In this brief guide, we will discuss the meaning of Demiboy, and some other related concepts about Gender.
Demiboy: Meaning and Significance
A demiboy is someone who partially, but not completely, identifies as a man, boy or otherwise masculine, regardless of their assigned gender at birth and someone who identifies as a Demiboy may or may not identify as another gender in addition to relating partially to a boy or man.
A demiboy may also called a demiguy, demiman or demimale person, and the other similar gender identity that is a lot like a Demiboy is Demigirl which is someone who partially related to being a girl but not completely, and may be assigned any gender at birth, not necessarily female.
Demiboy is often used to describe someone assigned male at birth who does not feel connected or disconnected to that identification, and who also does not experience a significant enough dissociation to create real physical discomfort or dysphoria.
Someone who has the gender identity of a Demiboy can also be described as someone assigned female at birth who is transmasculine, but they may not be wholly binary-identified, therefore they feel more strongly associated with “male” than “female,” socially or physically, but not strongly enough to want to identify as as a man.
Demiboys may also identify as demigender, non-binary and/or transgender, and being a demiboy or demigirl should not be confused with being demisexual, which has everything to do with one’s sexual orientation and not with gender identity.
Difference between Demiboy and Demisexual
A demiboy is someone who identifies as not completely masculine or completely with the psychological and other aspects of being a boy or man, but at the same time may or may not relate to other genders, while demisexual is a sexual orientation which means someone who
Feels sexual attraction to someone only when they have an emotional connection with them.
People often confuse gender identity with sexual orientation, and even people who don’t necessarily ascribe to the non-binary genders or feel agender may sometimes not know what their sexual orientation is, proving that it is a process rather than something one knows immediately all at once.
Gender identity is the gender the person associated with most strongly, or doesn’t associate with, and this may dictate the societal roles the person takes on or wants to take on, and the way they dress or behave.
However, this does not mean that there is a stereotypical way each gender acts, in fact the whole point of the inclusive movement of exploring various gender identities is that one should not have to be boxed into one category and they should be free to explore and be who they are.
Another key feature of gender identity is that while it may include in itself the concept of sexual orientation, the opposite may not be true.
The distinction between demiboy and demisexual can be made thus, and it is important to note that just about anybody can be demisexual, regardless of who or what they identify as where their identity is concerned.
The emotional bond that a demisexual person needs to form with another person in order to feel sexual attraction to them does not have to be love, it can also be friendship, and many demisexuals may also feel sexual attraction towards someone they have always had a platonic friendship with.
Another key feature of being a demisexual is that a demisexual may also not necessarily love the person, romantically or platonically, but they will need to have some kind of closeness with them in order to not feel detached.
According to healthline, these are some ways to know if you are Demisexual:
- I seldom feel sexually attracted to people I see on the street, strangers, or acquaintances.
- I have felt sexually attracted to someone I was close to (such as a friend or romantic partner).
- My emotional connection with someone affects whether I feel sexually attracted to them.
- I’m not aroused or interested in the thought of having sex with someone I don’t know well, even if they’re aesthetically beautiful or have a pleasant personality.
Demiboy Quiz
If you are confused about what your gender is, or if you think you are a demiboy, you can make this demiboy quiz to see if you might be a demiboy.
Bear in mind though, that even if you take the demiboy quiz, you will still have to do some reading and talk to some people to figure out if you are in fact a demiboy, and even if you can’t figure it out right away, you can take your time with it, and let it come to you instead of rushing the process.
Read through the statements below and see how many of them apply to you:
- Do you feel uncomfortable associating with the gender you were assigned at birth?
- Do you dress like a male typically would or do you like to be more neutral?
- Do you ever associate with being outside of any gender at all?
- Do you prefer gender neutral pronouns, or those that may not necessarily mean masculine things?
- Do you feel that you have evolved beyond the gender you were given at birth?
- Do you feel like being more than just a man or do you feel like you don’t want to be confined to being a man?
If you agree with 3-4 of these statements, you may be a demiboy, and you should read more about it to figure out if you are.
Third Gender
Third gende is also referred to as third sex and it means someone who may be categorized, either by themselves or by society, as neither man nor woman.
