Bigender (9)

Bigender is a non-binary gender identity in which someone has two distinct gender identities. They could feel both genders at the same time or be fluid between them, in which case they may also identify as genderfluid. The two genders they experience can be male, female, and/or any non-binary identities. Bigender people do not have to experience both genders in equal amounts.

Bigender people can be a combination of any two genders, including non-binary genders. For example, a bigender person could be female and neutrois. One or both of their genders could be fluid or fluctuating.

Bigender people may also identify as transgender or non-binary. People who experience more than two genders can be trigender, quadgender, or multigender.

History

One of the first recorded instances of bigender being used comes from a trans organization called the Human Outreach and Achievement Institute in the 1980s which defined "bigenderist" as a type of androgyne, with the latter being defined as "a person who can comfortably express either alternative gender role in a variety of socially acceptable environments."^[1][2]

The more modern definition of bigender comes from trans man Gary Bowen, who defined "bigendered" as "having two genders, exihibiting[sic] cultural characteristics of male and female roles" in his 1995 "Dictionary of Words for Masculine Women".^[3]

A 1997 paper concerning the "gender continuum" in International Journal of Transgenderism noted that "a person who feels or acts as both a woman and a man may identify as bi-gendered."^[4] A 1999 survey conducted by the San Francisco Department of Public Health observed that, among the transgender community, less than 3% of those who were assigned male at birth and less than 8% of those who were assigned female at birth identified as bigender.<sup>[5]


Alternative bigender flag, designed by unknown</sup>