List of nonbinary identities: Difference between revisions

* '''[[bigender]], or bi-gender'''. A bigender person feels they have two gender identities, at the same time, or at different times.<ref name="Trans Bodies 611"></ref><ref name="Schneider APA 2008">Schneider, M., et al, American Psychological Association, ''APA Task Force on Gender Identity, Gender Variance, and Intersex Conditions'', 2008 [http://www.apa.org/topics/lgbt/transgender.pdf Answers to Your Questions About Transgender People, Gender Identity, And Gender Expression] (PDF), date unknown, captured April 2016.</ref> A bigender person may move between their gender expressions based on their situation or their feelings.<ref name="Trans Bodies 611" /> These two genders might be female and male, or they might be a different pair of genders. Bigender was in use before 1997, when it was described in ''International Journal of Transgenderism''.<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> The American Psychological Association (APA) recognizes bigender as one type of transgender person.<ref name="Schneider APA 2008" /> A 1999 survey conducted by the San Francisco Department of Public Health observed that, among the transgender community, less than 3% of those who were [[AMAB|assigned male at birth]] and less than 8% of those who were [[AFAB|assigned female at birth]] identified as bigender.<ref>Clements, K. "The Transgender Community Health Project." San Francisco Department of Public Health. 1999. [http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/InSite?page=cftg-02-02 http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/InSite?page=cftg-02-02]</ref> In the 2016 Nonbinary/Genderqueer Survey, 123 of the 3055 respondents (4%) were bigender.<ref name=NBGQ2016 /> In the 2019 Worldwide Gender Census, 3.72% (419) of the respondents were bigender.<ref name="2019 Gender Census" /> Notable bigender people include the top-charting musician [[B-Complex]],<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 speculative fiction writer [[R.B. Lemberg]],<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> and the young adult novelist [[Mia Siegert]].<ref name="dive_Writ">{{Cite web |title=Writing from a Place of Truth |author= |work=Diversity in YA |date= |access-date=2 May 2020 |url= https://diversityinya.tumblr.com/post/143740997531/writing-from-a-place-of-truth |quote=I’m bigender, identifying as both a mostly-hetero female and a gay male. }}</ref>

* '''[[fa'afafine]]'''. In Samoa, the Fa'afafine are people who were [[Sexes#Assigned male at birth|assigned male at birth]], have a feminine gender expression, and don't think of themselves as female or male.<ref name="Kremer">{{Cite web |title=The evolutionary puzzle of homosexuality |author=William Kremer |work=BBC News |date=18 February 2014 |access-date=10 April 2020 |url= https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26089486}}</ref> It has been estimated that 1–5% of Samoans identify as fa'afafine.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37227803|title=Samoa's 'third gender' beauty pageant|first=Yvette|last=Tan|date=September 1, 2016|via=www.bbc.com}}</ref> ''Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand'' estimates that there are 500 fa’afafine in Samoa, and the same number in the Samoan diaspora in New Zealand,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/160363|title=3. – Gender diversity – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand|first=New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu|last=Taonga|website=teara.govt.nz}}</ref> while according to SBS news, there are up to 3,000 fa'afafine currently living in Samoa.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/07/16/faafafine-boys-raised-be-girls| title=Fa'afafine: Boys Raised to be Girls ten minute news video about faafafine in Australia|date=26 August 2013| }}</ref> Although there are many fa'afafine today, there were no fa'afafine respondents to the 2016 Nonbinary/Genderqueer Survey,<ref name=NBGQ2016 /> or the 2019 Worldwide Gender Census.<ref name="2019 Gender Census" />

* '''[[genderfluid]]''', '''gender fluid,''' or '''fluid gender'''.<ref name="NBGQ2016"></ref> A gender identity that often changes, so that a person may feel one day like a boy, and another day like a girl, or some other gender.<ref name="Trans Bodies 614">Laura Erickson-Schroth, ed. ''Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community.'' Oxford University Press, 2014. P. 614.</ref> It has been in use since at least the 1990s.{{Citation needed}} In the 2016 Nonbinary/Genderqueer Survey, 947 of the 3,055 respondents (31%) called themselves genderfluid, or otherwise called themselves "fluid."<ref name=NBGQ2016 /> In the 2019 Worldwide Gender Census, 2,446 of the 11,242 respondents (21.76%) were genderfluid, or otherwise called themselves "fluid."<ref name="2019 Gender Census" />

