Genderfae (Meaning and Details)

In this brief guide, we will look at the meaning of Genderfae, Genderfaun, and other gender related terms and meanings. We will also look at sexual orientation and what the difference between Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation is. 

Genderfae: Meaning 

A genderfae is someone who is assigned the female sex at birth on the basis of their physical characteristics, but they may not associate with the social norms of femininity or feel like a female person all the time socially or mentally.

Genderfae is also known as Genderthil or Genderdoe, and this may be someone who fits into the category of gender fluidity that never encompasses male or masculine genders. 

Someone who relates to being Genderfae people can be fluid between any type of feminine genders or unaligned genders like aporagender, and they may even experience genderlessness or being agender, but the only thing they would not experience is the feeling of masculine genders. 

Genderfae may sometimes be considered a non-masculine subset of fluidflux, and they may be different from Demigirls, which is a gender identity describing someone who partially, but not wholly, identifies as a woman, girl or otherwise feminine, whatever their assigned gender at birth. 

Demigirls may may or may not identify as another gender in addition to feeling partially a girl or woman, whereas a Genderfae or genderdoe is someone who fluctuates between all genders apart from the masculine ones.

Genderfae was a term coined in 2014 by a blog called Mogai Archive, which is now defunct, and the Genderfae flag was designed by the Deviantart community, in particular, users known as Pride flags and Superpopcorn 101, in January 2017.

Some people also tend to find the term Genderfae offensive, due to the relationship it has to the fae or faeries cultures across the Scottish/Celtic and other cultures, and some communities online suggest that this is why the term Genderdoe is much better.

In addition, Genderfae sexual orientation may be anything, it does not necessarily depend on the gender identity of the individual.

This means that someone who is Genderfae does not necessarily have to be straight or gay, they can be bisexual, pansexual, asexual, and so on.

Sexual Orientations are different from Gender Identity, which can be explored below, and where sexual orientation may often become clear once the individual has had some social influence that educates them of the concept of attraction and being around other people and such, gender identity might kick in much earlier, because according to psychologists gender identity starts to develop very early, even as early as 3-4 years old.

Sexual Orientation

Sexual orientation may be defined as an enduring and permanent pattern of primarily sexual attraction (May include romantic but usually they are different) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. 

Sexual orientation may include attractions that are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality, and bisexuality, though asexuality has often been identified as a valid and separate sexual orientation.

The categories of sexual orientation are usually quite relevant to  sexual identity and terminology, for instance, there may be use of labels such as pansexual or polysexual or none at all.

The American Psychological Association adds a corollary to the definition of sexual orientation as, “also refers to a person’s sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors, and membership in a community of others who share those attractions”.

Other relevant terms to secual orientation are Androphilia and gynephilia which are primarily used in behavioral science to describe sexual orientation, and these may serve as something of an alternative to a gender binary conceptualization. 

Androphilia refers to sexual attraction to masculinity while gynephilia describes the sexual attraction to femininity.

When talking about secual orientation, we need to also talk about sexual preference, which is a concept that largely overlaps with sexual orientation, but is not the same or under the umbrella of sexual orientation, and it may often be distinguished in psychological research.

An example of the difference between sexual preference and sexual orientation may be someone who identifies as bisexual, may sexually prefer one sex over the other.

However, Sexual preference may suggest a degree of voluntary choice, and on the other hand sexual orientation is not a choice, and it is something that is innate and natural to the person.

Sexual orientation is said to come about by means of a complex interplay of genetic, hormonal, and environmental influences and there is no single theory on the cause of sexual orientation, but most scientists tend to think of it as biologically-based primarily.

This fact is even more applicable to males, and it has been seen that in males more than females, the nonsocial and biological underpinnings of sexual orientation are more prevalent compared to social ones.

There is also no evidence that parenting or early childhood experiences play any role whatsoever in sexual orientation, which puts a rest to any nature vs nurture debates that may be brewing in the minds of people.

It has been maintained for the longest time that most of the most people have been heterosexual, but that by no means implies that that is all there is, because there have also been plenty of reports about significant parts of the population being homosexual or bisexual.

Another key thing to keep in mind about sexual orientation is that is also exists on a continuum, and it can range anywhere from attraction to the opposite sex to exclusive attraction to the same sex, and everything in between.

Gender Identity

Gender identity is a deeply personal sense of one’s gender which may or may not correlate with a person’s assigned sex at birth or it can also be different.

Gender expression may reflect the person’s gender identity but this is not a rule, and it is not necessary that the person express behaviors, attitudes, and appearances that are socially consistent with a particular gender role.

The term gender identity was originally coined by Robert J. Stoller in 1964and 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.

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. 

Usually they may have occupations like singing and dancing, and they may work as cooks or servants or sometimes prostitutes, and some of them may be in long-term sexual partnerships with men. 

Often they may be compared to transvestites or drag queens of contemporary western culture.

Khanith

The khanith form a socially accepted third gender 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. 

Usually Khaniths have their own households, where they may perform all tasks and they can marry women and prove their masculinity by consummating the marriage.

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.

Conclusion

In this brief guide, we looked at the meaning of Genderfae, Genderfaun, and other gender related terms and meanings. We also looked at sexual orientation and what the difference between Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation is. 

Gender identity and sexual orientation are concepts that many people still struggle with, despite the awareness that has taken place over time and the social normalcy that has started to surround these subjects.

Gender identity is also a deeply personal thing and it should not be affected by something as trivial as social norms and rules and regulations, and it is something that the person needs to explore on their own at leisure.

If you have any questions or comments about Gender Identities like genderfae or genderfaun, please feel free to reach out to us anytime.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Genderfae

Citations

https://gender.wikia.org/wiki/Genderfae

https://gender.wikia.org/wiki/Agender

https://gender.wikia.org/wiki/Aporagender

https://gender.wikia.org/wiki/Androgyne

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_orientation#:~:text=Sexual%20orientation%20is%20an%20enduring,or%20more%20than%20one%20gender.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender