[12] In addition to being an umbrella term, genderqueer has been used as an adjective to refer to any people who are perceived to transcend or divert from traditional distinctions of gender, regardless of their self-defined gender identity. Richards, C., Bouman, W. P., & Barker, M.-J. [3] Another term for non-binary is enby (from the abbreviation 'NB'). Gender-neutral pronouns, and neopronouns specifically, are not an exclusively English phenomenon. Redefine your inbox with Dictionary.com updates. [51], The internet popularized the term genderqueer, as a wide audience was able to be reached very quickly. The first is gender nonbinary people who prefer not to be referred to with gendered terminology. This is an indefinite use of gender-neutral pronouns—the gender of each person isn’t specified. This word is most often used in connection to two situations. Non-binary (also spelled nonbinary) or genderqueer is a spectrum of gender identities that are not exclusively masculine or feminine‍—‌identities that are outside the gender binary. [55] In 2012, the Intersex & Genderqueer Recognition Project was started to advocate for expanding gender options on official documentation. [54][48] In the 2010s, this term became more popularized as many celebrities publicly identified as gender nonconforming. [65] As of 2019, eight states have passed acts that allow "non-binary" or "X" designations on certain identifying documents. Gender fluid is a sexual identity used by many people whose gender identity doesn't match the sex they were assigned at birth. ", "InQueery: The History of the Word 'Genderqueer' As We Know It", "Get to Know the New Pronouns: They, Theirs, and Them", "Do You Know What It Means to Be Genderqueer? ", "About Us – Intersex & Genderqueer Recognition Project (IGRP)", "Movement for third gender option 'exploding' in U.S.", "Non-gendered titles see increased recognition", "Pakistani eunuchs to have distinct gender", "Newsletter of the Sociology of Sexualities Section of the American Sociological Association", "A Gender Not Listed Here: Genderqueers, Gender Rebels, and OtherWise in the National Transgender Discrimination Survey", "Introducing myself as 'they/them/their' at my workplace", "Worldwide gay rights as a social movement picks up", "8 Things Non-Binary People Need to Know", "After counting up all the 'votes' for each variation of my nonbinary flag (to be separate from the genderqueer flag), it seems this is the most loved! However, since the previous pronoun to enter English was its in the 16th century, even ne is comparatively new. This is not meant to be a formal definition of gender-neutral pronouns like most terms we define on Dictionary.com, but is [14], The term genderqueer has also been applied by those describing what they see as a gender ambiguity. The "not listed here" respondents were nine percentage-points (33 percent) more likely to report forgoing healthcare due to fear of discrimination than the general sample (36 percent compared to 27 percent). [65] People who are non-binary are also often viewed as partaking in part of a trend and are thus deemed insincere or attention-seeking. ", "Gender-fluid added to the Oxford English Dictionary", "Beyond The Rainbow: Your Guide To LGBT Flags", "Prepare for International Non-binary Day by learning how to be a better ally", "Inclusive Brisbane Party To Mark International Non-Binary Day", "We Have A Navy Veteran To Thank For The Transgender Pride Flag", "The Veteran Who Created The Trans Pride Flag Reacts To Trump's Trans Military Ban", "Mapping the Void: Two-Spirit and LGBTQ+ Experiences in Hamilton", "The values, needs and realities of LGBT people in Canada in 2017", "When asked their sex, some are going with option 'X, "The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey", "Technical note: Measuring Gender Identity", "Feminism, masculinities, and multiple identities", "(A) Male, (B) Female, (C) Both, (D) Neither", Sexuality and gender identity-based cultures, History of Christianity and homosexuality, Timeline of sexual orientation and medicine, SPLC-designated list of anti-LGBT U.S. hate groups, Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany, Significant acts of violence against LGBT people, Gender-specific and gender-neutral pronouns, Gender neutrality in languages with grammatical gender, Gender neutrality in genderless languages, International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), Equality and Human Rights Commission (UK), https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Non-binary_gender&oldid=1015117829#Definitions_and_identity, Wikipedia pages semi-protected against vandalism, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Articles containing Spanish-language text, Articles which use infobox templates with no data rows, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, A spectrum of gender identities that are not exclusively masculine or feminine, According to a 2020 survey, the five most popular pronoun sets used by non-binary people are. [85], A 2017 survey of Canadian LGBT+ people called LGBT+ Realities Survey found that 4% of the 1,897 respondents identified as non-binary transgender and 1% identified as non-binary outside of the transgender umbrella. [72][73][74] The non-binary pride flag was created in 2014 by Kye Rowan. [44] They may fluctuate between differing gender expressions over their lifetime, or express multiple aspects of various gender markers at the same time. Gender-neutral pronouns: When ‘they’ doesn’t identify as either male or female ... whose name was the LGBT Center but was changed to reflect a more fluid understanding of gender. Swedish hen, a new gender-neutral coinage, was added to the official dictionary of the Swedish language in 2015. Ninety percent reported experiencing anti-trans bias at work, and 43 percent reported having attempted suicide. [73][77], Agender people, who also sometimes identify as genderqueer, have their own flag. In the case of unintentional misgendering, it is often expected for the person who is misgendered to console and forgive the person who made the mistake. Sometimes gender-fluid individuals might want to use different pronouns on different days depending on how they are feeling about their identity. [11] Some non-binary people are medically treated for gender dysphoria