In this brief guide, we will discuss what Xenogender means, as well as other information about gender identities.
Xenogender: Meaning
Xenogender refers to people who are non binary, meaning those who do not identify with either rmale or female, and it may mean someone that identifies as someone outside of the understanding of gender by human society.
The term Xenogeder was given in 2014 by a Tumblr user who went by the name Baaphomett, in in a submission to the MOGAI-Archive blog. It is very different from being asexual.
The derivation of the word “Xenogender” is from xeno, meaning alien and the english meaning of the word gender, referring to the identity that the individual has about their role in society or in their own life.
According to baaaphomett, Xenogender is an identity “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.”
According to this definition of Xenogender, it means that this person would likely not identify as “female” or “male”, which are the binary genders, but by other kinds of ideas that most people don’t think of as having to do with gender, like other creatures or plants.
Xenogender may encompass people who feel like they don’t have the kind of terms to talk about their experiences or their feelings in the terms usually used for the nonbinary gender, and this feeling is known as the lexical gap.
The umbrella term of Xenogender was created for specifically this purpose, and the main point of this term is to allow the people who identify as such to be able to fill a lexical gap.
There is also an adjective related to xenogender, and that is “xenine” which means “of or pertaining to xenogenders” while the noun form of xenine is xenity.
Usually it has been seen that society gives most lexical information about binary genders, and there are some now for non binary genders as well, but because there is barely any nfromation about the language and roles of those outside of that umbrella as well, there are some transgender and nonbinary people who address the challenge of describing their unusual gender identities by creative methods, referring to concepts that aren’t usually seen as related to gender.
According to GenderSpectrum.org, there are many children who experience this, because they don’t understand how they would refer to themselves or what their societal roles are, based on their gender, or the lack thereof, which may be understood better through this excerpt:
“Not all children fit neatly into a male or female gender identity, trans or otherwise. For some children, the sense of being ‘both’ or ‘neither’ best describes their reality. […] Children who see themselves as ‘neither’ will often speak of how regardless of whether they’re with a group of boys or girls, they feel like they don’t fit. This is not necessarily a sad feeling. They just see the kids around them and know that they are not ‘that.’ Kids in this category often appear androgynous, and will frequently answer the question ‘are you a boy or a girl’ by saying their name (‘I’m Devon’) or by identifying themselves as animals. When asked to draw self portraits, they will portray themselves as rainbows, or unicorns, or another symbol of their choosing.”
Types of Xenogender
There are various different types of Xenogenders depending on what they identify as, and these are given as follows:
Aesthetgender
Other names of this gender are aesthetigender, or videgender and this term was given by user curiosityismysin, who defines this xenogender as “A gender experience that is derived from, or the embodiment of, an aesthetic.” the main aspects of asthetigender are abstract concepts, aesthetic and symbols
Aliengender
This subtype of Xenogender was given by genderghoul who defines this gender as “A gender that is an interpretation of a gender or genders, from a nonhuman perspective. may or may not like to fit into a gender and adopt a gender, but in a sort of ‘alien trying out foreign species’s gender’ way. Can be combined with relevant genders.” The main concepts under Aliengender are alien species and this is considered to be a subtype of xenogender.
Astralgender
It is not clear who gave the concept of astralgender, but the Astralgender flag was created by helkie-three from Deviantart
The origins of Astralgender have been lost for some reason, due to which it is not clear what the original meaning was meant to be exactly, but it seems it was created on or around Sep 6, 2015.
Astralgender, as the name suggests, is a gender that feels connected to space and the main concepts under this subtype of xenogender are nature, space and place.
Caelgender
Caelgender was a term given by Tumblr user transmomoi in a post to the MOGAI-archive blog in 2014 and it refers to someone who identifies as a gender that shares qualities with outer space or has the aesthetic of space, stars, nebulae, etc.
Contigender
The term contigender was given by Tumblr user hardcoreshounen in a submission to the MOGAI-Archive blog in 2014, and according to them the meaning of this subtype of xenogender is “1. a gender that flows through space and time and constantly changes, always moving 2. a gender of or related to space and time. this gender can be used by itself or along with another gender to describe its state of movement e.g. a conti agender or a contigender demigirl.”
Keywords: space, time, movement, change, genderfluid, xenogender
Cosmicgender
Cosmicgender was termed by Tumblr user dragon-friker and the flag was created by the user Kiloueka at pride-flags.deviantart.com.
The Cosmicgender flag design was meant to aesthetically represent looking up at space, chiefly at the Big Dipper, through a telescope.
