In this brief guide, we will discuss girlflux and some other types of genders.
Girlflux: Meaning
Girlflux is also known as womanflux and this term refers to a gender that falls under the broader category of genderflux, and it refers to someone who feels mostly, or fully, feminine most of the time but may also experience fluctuating femininity and intensity of their female identity.
Someone who identifies as girlflux may feel strongly feminine sometimes and weakly feminine at other times and the defining characteristic of this identity is that the individual may fluctuate from feeling completely without gender to completely feminine or female.
The distinction that the person can only go from agender to female or feminine is a crucial one, and distinguishes girlflux from other genders such as demigirl or genderfae, which are other constructs which may sound similar but are actually quite different.
The extremes of switching between agender and female or feminine in girlflux mean that the person may go from feeling slightly feminine, to half feminine, to mostly feminine but there are no other amounts of femininity in the individual.
Another fascinating aspect of the girlflux gender is that while some individuals who identify as this gender may move smoothly between intensities, other people may quickly jump between intensities.
A girflux person may also experience other, non-feminine, genders, but this is not necessarily related to their girlflux identity and may be independent and come about often in the phase of self-discovery and exploration of gender.
The terms boyflux and girlflux were introduced by Tumblr user kitsuneshay on August 19, 2015 when they were trying to describe their own identity, and they mentioned on the blog how these terms don’t exist so they are making their own.
Like many other genders, girlflux also have their own flag, and the original girlflux flag consists of the three large stripes of pink, which are meant to represent the varying levels of femininity, while the other stripes have other meanings based on the colors.
There are 5 smaller stripes in the girlflux flag, and the meanings of these stripes are as follows: the blue stripe represents male and masculine genders, the purple stripe stands for genders between male and female, the green stripe refers to genders outside of the binary, the white stripe represents the lack of gender like agenderness or similar identities, and the gray stripe, like it is in the demigirl flag, stands for the unknown or unnamed genders.
The other concept introduced by the same tumblr user who introduced the concept of girlflux is boyflux, which refers to someone who moves between the varying degrees and identities of the male gender and agender.
In the words of the tumblr user kitsuneshay:
“I couldn’t find a gender that really fit me so I coined my own term. This could be considered a subtype of genderfluid or bigender but I didn’t like the connotations/implication those genders had (ie. the connotation of being both the 2 binary genders or fluid between the 2)
Definition – When one feels mostly or all male most of the time but experiences fluctuating intensities of male identity. This can be fluid with any other identity.
A Boyflux person for example maybe male 50% of the time agender 25% percent of the time and a mix of the two the rest of the time.
Can be compared to duraboy or agenderflux but does not require or imply one to be either wholly male or at all agender.”
Terms and Concepts Related to Gender and Sexual Orientation
Here is a list of all the significant terms and constructs that one might need to know when they are trying to understand gender identity and related concepts.
AFAB
AFAB is an acronym that means “assigned female at birth”, and it may often be used when the person is trying to describe what they identify as now and what they were born as.
Agender
Agender is a significant gender identity that is fairly common, next to non-binary gender identity, and it refers to someone who doesn’t identify with the idea or experience of having a gender and prefers being referred to as a person rather than someone who belongs to a single group.
Aliagender
Aliagender is a nonbinary gender identity that doesn’t fit into existing gender schemas or constructs and is outside the norms of solid concepts that usually fall under the bigger umbrella of non-binary gender.
AMAB
AMAB is an acronym similar to AFAB mentioned earlier, and it refers to “assigned male at birth.”
Androgyne
Someone who associates with the androgyne gender identity is someone who has a gender presentation or identity that may be understood best as gender-neutral or androgynous meaning someone who likely has both masculine and feminine characteristics.
Aporagender
Aporagender is an an umbrella term as well as a nonbinary gender identity that refers to the experience of having a specific gender which is different from male, female, or any combination of the two.
Bigender
Similar to Agender, bigender is a fairly common and significant gender identity, and it refers to someone who identifies with two distinct genders, and therefore it indicates the number of gender identities one has.
However, unlike genderflux, bigender is not a term that signifies which genders someone identifies with or the level, degree or intensity of identification they have with a particular gender (such as 50% male, 50% demigirl).
Binarism
Binarism refers to the gender systems and schemas which may be based on the existence of two opposing parts, such as male/female, man/woman, or masculine/feminine, but in this specific context, binarism is a type of sexism that removes any ethnic or culture-specific nonbinary gender roles and identities.
Body dysphoria
Body dysphoria is not the same thing as a mere conflict or confusion about one’s gender identity, and it is also not the same as Body dysmorphic disorder or being transgender, although many people confuse the three.