* '''[[hijra]]'''. In south Asian countries including India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, the hijra are people who were [[Sexes#Assigned male at birth|assigned male at birth]], who have a feminine gender expression. Traditionally and today, some hijras seek castration. Hijras live together communally. They have important roles in religious practice. They can be Hindu or Muslim. Hijra traditions are ancient. The earliest mention of hijras is in the ''Kama Sutra,'' from 400 BCE to 300 CE.<ref>{{cite book|title=Refractions of Desire, Feminist Perspectives in the Novels of Toni Morrison, Michèle Roberts, and Anita Desai|author=Sengupta, J.|date=2006|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distributors|isbn=9788126906291|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V9Y_tQfm_WgC|page=21|accessdate=7 December 2014}}</ref> In one of the earliest Western records of them, Franciscan travelers wrote about seeing hijras in the 1650s.<ref>Donald Lach. ''Asia in the Making of Europe, Volume III: A Century of Advance. Book 2, South Asia.'' University of Chicago, 1998.</ref> From the 1850s onward, the British Raj criminalized and tried to exterminate hijras.<ref>Laurence W. Preston. "A Right to Exist: Eunuchs and the State in Nineteenth-Century India." ''Modern Asian Studies'' (journal), April 1987, vol. 21, issue 2, pp. 371–387 doi=10.1017/S0026749X00013858 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/231903575</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Reddy, Gayatri.|title=With respect to sex : negotiating hijra identity in South India|date=2005|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-70754-9|location=Chicago|oclc=655225261}}</ref> Since the late 20th century, hijra activists and non-government organizations have lobbied for official recognition of the hijra as a legal sex other than male or female. This is important for them to be able to have passports, travel, hold jobs, and other rights. They have been successful at achieving legal recognition as another gender in Nepal, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.<ref>Reddy, Gayatri, With Respect to Sex: Negotiating Hijra Identity in South India, 310 pp., University of Chicago Press, 2005 ISBN 0-226-70755-5 (see p. 8)</ref><ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/11/12/india.gender.voting/index.html, "India's third gender gets own identity in voter rolls", Harmeet Shah Singh, CNN.com], Nov. 2009 </ref><ref>Mitch Kellaway. "Trans Indian's Predicament at Border Shows the U.S. Lags Behind." May 9, 2015. Advocate. http://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2015/05/09/trans-indian-womans-predicament-border-shows-us-lags-behind</ref><ref>[http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/25/pakistan-recognizes-third-gender/ "Pakistan Recognizes Third Gender", Ria Misra, Politics Daily], Dec. 2009</ref><ref>[http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2013/nov/11/hijras-now-separate-gender, "Hijras now a separate gender", Mohosinul Karim, Dhaka Tribune], Nov. 2013 </ref><ref>http://www.attn.com/stories/868/transgender-passport-status</ref> The Hijra in India alone may number as many as 2,000,000 today.<ref>Reddy, Gayatri, With Respect to Sex: Negotiating Hijra Identity in South India, 310 pp., University of Chicago Press, 2005 ISBN 0-226-70755-5 (see p. 8)</ref> There were no hijra respondents to 2016 Nonbinary/Genderqueer Survey,<ref name=NBGQ2016 /> or the 2019 Worldwide Gender Census.<ref name="2019 Gender Census" />