Third genders may not necessarily mean non-binary, and it is also a social category present in many societies that recognize three or more genders and this term is usually understood to mean “other”, while some anthropologists and sociologists have also described fourth, fifth, and “some” genders.
Genders are though to be determined by biology, in most cases, and for the longest time it was the only thing that determined what someone’s gender was, based on their chromosomal and anatomical sex .
The only genders were is male or female, but there has been presence of third genders in the form of uncommon variations on this sexual dimorphism which created a degree of ambiguity known as intersex.
Some commonly known third genders across various societies are discussed below:
Hijras
Hijras are a third gender that are neither a man nor a woman and while most of them may be anatomically male or intersex and some anatomically female, they typically do no associate with either.
The Hijra community is most predominant in India and other SouthAsian communities, and they do not enjoy the same acceptance and respect as males and females in their cultures.
Occupations like singing and dancing are common to the Hijra community and some of them may even work as cooks or servants or sometimes prostitutes.
Khanith
The khanith is a third gender that is socially accepted in Oman and these individuals are male homosexual prostitutes who dress as males predominantly in pastel colors other than white, which is traditionally worn by men, but they may have typically female mannerisms.
A Khanith can also freely mingle with women which may often be seen at weddings or other formal events.
Two-spirit identities
Two spirit Identities are usually found in indigenous North American Nations, which had more than two gender roles.
The two spirit identity goes beyond the cisgender man and woman, and these individuals do not identify much with the gender, but more with culture or Nation-specific gender terms.
Gender Identity
Gender identity refers to a deeply personal sense of one’s gender which does not necessarily have to correlate with a person’s assigned sex at birth, and Gender expression may reflect the person’s gender identity but this is not a rule either.
Someone with a gender identity beyond the two genders of male and female does not necessarily have to express behaviors, attitudes, and appearances that are socially consistent with a particular gender role.
The term gender identity was originally given by Robert J. Stoller in 1964 and usually, across societies, there are different gender categories that may form the basis of a person’s self-identity in relation to other members of society, and one may read more about the development of gender identity in Kohlberg’s theory.
Gender identity may often come from basic division between gender attributes assigned to males and females, and usually they may serve as something of cornerstones that people adhere to or deviate from, and this may also include what the person feels about the set expectations of masculinity and femininity.
Examples of gender identity may include transgender, non-binary or genderqueer. Some societies have also recognized third gender categories which fit into neither of the 2 genders of male and females, and these are discussed below.
Conclusion
In this brief guide, we discussed the meaning of Demiboy, and some other related concepts about Gender.
Gender is evolving, as it should, and the one things all genders still have in common is the need for acceptance and the desire to not be ostracized for who they are, so even if one does not understand the distinction between demiboy and demigirl or other types of gender, the important thing is to listen and accept anyway.
The presence of different gender identities implies evolution in the society, because gender was meant to be a primal distinction in the human species, a sort of yin and yang because there just wasn’t enough diversity to need more than the 2 genders, but there is now, and that must be celebrated.
If you have any more questions or comments about Demiboy or Demigirl, please feel free to reach out to us at any time.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Demiboy
What does it mean to be a Demigirl?
To be a Demigirl means to be someone who was assigned the female gender at birth (due to the reproductive system and genitalia) but does not fully identify with being a woman, socially or mentally.
However, to be a demigirl does not mean that the person identifies with the other genders either, it just means to not identify as the gender one was assigned.
What are the 76 genders?
The 76 genders include some genders that come under wider categories like male, female, transgender, gender neutral, agender, non-binary, pangender, genderqueer, two-spirit, third gender, and all, none or a combination of these.
What is a demi man?
Demi man is someone who was assigned the male gender at birth but does not relate to the features, psychological or biological, of a man, but also does not relate to that of a woman.
Demisexual man, on the other hand, is someone who does not feel sexual attraction to someone unless they have already formed a strong emotional bond with the person.
What is a Bigender?
Someone who has a Bigender identity is someone who identifies as both man and woman.
Bigender should not be confused with other gender identities like being Non-binary, which refers to the identity of rejecting both male and female entirely, while Genderfluid may mean someone whose gender identity changes.
Citations
https://gender.wikia.org/wiki/Demiguy
https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Demiboy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_gender