality. The difference is that multiplicity involves distinct persons with their own full range of thoughts and emotions, including their own various sides of themselves as well." Even a genderfluid person who has different personas for each gender doesn't necessarily experience these personas as being whole different people, but just as different aspects of their one self. In that case, it isn't much like DID or multiplicity.

In some cases, there is little difference between a genderfluid person who has different personas for each gender, and healthy multiplicity. Genderfluid people of this kind could find that resources created for healthy multiple systems are helpful for themselves as well.

Some people who have thought that they might have DID or multiplicity might find that it works better to call themselves genderfluid.

List of specific kinds of genderfluid identities and experiences
The subjective and significant nuances of how genderfluid people experience and perceive their feelings about their genders can be difficult to describe when using common language. For this reason, some creation of jargon is necessary in order to do so. Transgender people have come up with many words for specific kinds of genderfluid identities, and kinds of experiences of individual genders that can happen within gender-fluid experience. A specialized glossary of genderfluid jargon, in alphabetical order:

aerogender. "Where an individual’s gender relies highly on their setting and/or atmosphere, which can be composed of a great number of things (ex. who they’re around, their level of comfort, the temperature, the weather, the time of day/year, etc.). ... Coined by tenderagender".

affectugender. "From the latin affectus (to feel). a gender that is affected by one’s neurodivergency especially fluctuating moods, e.g. feeling like a boy during depressive episodes and feeling more like a demigirl during happy episodes. Note: for people with mood disorders and personality disorders only. Coined by: joysooyoungs"

agenderflux. "Where you identify as agender but have fluctuations where you feel feminine or masculine but not male or female. Coined by: perfectlybrokenbones".

amaregender. "A gender that changes depending on who you’re in love with. ... coined by: transmomoi".

amogender. See flirtgender.

amorgender is defined as when your gender changes whilst in the presence of an individual to whom you have developed a deep connection for. This could be a romantic attraction, platonic connection, a spiritual affinity or anything similar. Can be combined with relevant genders to express what your gender changes to.

amicagender. Coined by transmomoi and transkuroko. "A gender that changes depending on which friend you’re with at the moment."

alexigender. "A fluid gender experience, where you are aware that your gender is changing but cannot label each individual gender. Coined by: eaglestrike".

aquarigender "is a gender that is perpetually changing. It is never to a specific gender identity, but sometimes there are existing labels that are close to what the gender feels like at the time. Sometimes it changes to a completely inexplicable feeling. Aquarigender is a flowing gender that changes slowly and constantly. It is not a set amount of genders that it switches between. Aquarigender is infinite. (Aquarigender can alternatively be called genderflow.) coined by: 8-bit-angel".

argogender, argogenderfluid. Coined by gyey. "A subset of genderfluid wherein the changes between one’s separate genders or the parts of one’s gender happen gradually. 'Argogender' can also mean a gender the user defines according to any kind of slowness. Prefix from the Greek word αργóς meaning slow."

batgender. See nocturnalgender.

bigender. Having two gender identities, either at the same time, or changing between them. These two genders might be female and male, or they might be a different pair of genders.

brevigender. Coined by curiosityismysin. "A gender experience that is brief or short."

butchfluid. See marfluid.

cadensgender. "A gender that is easily influenced by music."

cadogender. L. cado "to fall." Coined by can-i-hide-in-you. "A subcategory of polygender identities (genderfluid, bigender, trigender, etc.) to have a gender to fall back on or one that you always go back to. ... Can be used with other terms like cadoboy, cadogirl, cadonb, cadoandrogyne, etc."

cendgender. "From ascend/descend. when your gender changes between one gender and its antigender. the word gender can be replaced be the gender involved, for example cendgirl is when you flip between girl and antigirl. coined by: anonymous"

cheiragender. Gk. χειραγώγηση. Coined by furryhell. "A fluid gender that’s manipulative towards the being whose gender aligns with it (to make it simple, i’m just gonna refer to them as the ‘owner’). while it is manipulative itself, it can be easily manipulated by it’s owner. typically the gender and owner don’t usually agree with each other, so it’s usually a gender tug-of-war (of course this isn’t necessary or always like this; they can agree on something and they can also just not care at the time, most of the time, etc). the intensity of the manipulation from both the gender and owner can change day to day. ... a fluid gender that you basically play gender tug-of-war with."