* '''[[māhū]]'''. In the Kanaka Maoli (Hawaiian) and Maohi (Tahitian) cultures, the māhū (meaning "in the middle") is a traditional gender role outside of the Western concept of gender. It is made of people who may have been [[Sexes#Assigned gender at birth|assigned either male or female at birth]]. This tradition existed before Western invaders.<ref name="tate">''[http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/men-women-pacific The men-women of the Pacific]'', tate.org.uk/Tate Britain, [http://www.webcitation.org/6WpIsllud archive URL] 6 March 2015.</ref> The first published description of māhū is from 1789.<ref>William Bligh.  Bounty Logbook.  Thursday, January 15, 1789.</ref> From 1820 onward, Westerners stigmatized and criminalized māhū.<ref>Aleardo Zanghellini. "Sodomy Laws and Gender Variance in Tahiti and Hawai'i." ''Laws'' Vol. 2, Issue 2 (2013), p. 51–68 doi: 10.3390/laws2020051</ref> Māhū still exist today,<ref name="tate" /> and play an important role in preserving and reviving Polynesian culture.<ref name=UHP95>Besnier, Niko, Alexeyeff, Kalissa. ''Gender on the edge : transgender, gay, and other Pacific islanders.'' Honolulu, 2014 isbn=9780824840198</ref><ref name=Robinson>Carol E. Robertson. 1989 "The Māhū of Hawai'i." ''Feminist Studies.'' volume 15, issue 2, pages=318. doi=10.2307/3177791 issn=0046-3663 jstor=3177791</ref> There was one māhū in the 2016 Nonbinary/Genderqueer Survey,<ref name=NBGQ2016 /> and one in the 2019 Worldwide Gender Census.<ref name="2019 Gender Census" />

* '''[[polygender]]'''. Having several gender identities, particularly four or more of them. This can mean at different times, or at the same time.<ref>http://web.archive.org/web/20161015190830/http://polygender.co.uk/polygenfaq.htm</ref> In the 2016 Nonbinary/Genderqueer Survey, 7 of the 3,055 respondents (0.23%) were polygender.<ref name=NBGQ2016 /> In the 2019 Worldwide Gender Census, 24 of the 11,242 respondents (0.21%) were polygender.<ref name="2019 Gender Census" />

* '''[[third gender]]'''. A concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves, by their society, or by outsiders to their society, as not fitting into the Western ideas of [[binary gender]] and heterosexual roles. The phrase "third gender" has been used for a wide variety of meanings: intersex people whose bodies do not fit outdated Western medical concepts of binary sex, hundreds of indigenous societal roles as described (and often misrepresented) by Western anthropologists (including indigenous identities such as south Asian [[hijra]]s, Hawaiian and Tahitian [[māhū]], and Native American identities now called [[Two-Spirit]]s),<ref>Julia Serano, ''Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity.'' Unpaged.</ref><ref name="trans bodies 617" /> transgender people who are [[nonbinary]], homosexual people (even those who are white and in Western societies),<ref name="Trumbach">Trumbach, Randolph. (1998) ''Sex and the Gender Revolution. Volume 1: Heterosexuality and the Third Gender in Enlightenment London''. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1998. (Chicago Series on Sexuality, History & Society)</ref><ref name="The Social Studies C">{{cite book |last=Ross |first=E. Wayne |title=The Social Studies Curriculum: Purposes, Problems, and Possibilities |publisher=SUNY Press |year=2006|isbn= 978-0-7914-6909-5 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4qFMqjxte9IC }}</ref><ref>Kennedy, Hubert C. (1980) ''The "third sex" theory of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs'', Journal of Homosexuality. 1980–1981 Fall–Winter; 6(1–2): pp. 103–1</ref> and women who were considered to be gender-nonconforming because they fought for women's rights.<ref>{{cite journal | jstor=407320 | pages=582–599 | last1=Wright | first1=B. D. | title="New Man," Eternal Woman: Expressionist Responses to German Feminism | volume=60 | issue=4 | journal=The German Quarterly | year=1987 | doi=10.2307/407320  }}</ref> Some people self-identify as third gender, especially in communities of people of color in the United States.<ref name="trans bodies 617" /> In the 2016 Nonbinary/Genderqueer Survey, 84 of the 3,055 respondents (2.75%) called themselves third gender.<ref name=NBGQ2016 /> In the 2019 Worldwide Gender Census, 2.17% (244) of the responses called themselves third gender.<ref name="2019 Gender Census" />

* '''[[Two-spirit]]'''. "Berdache" was an old word used by European-American anthropologists. Berdache was an umbrella term for all traditional gender and sexual identities in all cultures throughout the Americas that were outside of Western ideas of binary gender and heterosexual roles.<ref name="Trans Bodies 611" /> These identities included the ''nádleeh'' in Diné (Navajo),<ref>Franc Johnson Newcomb (1980-06). Hosteen Klah: Navaho Medicine Man and Sand Painter. University of Oklahoma Press. {{ISBN|0-8061-1008-2}}.</ref><ref>Lapahie, Harrison, Jr. Hosteen Klah (Sir Left Handed). Lapahie.com. 2001 (retrieved 19 Oct 2009)</ref><ref>Berlo, Janet C. and Ruth B.  