The meaning of cosmicgender is “A gender so vast and complex that you are only able to process a small bit of it at a time. Like viewing the night sky through a telescope, you cannot hope to see all of it at once, however, you may gain more knowledge about parts of it the longer you focus on one part. May contain any number of sub genders within it that may present themselves to you. It is infinite in its possibility. Name from the vast reaches of space filled with things we cannot begin to imagine.”
Dryagender
The name dryagender was termed bu maromoroney and it is actually more a form of agender, however, someone with this gendermay identify with an empty forest, and the name is slightly in reference to the Greek nymphs
Egogender
Egogender or Charagender was a term given by Tumblr users queerspike and flynneleh in 2014 and this subtype of xenogender refers to the “latin/greek prefix ego, meaning self, I (first person); a gender that is solely based on yourself, and no words seem to define it other than me gender, [name] gender, i’m just who i am and my gender is mine. One may also use (name) gender with their name inserted for a synonymous term.”
Ethegender
Other names for Ethegender include Delicagender, Daingender, Ethereagender, or Elegender and the term was initially given by Tumblr user robotxt, who said that this is a gender that is 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.
Gendervoid
The term gendervoid was given by Tumblr user Baaphomett in a submission to the MOGAI-archive blog and according to his definition, Gendervoid is “A gender consisting of the void (also/originally used to mean the same thing as genderless).”
This is a significant subtype of xenogender, because in a 2019 worldwide census, 91 of the respondents (0.81%) said that their was gender “void,” “voidgender,” “gendervoid,” or other variations.
There are also many other types of xenogenders but only a few have been discussed here.
Xenogender and Autism
When someone has a neurological or mental illness, it is considered that their gender identity is a separate kind of part of their overall identity, and therefore for non binary people with conditions such as Autism or aspergers, xenogender does not suffice and there are Neurogenders instead.
Neurogender was a term given by Tumblr user Baaphomett in 2014, in a submission to the MOGAI-archive blog and it refers to any self-identity in which a person feels that their gender identity is both, somehow best linked to as well as described in connection with their neurological type, or neurotype, neurological conditions, neurodivergence, mental variation, or mental illness.
The neurotype of a person affects many parts of the person’s life, naturally, and this obviously includes the gender identity.
Neurogenders are not defined in relationship to concepts of male and female, and this is the primary reason why they are usually understood in the same vein as nonbinary gender and xenogender but that does not mean that they are the same.
There are many different neurogenders related to most, if not all, neurodivergencies and one also needs to know that not everyone is neurodivergent (that is, has a neurological condition that is different from other people), sees themselves as having a neurogender.
“Neurodivergent” is a general category for people whose neurological development and state are atypical, and it includes people who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, dyslexia, epilepsy, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), or many other neurological conditions or mental illnesses.
The word neurodivergent originated from the neurodiversity movement, which was started by autistic rights activists in the late 1990s and this movement sought civil rights for neurodivergent people, and encouraged seeing neurodivergence as a natural part of human diversity.
Conclusion
In this brief guide, we discussed what Xenogender means, as well as other information about gender identities.
Gender identities have evolved tremendously in the past few years as people are becoming more and more aware of the fact that men and women along can’t define the entire society.
Xenogender is just one of the many gender identities that exist and even if one doesn’t understand all of them, the important thing is to learn about it and to respect that someone else identifies with it.
If you have any more questions or comments about being Xengender, please feel free to reach out to us at any time.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Xenogender
What does Demigender mean?
Demigender means people feel a partial connection to a particular gender identity, but not enough to identify as that gener alone, but they will not relate to any other gender either.
Examples of the types of Demigender include demigirl, and demiboy, and demi androgyne.
How many genders are there in 2020?
There are many genders in 2020, based on neurological conditions like autism or based on the degree to which people identify with a given gender, and there most genders are based on male and female, which are called the gender binary but the difference is that not all genders in 2020 are based solely on someone’s anatomy, meaning the genitals they were born with.
What does ENBY mean?
ENBY means Non-Binar, which is an umbrella term that covers all gender identities and expressions outside the gender binary. It can also be referred to as NB or enby.
Any gender that does not identify as that of male or female and identifies as a third gender instead, can be known as non-binary or ENBY.
What is a Neogender?
Neogender refers to someone whose gender identity is not limited to one gender, and this person may relate to or identify as different genders.
Neogender is also known as Pangender, and this person may feel like a member of all genders at the same time.
Citations
https://nonbinary.wiki/wiki/Xenogender
https://lgbta.wikia.org/wiki/Xenogender