cocoongender. "A gender that has not come out yet, a gender that has yet to emerge in its full form. coined by: passengender"

cogitogender. Coined by anonymous. "A gender that only exists when you think about it, or is quiet until called to attention. alternatively, feeling genderless until a gender is consciously chosen."

condigender. "A gender that is only felt under specific circumstances. can apply to any existing gender such as girl, boy, non-binary, etc. for example, a condigirl may only feel like a girl during specific times or with specific people, a condiboy may only feel like a boy during specific times or with specific people, so on. coined by: robotxt"

conflictgender. "a gender that involves the conflict between two or more genders that you can’t place a name to as the genders fluctuate constantly and you may not always feel a certain gender on some days but it’s definitely there. coined by: anonymous."

contigender. "1. a gender that flows through space and time and constantly changes, always moving 2. a gender of or related to space and time. this gender can be used by itself or along with another gender to describe its state of movement e.g. a conti agender or a contigender demigirl. coined by: hardcoreshounen."

corugender. "where your gender changes during (and around) flashbacks. based on the Latin for flash (coruscans). note: only for neurodivergent people. coined by: gmaora" Syn. flashgender.

cosmicgender. "A gender so vast and complex that you are only able to process a small bit of it at a time. like viewing the night sky through a telescope you cannot hope to see all of it at once however you may gain more knowledge about parts of it the longer you focus on one part. may contain any number of sub genders within it that may present themselves to you. it is infinite in its possibility. name from the vast reaches of space filled with things we canot begin to imagine. coined by: dragon-friker"

crystagender. "When your gender randomly changes, and you often feel broken or fractured between multiple different genders. For example, on one day, you might feel like you’re 110% agender, but on the next you’re broken into demigirl&amp;nan0boy, androgynous, etc. Whether you feel like you switch between these genders throughout the time period, or feel like all at once, is up to the person. coined by: anonymous".

cyclogender. Coined by: flynneleh. "A gender identity that changes with one's menstrual cycle." .

deliciagender. Latin delicia "favorite," coined by twerkingobserver. "To have multiple genders, but prefering how one fits over others. Could be used as deliciagender, or deliciaboy/girl/nonbinary. From the latin word “delicia” meaning ‘favorite’." .

demiflux. A gender identity for "someone whose gender is partially fluid with the other part(s) being static; this differs from 'demifluid' as '-flux' indicates that one of the genders is neutral; an example could be: one part of their gender is 'genderqueer' while the part that fluctuates is 'agender' and 'woman'." "A term for polygender/bigender individuals to describe when one of their genders is “static” and the other ranges in intensity and presence. coined by: aflutteringlaney"

duragender. Latin dura "long-lasting," coined by genderlost. "A subcategory of polygender (genderfluid, bigender, trigender, etc) with an identifiable, long lasting gender that is more prominent than the other genders experienced. ex: duragirl, duraboy, duranonbinary, etc." .

eafluid. Coined by a-tiny-peach. "Genderfluid but mostly/only fluid with androgynous [non-binary] genders (based on earth symbol)". Syn. nobifluid, enbyfluid

elissogender. coined by: theradicalweirdo. "a gender which vaguely moves around with no direction. can be used as a modifier (eg I’m an elissogender demiboy) or a standalone term (“ze is elissogender”; “elissogenders feel that their gender identities meander”)"

enbyfluid. See eafluid.

endogender. Latin endo "within," coined by ness-kin. "A gender similar to genderflux, but limited specifically to one gendered feeling. For example, a endoboy has fluctuating masculine gender feelings, but never feelings that are not partially masculine." .

entrogender. From "entropy." Coined by gyey. "A gender that is slowly but constantly wearing away. Can also be used like “demi,” e.g. an entrogirl might be someone who identifies as female while that femaleness is gradually deteriorating." .

evaisgender, evainsgender. Greek ευαίσθητος. Coined by furryhell. "A fluid gender that’s easily influenced by things, thoughts and beings around it, thus it tends to change a lot within a single day."