with surgery or hormones, as trans men and women often are. A 1999 survey conducted by the San Francisco Department of Public Health observed that, among the transgender community, 3% of those who were assigned male at birth and 8% of those who were assigned female at birth identified as either "a transvestite, cross-dresser, drag queen, or a bigendered person". Gender Expression: Gender expression is how you demonstrate your gender (based on social constructs within the culture) through the ways you act, dress, behave, and interact. [13] Genderqueer is often used to self-identify by people who challenge binary social constructions of gender. [48] In 2008, The New York Times used the word genderqueer. [65] One of the main arguments against the inclusion of a third gender identifier in the U.S. is that it would make law enforcement and surveillance harder, however countries that have officially recognized a third gender marker have not reported these issues. '[61], Many non-binary/genderqueer people use the gender they were given at birth to conduct everyday business, as many institutions and forms of identification – such as passports and driver's licenses – only accept, in the sense of recorded recognition, binary gender identities. [65] In the United States there are no explicit laws to protect non-binary people from discrimination, however it is illegal for an employer to require employees to conform to sex stereotypes. However, human gender diversity is complex, as we can observe from the rise in use of non-binary pronouns… From childhood, we are taught there are two genders, male and female. In this case, the pronouns he and she can be seen as too narrow to cover the identity of someone who falls outside the gender binary. [53] Wilchins stated they identify as genderqueer in their 1997 autobiography. [75] Yellow represents people whose gender exists outside the binary, purple represents those whose gender is a mixture of – or between – male and female, black represents people who have no gender, and white represents those who embrace many or all genders. There are many other pronoun sets that exist as well. The earliest attempt, ne/nis/nim, dates back to 1850. We often use pronouns based on a person’s appearance or name, but such assumptions can be wrong. [86], According to The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, 35% of the nearly 28,000 transgender respondents to the anonymous online survey identified as non-binary. This is because the term androgyny is closely associated with a blend of socially defined masculine and feminine traits. Individuals may express gender non-normatively by not conforming into the binary gender categories of "man" and "woman". Some others use conventional gender-specific pronouns 'he' or 'she', alternately use 'he' and 'she', or use only their name and do not use pronouns at all. Some people don’t use pronouns, some people use different pronouns in different settings, and sometimes we forget to ask for pronouns or aren’t comfortable doing so. Singular they has been used by the likes of Geoffrey Chaucer and Jane Austen. "[49], The term genderqueer came into use during the mid-1990s among political activists. But pronouns like ‘e, eir, em’, coined by Michael Spivak in 1983, are recent additions to the language. (2017). “That is when he posted a video saying he would not use genderless pronouns – ‘they’ – if asked to do so by a student.”, “As it turned out, the pair of undergrads had chosen gender-neutral pronouns, often used by those who identify as ‘non-binary’ or ‘genderqueer’ (both of which come under the transgender umbrella).”, “Oxford University students have been urged to refer to each other using gender neutral pronouns such as ‘ze’ instead of ‘he’ or ‘she,’ it has been reported.”. [16] However, not all genderqueer people identify as androgynous. In 1839, the Mercury And Weekly Journal of Commerce offered a prize of five dollars to anyone who could come up with “a really personal pronoun in the third person singular, without gender.”. [87][88], A 2011 survey conducted by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in the UK found that 0.4% of the 10,039 respondents identified as non-binary. [64] The wider legal recognition of non-binary people – following the recognition of intersex people in 2003 – in Australian law followed between 2010 and 2014, with legal action taken against the New South Wales Government Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages by transgender activist Norrie May-Welby to recognize Norrie's legal gender identity as 'non-specific'. However, acceptance of this use has been evolving. Others may like people to constantly switch their pronouns in a sentence like she is upset because their mom didn't call (she and they are the same person). [76], Genderfluid people, who also fall under the genderqueer umbrella, have their own flag as well. It’s appropriate to use the name a person shares with you. In the case of intentional misgendering, transphobia is a driving force. [36][37] The American Psychological Association describes the bigender identity as part of the umbrella of transgender identities. This refers to a newly-coined pronoun (think neologism) which has been created to fill the perceived lack of a gender-neutral option in English. The concept of gender-neutral pronouns has existed since the late 18th century under various names. A demiflux person feels that the stable part of their identity is non-binary. Some others use conventional gender-specific pronouns 'he' or 'she', alternately use 'he' and 'she', or use only their name and do not use pronouns at all. Non-binary people as a group have a wide variety of gender expressions, and some may reject gender "identities" altogether. [57], Some non-binary/genderqueer people use gender-neutral pronouns. These pronouns have also sometimes been referred to as common gender and epicene. [4], Non-binary people may identify as having two or more genders (being bigender or trigender);[5][6] having no gender (agender, nongendered, genderless, genderfree or neutrois); moving between genders or having a fluctuating gender identity (genderfluid);[7] being third gender or other-gendered (a category that includes those who do not place a name to their gender). These are more specialized grammatical