Common Xenogender Categories and Identities

I'm making this blog post as a sort of introduction to more specific xenogender identities. Here I will explain some broad categories/umbrella terms for xenogenders, and then go over a few of the most common xenogenders. Granted, these will be "most common" based off my own experiences and observations. So obviously this won't be covering every possible xenogender, this is intended as more of an introduction than anything. Honestly, I think it might be worthwhile to run a survey specifically for xenogenders, but I'll go over that idea at the end of this post.

My hope is that, at some point in the future, there'll be enough research and published information out there that we could put a "Examples of Xenogender Identities" on this wiki's xenogender page, perhaps with some of the specific identities listed here. That way, people can have a better idea of what xenogender are like besides the definitions on the existing page.

Disclaimer that some of these terms may have multiple and even conflicting definitions, due to people using the same prefixes or terms for different experiences. The definitions shown here are the ones that are, based just on my own experience and observations, the most commonly used definitions.

What is Xenogender?

We already have a xenogender page that explains what xenogender is fairly well! To quote parts from that page, xenogenders can be described as:

• "a gender 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"
• "feel as though they lack the terms to fully express their gender or identity, something that derives from a lexical gap"
• "using terms not typically associated with gender or describing gender with metaphors"

So a big part of xenogenders is using words not typically associated with gender (especially not with masculine or feminine in general, in most cases) to describe one's gender. Often this is done by comparing one's gender to other things like animals and objects, so then like using metaphors and similes. Some people may describe their gender more literal (i.e. "my gender is a cat"), but from what I know this is usually just done either as a non-malicious joke or malicious trolling. There might be people who genuinely believe in describing it literally like this, but I'm not certain on that.

Xenogender Umbrella Terms

So now I'll go over a few broad categories of xenogenders. These basically function as umbrella terms, and similar to other umbrella terms, these could also be used as identities in and of themselves! Note that this most likely won't be able to cover all the possible categories of xenogenders, but I'm mainly just trying to give a good starting point on what's available.

All of these definitions are from the LGBTA Wiki on Miraheze. Out of respect for this wiki's rules about linking/sourcing to other wikis, I won't post a link to them, but it should be easy enough to search for "LGBTA Wiki on Miraheze" and find them! Otherwise I will try to give a source that is close to the LGBTA Wiki's definitions.

Noungenders

"Genders that are reflected by nouns, such as a kind of animal, an imaginary being, a part of nature, an abstract concept, or a symbol." A lot of the other categories overlap with this one due to the nature of nouns.

Aesthetigender‎s

"Also known as aesthetgenders, aesthetegenders, or videgenders, are a series of non-binary xenogenders that are either derived from, are the embodiment of, are similar to, related to, or share the qualities with an aesthetic or a sensory experience. Aesthetigenders can be based on symbols, ideas, or things. And are typically described using things like texture, size, shape, light, sound, or other sensory characteristics." Comparing noungenders to aesthetigenders, the former is more about comparing gender to a thing (word, animal, object, etc), while the latter is about comparing gender to qualities associated with a thing, such as how it is experienced.

Sciencegender

"Genders that are based or inspired by scientific concepts. They may be described or conceptualized using scientific concepts, are linked to science or scientific concepts in some way, or are aesthetically connected to scientific concepts." According to the LGBTA Wiki, sciencegender was "coined by MOGAI-Watch as a way to categorize all MOGAI genders relating to science". For those who don't know, MOGAI-Watch is an anti-microlabel/anti-xenogender wiki that mostly documents microlabels and xenogenders in order to make fun of them. While a lot of people seem to have reclaimed sciencegender as a legitimate umbrella term, I strongly urge anyone who might be sensitive to anti-microlabel/anti-xenogender content to not seek out the MOGAI-Watch wiki. Just a fair warning!

Biogenders

"Genders that are like, share qualities with, described using, connected to, or related to nature or some aspect of nature." From what I've seen this usually includes animals, plants, and elements (such as classicial (earth, air, water, fire) and periodic (tin, oxygen, neon, etc). Of course, has a big overlap with noungenders as well. Biogender is usually seen as a subcategory of sciencegender.