explorogender. Coined by toudoo and anonymous. "A gender dedicated to feeling and exploring many other different genders at random times and its constantly changing (explorogender can change DAILY and you can change it daily, explorogender is just a name FOR that desire to constantly explore and change your gender, also can change the word gender to ANY gender/noun of what youre feeling). note: this does not extend the ability to explore genders people don’t have access to (neurodivergent and cultural ones, etc.)"

faegender. Coined by anonymous. "When an individual’s gender changes with the seasons, equinoxes, and moon phases." . Keywords: seasons, nature, moon, lunar phases, lunar cycle, cyclic

femmefluid. See venufluid.

fascigender. coined by: autisticjakeenglish "A gender experience largely related to a special interest. note: only for the use of autistic folk." Keywords: autism, neurodiversity, neurodivergent

firegender. coined by: deanwinchesterinmyheart. "a fluidish gender in a constant state of flux, that never truly extinguishes. Linked to passion, strength, and difference. Can be destructive, can be beautiful. Can burn if not handled properly. aesthetically linked to fire. You can be a firegender girl, a firegender boy, etc."

flashgender. See corugender.

flirtgender. coined by: fluiditylife. "a gender where your primary interaction with gender feelings is that of flirtiness - either with gender, or people/the outside world". Syn. amogender.

flowergender. Coined by Baaphomett. A gender that is more strongly felt during the daytime than at night. . Counterpart: nocturnalgender.

fluidflux. coined by: genderabbit with credit to trigenby "a combination of genderfluid and genderflux, where gender moves between two or more genders and also fluctuates in intensity. this is a very dynamic identity, where both base gender and intensity vary moment by moment or day by day."

gemigender. coined by: genderarchive. "a gender derived from the zodiac sign gemini. feeling that you identify with multiple genders that are opposite to each other but yet work in flux with each other."

genderblur. coined by: sleepylehane "where your gender changes constantly but fades away into something else rather than making a hard or abrupt transition. (ex. feeling like a boy, then slowly feeling more stargender than boy, then feeling only stargender, etc.)." Syn. genderfade.

genderdormant. coined by: someheckingnerd. "a gender which is inaccessible for stretches of time, then rises to the surface with varying levels of intensity."

genderfade. See genderblur.

genderfae. Coined by anonymous in 2014. "An experience of genderfluidity that never encompasses feeling masculine." Similar: femmefluid, antigender.

genderflora. coined by: softsaionji. "a gender that blooms and evolves based on weather and atmosphere; similar to genderfluid but more plant-like"

genderflow. See aquarigender.

genderflux. coined by: deergoths. "Genderflux means that your internal sense of how gendered you are varies over time. One day, you might feel really gendered, and the next day, you might have a very weak feeling of gender, or not feel like any gender at all. Whereas genderfluidity is a shift between different genders, genderflux is more like varying intensity."

genderglitch. coined by: queercodedkid "genderglitch is similar to genderfluidity, however while genderfluidity is normally described as your genders changing smoothly, genderglitch is more sudden and confusing. note: created by a techkin [technology otherkin] with kin [otherkin] in mind, but available to use by nonkin [people who don't identify as otherkin]." Keywords: otherkin, technology.

genderplasma. "like genderfluid but hotter"

gender shuffler. coined by: muddiewaters. "mixing and matching two or more genders. Can also change the number of genders at one time."

horogender coined by: officialkneesocks "your feelings of gender changing over time, but your core feelings remaining. for example, you feel masculine, but at different points at different times. can be used like horomasculine, horofeminine, horoboy, horogirl etc"

hypergender. coined by: caffeinated-librarian "experiencing a gender with more intensity than is common for your identity, e.g. hyperboy, hypergirl, hyper(gender) etc"

imperigender. coined by: schrodingers-zombie "a gender that you can sort of control- a fluid gender that you can ‘push’ into a certain gender by 'wanting' it very much or just thinking about that gender a lot."

impesgender. coined by: siirusblack "a gender that flips quickly and impulsively, often too quickly to be traced"

imprigender. coined by anonymous. "a fluid gender that is easily and quickly imprinted upon or influenced by its environment. it is often hard to pin down as one particular gender. can sometimes be voluntarily controlled."

