Xenogender
Reason: Please add more historical examples of identities that fit today's definition of xenogender to the history section.
Xenogender refers to a type of gender that cannot be contained by human understandings of gender, and/or that falls outside the bounds of what is commonly defined as a gender.
Etymology
- "Xeno," meaning alien.
Definitions
- A nonbinary gender identity that cannot be contained by human understandings of gender; more concerned with crafting other methods of gender categorization and hierarchy such as those relating to animals, plants, or other creatures/things. It’s mainly an umbrella term for genders with themes such as nouns, archetypes, synesthetic experiences, neurodivergences. - Pride-color-schemes
| “ | Many people feel that they can describe their gender with nouns or other descriptors other than typical gender terms (male/female, masculine/feminine, neutral/nonbinary, etc). In the way that a nonbinary person may feel male-aligned or feminine-aligned, a nonbinary person could feel that the way they experience gender is more aligned with, say, an animal or a planet. They’re more easily able to explain the way their gender feels through an object, creature, archetype, etc. than through typical gender descriptors.
Someone may find it euphoric or easy to evoke something visual, aural, etc. as an explanation for their gender rather than trying to explain their more complex gendered feelings or fit into typical gender categories. Neurodivergency can affect how one perceives gender in a variety of ways. maybe a synesthete has some sort of sensory experience related to their gender, or an autistic person can’t fit into typical gender categories because those categories make no sense to them, etc. Those who are otherkin, therian, otherhearted, or otherwise alterhuman may relate far more to their alterhuman identities in terms of gender - For example, a cat therian may identify more with a catlike gender, or an alienkin person may feel that their gender would be better understood on another planet. Xenogender labels are also used by many genderfuck/genderpunk/etc people who want to eschew typical notions of gender. Gender is a human concept, and many of us just interpret gender in very different ways! |
| — Tumblr user Neopronouns + Ezgender |
History
The term xenogender was coined in 2014 by Tumblr user Baaphomett in a submission to the MOGAI-Archive blog.
Controversy
- Xenogender terms are frequently cited as a reason why transphobia is so rampant, but this is a logical fallacy; Trans people do not create their own oppression.[1]
Related Terms
Subsets
Subcategories of xenogenders
- Aerogender
- Aesthetigender
- Artgender
- Audiogender
- Biogender
- Coric
- Cadensgender
- Emotugender
- Expecgender
- Faunagender
- Fictigender
- Gastrogender
- Gamegender
- Kingender
- Locogender
- Mathgender
- Mimesigender
- Neurogender
- Noungender
- Sciencegender
- Technogender
- Zodiacgender
For a more comprehensive list, see Category:Xenogender.
See Also
Gallery
Flags
The xenogender flag.
An alternate xenogender flag.
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Subsets
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Usage
In the results from the Gender Census of 2020, between 1,164-4,820 people (Approx. 24.35%), out of 24,576 total results, were xenogender.[2] In the 2022 Gender Census, over 700 wrote in "xenogender" and many more people were xenic, neurogender, or listed specific xenogenders. In people age 30 and under, 1.8% of participants (out of a total 39,765 participants) wrote in xenogender.[3]