Genderfluid: Difference between revisions

'''Genderfluid''' aka '''Gender-fluid, Gender Fluid, or Fluid Gender,''' is an identity under the [[multigender]], [[nonbinary]], and [[transgender]] umbrellas. Genderfluid individuals have different [[Gender identity|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, or some other combination therein. 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 could also fit under 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 use other labels such as [[genderqueer]], [[bigender]], [[multigender]], or [[polygender]]. It's important to understand that each person has the right to decide what to call their gender identity.

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

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.<ref name=":1">Kat. [http://web.archive.org/web/20161013063943/http://bigender.livejournal.com/65619.html?thread=267859#t267859 http://bigender.livejournal.com/65619.html?thread=267859#t267859]</ref> 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. Some move from one gender to the next on a regular cycle, resembling a lunar cycle, or synchronizing with their menstrual cycle. Other genderfluid people are sometimes able to use their willpower to guide their gender to change in a way and/or at the time that they want it to.

While it is still unclear, changes in gender that correlate with the menstrual cycle could be caused by how hormone levels naturally rise and fall during menstruation. However, it's also possible to mistakenly believe that gender identity moves with the menstrual cycle, and the only way to be sure is to keep a daily journal. Such a journal could look like this:

After enough data is collected, any patterns that exist should become visible. These patterns could include feeling like a certain gender during a certain day in the cycle or feeling like a certain gender at times when a certain hormone, such as estrogen, is highest/lowest. Similar tables can be used to track if gender identity is connected to a different cycle.

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 "hypothesize[d] 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."<ref>Case, L. K.; Ramachandran, V. S. (2012). "Alternating gender incongruity: A new neuropsychiatric syndrome providing insight into the dynamic plasticity of brain-sex". ''Medical Hypotheses'' 78 (5): 626–631. doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2012.01.041. [http://web.archive.org/web/20161013063943/http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22364652?dopt=Abstract PMID 22364652]. [http://web.archive.org/web/20161013063943/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22364652 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22364652]</ref><ref>"Bigender - Boy Today, Girl Tomorrow?". ''Neuroskeptic''. April 8, 2012. [http://web.archive.org/web/20161013063943/http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.com/2012/04/bigender-boy-today-girl-tomorrow.html http://neuroskeptic.blogspot.com/2012/04/bigender-boy-today-girl-tomorrow.html]</ref><ref>Stix, Gary (2012-04-20). "'Alternating Gender Incongruity' Causes Rapid Shifts Of Gender, Scientist Claims". ''The Huffington Post''. [http://web.archive.org/web/20161013063943/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/19/alternating-gender-incongruity_n_1438911.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/19/alternating-gender-incongruity_n_1438911.html]</ref> Case and Ramachandran believe that when bigender people feel a change between their gender identities, it may have to do with a change in how they use parts of their brains. The gender change might also have to do with a natural body cycle, specifically, a valve in the nose that changes sides every two days (the nasal cycle). However, this idea is still only a hypothesis, and more study is needed to confirm it.

Genderfluid people often 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, in some situations, changing gender expression isn't possible. This could be because the changes happen more than once a day, because they don't look [[Androgyny|androgynous]], or because they don't feel safe in society if they were to present a certain way.

[[Gender dysphoria]], or feeling painfully uncomfortable about how one's body and social role don't match one's gender, isn't a requirement in order to be genderfluid. 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 choose to transition because 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.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20161013063943/http://genderfluidprobs.tumblr.com/post/37659220000/genderfluid-problem-28 http://genderfluidprobs.tumblr.com/post/37659220000/genderfluid-problem-28]</ref><ref name=":2" />

Some genderfluid people ask to be called by a different [[Names|name]]<ref name=":2">Kat. "Hi I'm new." ''Bigender'' (blog/forum). [http://web.archive.org/web/20161013063943/http://bigender.livejournal.com/64281.html http://bigender.livejournal.com/64281.html]</ref> 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<ref>Leo/Leann. [http://web.archive.org/web/20161013063943/http://bigender.livejournal.com/65263.html?thread=269551#t269551 http://bigender.livejournal.com/65263.html?thread=269551#t269551]</ref> or names that don't sound similar at all.<ref name=":3">DamianBella. [http://web.archive.org/web/20161013063943/http://bigender.livejournal.com/65619.html?thread=265811#t265811 http://bigender.livejournal.com/65619.html?thread=265811#t265811]</ref> 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 to dissosiative identity disorder ==

Genderfluid people usually don't think of themselves as having alters. Most genderfluid people feel like the same person all the time, with the same likes and dislikes, just with a different gender. However, some genderfluid people switch between specific personas along with their genders, and each persona has their own likes and dislikes. Those people may notice similarities between this and Disosiative iIentity dDsorder, (DID) and may ask a therapist if they have that condition.<ref name=":2" />

Dissociative Identity Disorder, previously 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.<ref name=":1" /> 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.<ref name=":3" /> Another thing that makes trouble in DID is that the personalities can't communicate with one another.