Fictigenders

"Genders from or based on a work of fiction, such as a movie, book, video game, etc. or genders that are based on an object, setting, character, or concept from a work of fiction."

Kingender

"Genders that are influenced by one's kintype or being otherkin or therian." Tends to overlap with Fictigenders in the case of people who kin fictional characters in particular.

Mathgender

"Genders that are related to or described in terms of mathematical concepts."

Mythogender

"Also known as Mythologically Aligned or Cryptidgender, this is a xenogender term most frequently used by gender non-conforming people to describe ones desire to present as or be a mythological being or cryptid." Can also have overlap with kingender for those who also kin as mythological or cryptid entities.

Zodiacgender

"An umbrella term referring to any gender that is related to a zodiac sign"

(Probably) Most Common Xenogenders

For these, I'm mostly sources from the Pride-Flags archive on DeviantArt, in order to include flags for some of these identities. They also seem to be one of the more trustworthy sources for terms and definitions, especially for sourcing back to the original creators/coiners. Once more, these are definitely not all of the possible xenogenders out there, just a small set of examples of what are probably some of the more common xenogenders I've personally seen. Specifically those that I've seen real people (either friends or acquaintances) actually say that they are.

Stargender

"An otherworldly gender that is beyond comprehension in earthly terms, as if it originated from beyond the earth. OR a gender that cannot be defined no matter how many other terms are coined OR simply the gender of a star." This one might be I think the most popular? However, I definitely can't say that for certain, it's just the impression I get from what I've seen.

Catgender

"Catgender is a xenogender used by individuals who identify as/strongly connect with cats and felines. It is used to describe a gender that feels feline. Catgender individuals can still identify as a binary gender while being catgender. If someone feels female in a feline sense, they would be a catgender girl. Catgender was created by a mentally ill autistic individual to better define nya’s gender experience, but anyone may identify with catgender."

Ethegender

"Ethegender, Delicagender, Daingender, Ethereagender, or Elegender: A gender up to interpretation by individuals, but in essence is an ethereal gender that is unable to be understood by either the individual or others; a gender that cannot be explained; a dainty, elegant, or delicate gender." This one was particularly super popular on Tumblr at one point in the past, not too sure about now though.

Digigender

"A digital gender. it can range from any digital thing or file; virus, malware, .txt, .mp3, anti-virus, trojan, email, etc. gender can be replaced with girl, xirl, nonbinary, nb, enby, fluid, boy, boi, etc."

Firegender

"A fluid gender in a constant state of change that never truly extinguishes. Aesthetically linked to fire as a visual metaphor or symbol."

Pyrogender

"A gender that feels like fire! Pyrogender holds a much stronger aesthetic connection with fire than firegender. Not just the movement of the fire (as with firegender), but also the heat of the fire (excitement/happiness about the gender) and consumption of fuel to keep it burning (eating up other genders to keep the main one going, in a way)." Some people use the definition for this and firegender interchangeably for both terms.

Hydrogender

"A gender which shares qualities with water; i.e. currents, tides, etc."

Arithmagender

Also known as arithmogender. "A number gender. It can range from any number/s, positive, negative, decimals, fractions, etc." This would be considered a specific gender under Mathgenders.

Gendervoid

"A gender identity defined by absence, a blank space or void where a gender might otherwise be." This is usually considered a microlabel of agender, but I think it differs from person to person.

Xenogender Census?

Given that the Gender Census is a thing, perhaps it might be about time that there was a census or survey specifically for xenogenders. I think it would be helpful to see what are some of the more common xenogenders with more certainty, especially without have to sift through the non-xenogender identities (bigender, demiwoman, genderfluid, etc.) like with the full Gender Census.

I think perhaps part of such a survey should also ask if a person explains their xenogender as a metaphor/simile to something, or more literally like I mentioned earlier. It would be interesting to see, especially since like I mentioned, usually when people are more literal about their gender, they're usually just joking about it.

Another survey question idea would be to ask how people define xenogenders in general, and perhaps how they define their own gender and/or how they define whichever xenogenders they picked for themselves. I imagine there's probably quite a bit of variety with that!

That's about it for this blog post. If you find any surveys specifically on xenogenders, or otherwise other research about what some of the most common xenogenders are, please let me know!