jellygender coined by: cisphobicterezi "when your gender rocks back and fourth throughout the day/week/month/whatever. Sometimes youre rly feelin your gender and youre like yeah!! Sometimes youre not feelin your gender and youre like ehhh"

kinegender. "A gender experience that constantly moves or is in motion, similar to genderfluid or genderflux." Coined by curiosityismysin.

kronosgender coined by anonymous "(after the Greek god of time) where you are a different gender at certain times of the day."

locugender. Coined by: flynneleh. "A gender identity that changes depending where you are or what situation you are in." .

librafluid. coined by: otterlyradical and pride-flags-for-us "mostly agender, but has a strong connection that fluctuates between masculinity and femininity."

lunagender coined by: missjacksoninthemorning. "A gender that one experiences in a sort of cycle, or in regular phases; a gender that can be best described as dictated by the cycles of the moon. can be modified, like lunagirl or lunaboy." . Keywords: lunar, cyclic.

marfluid. Coined by a-tiny-peach. "Genderfluid but mostly/only fluid with masculine genders (based on mars symbol)." Synonyms butchfluid, mascufluid. Antonyms femmefluid, genderfae, venufluid.

mascufluid. See marfluid.

mirrorgender. coined by: branacle "a gender that changes to fit the people you're around". Also see pivotgender.

modogender coined by: princetzimisce "a gender identity that is constantly changing; can be understood as somewhat of an intersection of genderfluid and genderflux identities in that the changes may encompass both identity and perceived “strength” of one’s gender (i.e., one moment I might be Very Much a girl, the next i might be somewhat agender, etc.). from latin modo (modo…modo = at one time…at another)."

monagender. Coined by drkiriko/publicmiddleschool. Gender fluidity that happens according to a consistent, orderly cycle, like a lunar cycle.

monegender. See monagender.

moongender. See lunagender, monagender, or nocturnalgender.

multigender. Having more than one gender identity, either at the same time, or moving between different gender identities at different times.

musegender. coined by: anonymous "a gender named with artists/writers/roleplayers/actors etc in mind. a fluid gender influenced by the gender(s) of the characters you are drawing/writing/roleplaying/etc."

mutogender. coined by: thedonutsaurusrex "a gender that changes depending on situation or people you’re with etc., so like a subset of genderfluid"

necrogender. "A gender that used to exist but is now dead." Coined by Baaphomett. See also: postgender.

nocturnalgender. Coined by passengender in 2014. Any gender that feels more intense during the night, "but weak/nonexistent when it is light out." Syn. batgender, owlgender, moongender. Counterpart: flowergender.

owlgender. See nocturnalgender.

pangender. Having potentially any gender identity, either at the same time, or changing between them.

pre- and postgender. "Before and after a gender; preboy would be moving to identify as a boy but has yet to fully embrace the term and pregirl would be moving to identify as a girl but has yet to fully embrace the term; postboy would have moved on from identifying as a boy but still has gendered ties to identifying as a boy and postgirl would have moved on from identifying as a girl but still has gendered ties to identifying as a girl." Coined by Baaphomett.

pivotgender. coined by: jasperthyst (previously damloz). "Someone whose gender changes depending on who they are around note: not to be confused with mutogender, which goes for people and situations". Can also be called swivelgender. Also see mirrorgender.

selenogender. See monagender.

sychnogender, sychnogenderfluid. Gk. συχνός "frequent." Coined by gyey. "Like [argrogender] but regarding frequency. The gender of someone who is sychnogender might change many times throughout the course of a day."

tachigender, tachigenderfluid. Gk. ταχύτητα "speed." Coined by gyey. "Like [argrogender] but regarding rapidity, a gender that changes quickly or that otherwise has to do with high speed."

trigender. Having three gender identities, either at the same time, or changing between them. These three genders might be female, male, and a nonbinary gender, or they might be a different pair of genders.

venufluid. Coined by a-tiny-peach. "Genderfluid but mostly/only fluid with feminine genders (based on venus symbol)." Syn. femmefluid.