Phillips. Native North American Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-284218-3}} . pg. 34</ref> and the ''lhamana'' in Zuni,<ref name=Stevenson380>Matilda Coxe Stevenson, The Zuni Indians: Their Mythology, Esoteric Fraternities, and Ceremonies, (BiblioBazaar, 2010) p.&nbsp;380</ref> among many others. In 1990, an Indigenous lesbian and gay international gathering chose to internationally replace "berdache" with "Two-Spirit" as a preferable umbrella term for these identities.<ref name=NativeOut101>"[http://nativeout.com/twospirit-rc/two-spirit-101/ Two Spirit 101]" at ''NativeOut''. Accessed 23 Sep 2015</ref><ref>Eve Shapiro, ''Gender circuits: Bodies and identities in a technological age.'' Unpaged.</ref> Two-Spirit was chosen to distance these identities from non-Natives,<ref name="de Vries 2009">{{cite book|last1=de Vries|first1=Kylan Mattias|editor1-last=O'Brien|editor1-first=Jodi|title=Encyclopedia of gender and society|date=2009|publisher=SAGE|location=Los Angeles |isbn=9781412909167 |page=64 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_nyHS4WyUKEC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0|accessdate=6 March 2015|chapter=Berdache (Two-Spirit)}}</ref> and should only be used for people who are Native American, because it is for identities that must be contextualized in Native cultures.<ref name=NYT1>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/fashion/08SPIRIT.html?_r=0|title=A Spirit of Belonging, Inside and Out|work=The New York Times|date=8 Oct 2006|accessdate=28 July 2016}}</ref><ref name=Vowel-1>{{cite book|last1=Vowel|first1=Chelsea|editor1-last=|editor1-first=|title= Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis & Inuit Issues in Canada|date=2016|publisher=Highwater Press|location=Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada|isbn=978-1553796800|page=|accessdate=|chapter=All My Queer Relations - Language, Culture, and Two-Spirit Identity |ref=harv}}</ref> Because of the wide variety of identities under the Two-Spirit umbrella, a Two-Spirit person does not necessarily have an identity analogous to a non-Native nonbinary gender identity. Some do, but others are more analogous to non-Native gay male or lesbian woman identities. Notable people who identify specifically with the label "Two-Spirit" include Menominee poet Chrystos (b. 1946), who goes by they/them pronouns,<ref>{{cite web |title=Chrystos |url= http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/chrystos |website=PoetryFoundation.org |access-date=October 22, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Brehm|first=Victoria|date=1998|title=Urban Survivor Stories: The Poetry of Chrystos|journal=Studies in American Indian Literatures|volume=10|issue=1|pages=73–82|jstor=20739440|issn=0730-3238}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sorrel |first1=Lorraine |title=Review: Not Vanishing |journal=[[off our backs]] |date=March 31, 1989 |volume=19 |issue= 3}}</ref> and Ojibwe artist Raven Davis (b. 1975), who goes by neutral pronouns.<ref name="ednet">{{cite web|url=http://www.middleton.ednet.ns.ca/Newsletters/Newsletter.May2015.pdf|title=Newsletter.May2015.pdf|accessdate=2015-11-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151125220828/http://www.middleton.ednet.ns.ca/Newsletters/Newsletter.May2015.pdf|archive-date=2015-11-25|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>IT ALL STARTS WITH AWARENESS -LGBTQ DAY IN ESKASONI. http://kinu.ca/news {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151125225027/http://kinu.ca/news |date=2015-11-25 }}</ref> In the 2016 Nonbinary/Genderqueer Survey, 8 of the 3,055 respondents (0.26%) called themselves Two-Spirit.<ref name=NBGQ2016 /> In the 2019 Worldwide Gender Census, 0.18% (20) of the responses called themselves Two-Spirit.<ref name="2019 Gender Census" />