Intergender

Intergender
Basics
Classification	Gender identity
Related and unrelated terms
Different from	Intersex Androgyne Bigender

Intergender is a gender identity for some intersex people who identify between or as a mix of the binary genders of man and woman.

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Etymology

Intergender as a term first appeared around 1998, when it appeared on Usenet as the alt.support.intergendered newgroup. The group was created by Donna Lynn Matthews, who is non-intersex but identified as "intergendered". The newsgroup's charter explained its definition of intergendered: "Intergendered individuals do not gender themselves as 'men' or 'women', but somewhere inbetween, as a mix of both masculine and feminine qualities. Others gender themselves as neither 'men' nor 'women' (agendered or non-gendered), thus placing themselves 'outside' of the gender 'spectrum' completely. Given this, intergendered individuals tend to present (to varing [sic] degrees) in a non-descript or ambiguous manner by means of androgyny, partial crossdressing, [sic] genderbending, and part-time cross-gender living, to name a few. Intergendered should not be confused with intersexed, as the two are quite different."

In 2014, an intersex and intergender person named Aeshling made a Tumblr post to separately propose "intergender" as a term only for intersex people. In some cases, it is also defined as a term that is used specifically by nonbinary intersex people.

Community

June 24th is celebrated as Intergender Pride Day. This day being used as such can be traced back to a pride month calendar, which assigned a different LGBTQIA+ identity to each day of June, from as early as 2016. Intergender Pride Day was kept on June 24th in subsequent pride month calendars across social media since then.

History

Document the community's most important history, including facts such as key events, breakthroughs in improving the community's wellbeing and rights, or historical figures known to belong to the community.

Flag

The intergender pride flag was created on January 17, 2020, by Tumblr users interpunked and cripdeaf. The yellow and purple are meant to be the same colors as those on the intersex flag. The addition of the white circle is described by the creator as representing "our wholeness as ourselves, without intrinsic need for modification".

Older intergender flag

An older version of the intergender pride flag was created on November 20, 2014, by two moderators of the Tumblr blog actuallyintersex. This flag also has an alternate version where the blue and pink stripes of the flag switch places. The creators of the flag used a similar layout and color scheme to an old version of the intersex flag that used blue, pink, white, and purple.

Another alternate version of the intergender flag

Yet another alternate version of the intergender pride flag was available online as early as July 31, 2016. The creator of this particular flag design is unknown, but it has been presumed that the color meanings are the same as the flag created by actuallyintersex, with the addition of yellow to represent nonbinary instead of purple.

Distinction

Intersex

Main article: Intersex

Intersex refers to people who are born with or otherwise develop physical characteristics that do not fit the binary notions of a "male" or "female" body. This can include differences in external or internal reproductive organs, hormones, and other characteristics related to a person's sex. Meanwhile, intergender is related to a person's gender identity instead of their sex. While intergender is generally used exclusively for intersex people, not all intersex people may want to also label themselves as intergender.

Androgyne

Main article: Androgyne

Similar to intergender, androgyne is used by people whose gender is a mix of the binary genders of man and woman. While historically androgyne was used as a term for intersex people, in modern usage androgyne can be used by those who are not intersex. This highlights the major difference between androgyne and intergender, with the latter is now mostly intended to be exclusively for intersex people.

Bigender

Main article: Bigender

Bigender is an identity in which a person has two genders at once, be it simultaneously or in other ways. The two genders can be any two genders, not just the binary genders. In contrast, intergender is defined specifically as a gender that is a mix of the two binary genders.

Controversy

Intergender has sometimes been claimed as a term for anyone who feels a connection with it, whether or not they are intersex. However, that may be an act of appropriation from intersex individuals who need their own language to reflect their experiences.

Perceptions and discrimination

Those who are intersex and use the intergender identity are marginalized not only by society at large but by the intersex community itself. Intersex activists often claim those who are intergender are insignificant due to being a minority. Furthermore, many activists dismiss intergender because of their insistence on a very essentialist definition of intersex. These views are harmful because they perpetuate the blindness and intolerance that justify intersex genital mutilation and other pathological views of intersex. These views also silence those who feel mutilated psychologically and emotionally by the binary system and want to be viewed for more than their bodies.

Media

This section should be used to elaborate on the portrayal and representation of this identity in various forms of media, which can include a listing or links to various artists or movies, series, etc. Subheadings like Film, Television, Literature, and Music should be used where appropriate.

Resources

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