Body dysphoria stands for a specific type of gender dysphoria which usually manifests as distress or discomfort with aspects of the body, and these aspects often tend to include anatomy, shape, size, chromosomes, secondary sex characteristics, or internal reproductive structures.
Cisgender
A very commonly used term in the context of gender identity, cisgender refers to someone who exclusively identifies with their sex or gender assigned at birth, and usually these individuals are those that relate to being male or female depending on what they were born as.
Cisnormativity
Cisnormativity is a concept that does not refer to a particular gender, per se, but rather the assumption that someone will identify with the sex or gender they were assigned at birth, or that having a cisgender gender identity is the norm, and not leaving open the possibility for other genders that the person may relate to.
Cisnormativity is an issue that people seek to fix with awareness about gender identity and this concept may be the biggest hurdle in the openness towards gender identity and the various types of genders.
Once cisnormativity starts disappearing or at least weakens, it will be a good sign for anyone that does not identify as cisgender.
Cissexism
Cissexism is also not a gender identity, it is in fact a toxic construct that often stems from the previously discussed concept of cisnormativity, and it refers to the type of oppression that discriminates against those who aren’t cisgender.
Demigender
Demigender is an umbrella term typically which includes nonbinary gender identities like demigirl and demiboy, and it indicates the experience of having a partial identification or connection to a particular gender.
One type of gender identity under demigender is Demiboy, which is a type of gender identity that comes under the nonbinary gender identity and that describes someone who may partially identify as a boy, man, or masculine.
Even though the name demiboy tells us about someone’s gender identity, it doesn’t convey any information about the sex or gender assigned to someone at birth.
The term demigirl, which is another gender under demigender, refers to someone who partially identifies as a girl, woman, or feminine.
Dyadic
Dyadic refers to people who may have sex characteristics that can be easily characterized into the binary sex frameworks, and these sex characteristics may refer to things like chromosomes, hormones, internal organs, or anatomy.
Gender apathetic
Gender apathetic refers to someone who doesn’t strongly identify with any gender at all and they may also not care particularly about any other gender labels.
Some gender apathetic people may also use terms that indicate their relationship with the sex or gender assigned to them at birth, and they may be called cis apathetic or trans apathetic depending on what they identify as, while some other gender apathetic people might not.
A marked feature of someone who is gender apathetic is that they may have an attitude of flexibility, openness, and may not care much about the perception or presentation of gender identity or presentation and they may not be interested in labelling themselves or being labeled by others.
Gender binary
Being gender binary is one of the most common things in the society, and it may also be known as gender binarism.
Being gender binary refers to gender classification systems, and this may include anything from cultural or legal, to structural or social, and in these strata the organization of gender or sex may be done into two mutually exclusive categories such as male/female, man/woman, or masculine/feminine.
Gender dysphoria
Gender dysphoria is a medical diagnosis done on the basis of classification systems like DSM 5 or ICD 10, and it refers to having challenging feelings or distress people experience in relation to gender.
The medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria refers to a conflict between someone’s assigned sex (as male, female, or intersex) and the gender with which they identify.
Conclusion
In this brief guide, we discussed girlflux and some other types of genders.
Gender identity is a complex and varied subject, and there are nuances to it that one may not completely understand, but as long as there is respect and understanding for the fact that human beings are different from each other, things work well.
People who identify as someone other than male or female often have a tough road ahead of them in terms or how easily they get accepted in the society or by the people around them, therefore what they need the most is not for someone to have intricate knowledge of every single pronoun or subcategory or flag, but an understanding of the fact that they are people more so than a certain gender or a certain type.
If you’ve enjoyed the ”Girlflux: What does it Mean?” mentioned above, I would recommend you to take a look at ”What does being a Xenogender Mean?” too.
If you have any questions or comments about genders like girlflux or demigirl or others we discussed here, please feel free to reach out to us at any time.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Girlflux
What is the difference between Genderfae and Girlflux?
The key difference between genderfae and girlflux is that while genderfae is someone that may oscillate between the various types of feminine genders that may vary in intensity or type but they may have the female gender assigned to them at birth, whereas a girlflux is someone who only oscillates between the genders that come under the category of demigirl.
How many Genders are there?
There are more than 2 genders, and by some classifications there are about 76 genders currently, which may be categorized under much broader categories of binary or non-binary, or even Agender.
Who is Girlflux attracted to?
Girlflux can be attracted to anyone, depending on who they want, because gender identity does not dictate sexual attraction, and there are no rules about who someone might find themselves attracted to.
Girlflux can be attracted to anyone from boyflux to another girlflux, to even binary individuals, and they can just as easily be asexual or pansexual as well.
Citations
https://gender.wikia.org/wiki/Girlflux
https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Girlflux
https://www.healthline.com/health/different-genders#e-h
https://genderspectrum.org/articles/understanding-gender