Tumblr

Tumblr is a social media platform that gained popularity in the 2010s. Users maintain blogs (potentially multiple per account) that allow them to publish original posts as well as to "reblog" others' posts. Reblogs function similarly to Twitter's "retweet" function but allow optional additions to the post body (which are displayed under the original posts) or to tags (displayed only on the reblogger's blog). This allows multiple discussions to branch off from an original post.

Culturally, Tumblr is extremely popular with LGBTQ people and hosts a wide range of content related to non-binary issues. Many pieces of non-binary language and iconography originated on Tumblr, and there are a large number of single-issue blogs that center on non-binary issues. It is also common for Tumblr users to list their pronouns and gender identities on their personal blogs.

Tumblr's tag system has particular significance for nonbinary users-- it not only allows them to affirm their identities through self-labeling (such as by tagging a selfie as #agender), but to connect with users who share their identities, including uncommon identities (since users create their own tags).

Many LGBTQ young people use Tumblr as a source of information about gender and sexuality. Researcher Genny Beemyn found that more than two thirds of the nonbinary college students they interviewed had used the Internet to learn about gender identity. Among those who mentioned a specific online source, 79 percent named Tumblr.

Researcher Abigail Oakley suggests that Tumblr gained popularity among non-binary users because it affords them anonymity and the ability to portray themselves in ways that diverge from their everyday personas. For example, a non-binary person may choose to remain closeted in their offline life and go by a different name and pronouns on Tumblr.

Gender terms originating on Tumblr

Tumblr has a strong culture of coining and promoting new gender terminology, including terms like "enby" (suggested by revolutionator in 2013) and "xenogender" (coined in 2014 by Baaphomett). According to Oakley, non-binary communities on Tumblr develop new terminology at an "advanced rate", and some terms which originate on Tumblr are not adopted outside the platform.

Pronouns

A number of neopronouns were coined and spread by Tumblr users. In 2013, some users drew upon existing English nouns to coin new pronouns (often called nounself pronouns). For example, the neopronoun "kit/kit/kitself" derives from a word for the young of certain animals (such as foxes). Among nounself pronouns, fae/faer pronouns have gained the most popularity; they were the second-most selected neopronoun in the 2024 Gender Census survey, with 6.2̤̤̥ percent of respondents indicating they would be happy to be called fae/faer pronouns.

Iconography originating on Tumblr

Many people use Tumblr to share proposed designs for non-binary flags, some of which gain popularity or status as the "default" flag for a specific identity, traveling far beyond Tumblr. Some users also share alternative flag designs, whether out of a distaste for existing designs or simply for creative enjoyment.

In 2010, Marilyn Roxie posted multiple versions of the genderqueer flag to their Tumblr blog Genderqueer and Nonbinary Identities, settling on the current and most popular version in June 2011.

In 2012, JJ Poole (lostinthoughtspaceandfantasies) submitted an original design for a genderfluid flag to the genderfluidity Tumblr.

In 2014, new designs for agender and nonbinary flags appeared on Tumblr, posted by Salem X (transrants) and Kye Rowan (thejasmineelf) respectively. Both gained popularity.

Single-issue blogs

There are multiple types of content that typically appear on non-binary-centric blogs, both general and focused on specific identities. In addition to coining and sharing non-binary terminology and iconography like flags, many users share educational, activist, and "discourse" posts, and many blogs feature a large amount user-submitted content such as confessions/secrets, selfies, and introduction posts. Many blogs also give advice to individuals who write in with questions, such as how to come out about their gender identity or whether it is "valid" for them to use a particular label.

Many blogs post a variety of content. For example, genderqueer.tumblr.com (active 2009-2013) identified itself as a place to share images of "gender-bending, trans, and queer people of all sorts"; in addition to reblogging photography and allowing users to submit their own selfies, the blog frequently shared written content, including quotes about gender variance, relevant news stories, and analysis of trans issues from other Tumblr users. Fat Genderqueers (active 2011-2017) combined a focus on body positivity, including user-submitted selfies, with practical information about gender presentation and transition, including binding and tucking techniques.

Education-related blogs include Genderqueer and Nonbinary Identities (active 2011-2019), neutrois.tumblr.com (active 2011-2021), and Ask a Nonbinary (active 2011-present). Genderqueer Survival Guide for Daily Life (active 2013-2016) paired advice-giving and education with sharing responses to a survey about their experiences as non-binary people. We are Genderfluidǃ and Confessions of a Genderfluid also answered many audience questions, but with a genderfluid focus.

Role in identity formation

Tumblr continues to play a role in many people's processes of coming to understand themselves as under the nonbinary umbrella, as well as a role in LGBTQ identity formation more broadly.

Tumblr user strugglingtobeheard, for example, noted that Tumblr was her first source of information about gender outside the binary and that she resonated with a lot of Black user's accounts of their gender experiences. She now identifies as genderfluid.