Agender
Agender or Genderless is a gender identity referring to individuals who don't experience a gender, or view their gender as undefined, the Greek prefix a- meaning not or without.[1][2][3] It falls under the abinary umbrella in which one's gender is not a man, woman, neutral, xenic, outherine, or any other gender.
Some individuals may identify as both agender and another gender, such as an agender man or agender woman. Commonly this is due to a part of oneself being agender, with another part being another gender, such as presenting as a man whilst one's gender identity is agender. This combination is often defined as libragender.
History
The first known instance where the word agender was used originates from a Google group, in a thread titled "alt.politics.democrats", on the 21st of July, 2005. The user man_in_black529 wrote "But despite this near-universality of gender, cultures can have transgender, agender, and hypergender individuals".[4]
The word genderless has been used since the 1840s to describe both gender and body sex.[5] These definitions include:
- "lacking qualities typically associated with either sex";
- "not reflecting or involving gender differences or stereotypical gender";
- "not specifying a sex or sexes".
It was first used to describe grammatical gender, as Jennifer L Prewitt-Freilino wrote:
...some languages, called genderless languages, are characterized by their complete lack of grammatical gender distinction in the noun system. In Finnish, for example, hn refers to both he and she, and so has no gender.[5]
Agender Dysphoria and Euphoria
The concept of dysphoria and euphoria in terms of genderlessness is often disputed, or the experiences varying heavily between different individuals. Some argue that one cannot have feelings of gender euphoria for a gender that does not exist, nor feel gender dysphoria when gender does not matter to the individual.[6] Others argue that the euphoria stems from not being perceived as any particular gender, often feeling euphoric when presenting as neutral, despite agender excluding neutral genders. AVEN user Viridzen described it as: "Neutrois [neutral] people's gender is neutrality itself, whereas agender people experience neutrality in place of gender".[7]
In turn, some agender individuals feel dysphoria when being perceived as a gendered individual, such as a man, woman, or other gender.[8] Other agender individuals may describe themselves as gender-blind, not perceiving some or any particular traits or qualities as any specific gender, thus feeling comfortable to present themselves as any gender as some or all worldly concepts are genderless from their perspective.[9]
Related Terms
| Label | Relationship | Description | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agiaspec | Counterpart | Agiaspec is an umbrella term for anyone on the agender/genderless spectrum. | Agiaspec encompasses a collection of agender/genderless identities, whereas agender is commonly seen as a single gender identity. |
| Agingender | Counterpart | Agingender is an umbrella term for all genders which are agenrine in nature (AGIN). | Agingender is for genders that are in some way agenrine (even if they are not agender/genderless in any way). |
| Cassgender / Gender Apathetic | Similar | An individual who feels their gender identity is unimportant and not worth identifying. | Agender individuals may or may not care about their lack of gender, and cassgender/gender apathetic individuals may or may not have a gender. |
| Genderblank | Similar | An individual who cannot describe their gender in any way but a confusing blank space. | One may be agender without the sense of confusion that genderblank implies. |
| Gendervoid | Similar | An individual who experiences a void where a gender should be. | Gendervoid individuals often feel like their gender identity is missing, whereas agender individuals typically feel they never had a gender. |
| Neutral / Neutrois | Similar | An individual who has a neutral gender. | Although often used interchangeably, gender-neutral individuals usually feel they have a gender. |
| Quoigender | Similar | An individual who doesn't quite understand their gender or doesn't want to define their gender. | One may be agender and be sure or understanding of their lack of gender, whereas quoigender states an unclear sense over one's gender, regardless of what that gender might actually be. |
| Uingender | Similar | An individual whose gender is unknown, unnamed, undecided, unsure, unidentified, or unexplainable in nature. | Uingender is an unknown and unidentified existing gender, whereas agender is the lack of an existing gender entirely. |
Subgenders
| Label | Prefix / Suffix | Flag | Description | Creator(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apogender | Apo- |  [10]
|
Lacking gender but also having no connection, association, or relation with the concept of gender, being entirely removed from gender. The prefix apo- derives from the Greek word apo, meaning "farthest point".[11] | Queerspike, pastelmemer |
| Mars Agender | Mars |  [12]
|
Identifying as agender, but referring to oneself as a boy/man, and comfortable being viewed as a boy/man.[12] | bebbls-craft-blog |
| Mercury Agender | Mercury |  [12]
|
Identifying as agender, but referring to oneself as any gender, and comfortable being viewed as any gender.[12] | bebbls-craft-blog |
| Neptune Agender | Neptune |  [12]
|
Identifying as agender, not identifying as any other gender at all, and only comfortable being viewed as genderless.[12] | bebbls-craft-blog |
| Venus Agender | Venus |  [12]
|
Identifying as agender, but referring to oneself as a girl/woman, and comfortable being viewed as a girl/woman.[12] | bebbls-craft-blog |