terms, though. [26][27][28] Although this category includes a broad range of identities which do not conform to traditional gender norms, scholar Finn Enke states that people who identify with any of these positions may not necessarily self-identify as transgender. [1][2] Non-binary identities can fall under the transgender umbrella, since many non-binary people identify with a gender that is different from their assigned sex. Identifying as bigender is typically understood to mean that one identifies as both male and female or moves between masculine gender expression and feminine gender expression, having two distinct gender identities simultaneously or fluctuating between them. Simona Chiose, “U of T professor’s stand against genderless pronouns draws fire,”, Steven Petrow, “In the war over pronouns, gender-neutral pronouns are here to stay,”, Rachael Pells, “Oxford University students 'told to use gender neutral pronoun ze',”. ", "Oregon becomes first state to allow option "X" to end gender binary", "Everything you ever wanted to know about being nonbinary", "Billy Dee Williams: What is gender fluid? [33][34][35] This is different from identifying as genderfluid, as those who identify as genderfluid may not go back and forth between any fixed gender identities and may experience an entire range or spectrum of identities over time. [78], International Non-Binary People's Day is celebrated on 14 July. In addition to the terms listed below, there are many other terms related to gender, gender identity, and gender expression with which a person may identify, including but not limited to, androgynous, gender diverse, gender expansive, gender fluid, agender, bigender, genderqueer, pangender, MTF (male to female), and FTM (female to male). [11][21][22] The Human Rights Campaign Foundation and Gender Spectrum use the term gender-expansive to convey "a wider, more flexible range of gender identity and/or expression than typically associated with the binary gender system". The American Dialect Society selected the pronoun singular they, especially in light of rising gender-neutral uses, for their 2015 Word of the Year on the heels of the news that the Washington Post would now allow this use in their articles. [65] Following Oregon, in 2017 California passed an act allowing citizens to identify as "non-binary" on official documents. [30] Neutrois and agender were two of 50 available custom genders on Facebook, which were added on 13 February 2014. Non-binary gender identities are not associated with a specific gender expression, such as androgyny. [19][20], Many references use the term transgender to include genderqueer/non-binary people. Gender-neutral is somewhat more intuitive, and seems to have emerged as the common way to refer to ungendered pronouns. [42][43] There are several subcategories of the identity. [44][45] A genderfluid individual may also identify as bigender – shifting between masculine and feminine; or as trigender – shifting between these and a third gender. [15] Androgynous (also androgyne) is frequently used as a descriptive term for people in this category. [47], In 1992, after the publication of Transgender Liberation: A Movement Whose Time Has Come by Leslie Feinberg, the term transgender was broadened to become a term for gender variation in general. [67], The majority of reported discrimination faced by non-binary individuals often includes disregard, disbelief, condescending interactions, and disrespect. However, with the increasing acceptance of non-binary gender identities and the rise in wider societal recognition, this is slowly changing, as a greater number of governments and institutions recognize and allow non-binary identities.[62]. This page was last edited on 30 March 2021, at 18:32. The term genderqueer originated in queer zines of the 1980s as a precursor to the term non-binary. For the village in Estonia also known as Enby, see, "Non-binary" redirects here. [31] Agender is also available as a gender option on OkCupid since 17 November 2014. In 1808 Samuel Taylor Coleridge referred to the need for a “neutral pronoun” to use when referring to the word person rather than to a man or woman. Gender-neutral pronouns are pronouns which don’t carry any kind of association with a particular gender, such as they, sie, or ze. [46], Transfeminine and transmasculine may be used by individuals to describe an aspect of femininity or masculinity within their identity. Yay! [5][6] Pangender may be defined as being more than one gender, or it may describe a person who feels they are a member of all genders at the same time. Not at all. 2.1 Using feminine and masculine pronouns “Pairing” is the use of both feminine and masculine forms (he or she; her or his). [17] Being non-binary is not the same as being intersex, and most intersex people identify as either male or female. Are gender-neutral pronouns only for transgender and gender nonconforming people? Multiple countries legally recognize non-binary or third gender classifications. [48] This is highlighted in 1994, when activist Kate Bornstein wrote "All the categories of transgender find a common ground in that they each break one or more of the rules of gender: What we have in common is that we are gender outlaws, every one of us. [32], Bigender, bi-gender, or dual gender is a gender identity that includes any two gender identities and behaviors. [40][41], Demigender is a gender identity of a person identifying partially or mostly with one gender and at the same time with another gender. Gender identity, an individual’s self-conception as a man or woman or as a boy or girl or as some combination of man/boy and woman/girl or as someone fluctuating between man/boy and woman/girl or as someone outside those categories altogether.It is distinguished from actual biological sex—i.e., male or female. For other uses, see, For non-human reproduction with no distinction between male and female gametes, see, Range of gender identities that are not exclusively masculine or feminine. The second use case is for grammatical situations where gender is ambiguous, or is simply irrelevant, such as “Everyone should remember to bring their textbook to school tomorrow.” In this case, picking just he or just she may be inaccurate, and saying he or she is needlessly cumbersome when a simple they can be used.