Prefixes and Suffixes
| Label | Prefix / Suffix | Flag | Description | Creator(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agenderflux[13] | -flux |  [14]
|
Mostly agender with a strong and fluid connection to another gender. | Anonymous, Libragender |
Flags and Symbols
The most common agender flag was created by transrants. The black represents the absence of gender, grey representing partial gender, and green representing a non-binary gender since green is the inverse of lavender (the color often used to represent androgynous individuals).[15]
The sunset agender flag was created by a deleted Reddit user in May, 2020. The purple represents the androgynous presenting, pink representing the feminine presenting, orange representing the masculine presenting, and yellow representing the presenting of all genders.[16]
The purple, black, grey, white, and green agender flag was created by an anonymous user. The purple represents an archetypal queerness, transitioning to a neutral bodily sex, and androgynous presenting individuals. The black represents the absence of color in the context of light. The grey represents poly, fluid, and demi genders that include a genderless aspect. The white represents the absence of colour in the context of pigment. The green represents atypical queerness, those who do not transition to a neutral bodily sex (or only transition partially), individuals who maintain or fluctuate between different gendered presentations, and individuals who present as neither masculine, feminine, nor androgynous.[15]
The lavender, black, and green agender flag was created by anonymous user. The lavender color represents agender individuals with an androgynous presentation, black representing the lack of gender, and olive green being the inverse of lavender and representing agender individuals that don't feel comfortable presenting as androgynous.[15]
There are various agender symbols used, based off of existing chemistry and biology symbols. This includes the circle or oxygen chemistry symbol (also used to represent asexuality), the null symbol (primarily used to represent the neutrois gender), and the neuter symbol (also used to represent asexuality, neutrois gender, and neutrality).[17][18][19]
Sunset Agender (Reddit, Deleted User)
Agender (Anonymous)
Agender (Anonymous)
Agender (Unknown)
Oxygen Symbol
Null Symbol
Tilted Null Symbol
Neuter Symbol
Neuter and Null Symbol
Resources
- ↑ "Inqueery: What Does It Mean to Be Agender?". Them, 7 Aug, 2018, https://www.them.us/story/inqueery-agender.
- ↑ "a". Dictionary.com, https://www.dictionary.com/browse/a. Accessed on 22 Jun, 2023.
- ↑ "What is agender?". Agender.info, https://web.archive.org/web/20220124142648/https://agender.info/. Archived on 24 Jan, 2022.
- ↑ man_in_black529. "Homosexuality and the Bible". alt.politics.democrats, 21 Jul, 2005, https://web.archive.org/web/20220121154524/https://groups.google.com/g/alt.politics.democrats/c/ZNxbzT3GPrg/m/hmVZJTBrlFkJ.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 “Genderless.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genderless. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023.
- ↑ "Agender vs Neutrois - The Genderless Identities". Proud Zebra, 6 Jan, 2021, https://proudzebra.com/blogs/gender-identities/about-agender-neutrois.
- ↑ Moon Cheesecake. "Am I Agender or Neutrois?". The AVEN, 29 Jun, 2015, https://www.asexuality.org/en/topic/121416-am-i-agender-or-neutrois/.
- ↑ Anonymous. "Do agender people experience gender dysphoria?". Quora, 28 Jul, 2016, https://www.quora.com/Do-agender-people-experience-gender-dysphoria.
- ↑ Lane, S. Nicole. "What Is Gender Blindness?". Very Well Health, 8 Feb, 2021, https://www.verywellhealth.com/what-is-gender-blindness-5093945.
- ↑ pride-color-schemes. "Apogender". Tumblr, 10 Jul, 2016, https://web.archive.org/web/20220127045353/https://pride-color-schemes.tumblr.com/post/147207947805/apogender. Archived on 27 Jan, 2022.
- ↑ genderdefinitions. "sometimes i look through lists of prefixes and get inspired". Tumblr, 10 Jul, 2014, https://web.archive.org/web/20221004180948/https://genderdefinitions.tumblr.com/post/91400840744/sometimes-i-look-through-lists-of-prefixes-and-get. Archived on 4 Oct, 2022.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 bebbls-craft-blog. "I don’t know if any other Agender peeps feel like this but". Tumblr, 25 Jul, 2019, https://www.tumblr.com/bebbls-craft-blog/186516675608/i-dont-know-if-any-other-agender-peeps-feel-like?source=share.
- ↑ pride-color-schemes. "Librafluid, Agenderflux". Tumblr, 31 Jul, 2016, https://web.archive.org/web/20231106084300/pride-color-schemes.tumblr.com/tagged/librafluid. Archived on 6 Nov, 2023.
- ↑ Libragender. "@libragender Tah-dah!". Tumblr, 13 Oct, 2019, https://libragender.tumblr.com/post/188324505436/heckinsneks-libragender-tah-dah-heres-my-take.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 pride-color-schemes. "Agender". Tumblr, 9 Jul, 2016, https://web.archive.org/web/20220123212722/https://pride-color-schemes.tumblr.com/post/147170289630/agender. Archived on 23 Jan, 2022.
- ↑ Deleted User. "I redid the agender flag!". Reddit, 6 May, 2020, https://web.archive.org/web/20220123212723/https://www.reddit.com/r/NonBinary/comments/geo2dx/i_redid_the_agender_flag_to_me_it_means_the_sun/. Archived on 23 Jan, 2022.
- ↑ "⚪︎". Wiktionary, https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E2%9A%AA. Accessed on 16 Oct, 2023.
- ↑ "What are Neutrois?". Neutrois, https://web.archive.org/web/20100729032238/http://www.neutrois.com/. Archived on 16 Oct, 2023.
- ↑ McElroy, D.R. (2020). Signs & Symbols of the World: Over 1,001 Visual Signs Explained. New York, New York: Wellfleet Press. p. 198. ISBN 978-1577151869.
