Draft:Agender
{{Short description|Gender identity with no gender}}
{{Draft topics|society|stem}}
{{AfC topic|other}}
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Agender (also known as genderless, gender-free, non-gendered, or ungendered){{cite web |date=April 2013 |title=LGBTQ Needs Assessment |url=http://encompassnetwork.org.uk/uploads/LGBTQ-Needs-Assesmentabsolutelyfinal.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024234412/http://encompassnetwork.org.uk/uploads/LGBTQ-Needs-Assesmentabsolutelyfinal.pdf |archive-date=October 24, 2014 |access-date=October 18, 2014 |website=Encompass Network |pages=52–53}}{{cite web |title=Gender alphabet |url=http://www.safehomesma.org/gender_alphabet.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150415040555/http://www.safehomesma.org/gender_alphabet.pdf |archive-date=April 15, 2015 |access-date=October 18, 2014 |website=Safe Homes |page=1}} is a gender identity where an individual has no gender at all.{{Cite journal |last=Vargo |first=Marc E. |year=2011 |title=A Review of "Please select your gender: From the invention of hysteria to the democratizing of transgenderism" |journal=Journal of GLBT Family Studies |volume=7 |issue=5 |pages=493–494 |doi=10.1080/1550428x.2011.623982 |s2cid=142815065}}{{Cite book |last=Cronn-Mills |first=Kirstin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dOUSBAAAQBAJ |title=Transgender Lives: Complex Stories, Complex Voices |publisher=Twenty-First Century Books |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-4677-4796-7 |access-date=February 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202005115/https://books.google.com/books?id=dOUSBAAAQBAJ |archive-date=December 2, 2016 |url-status=live |via=Google Books}}{{cite web |last=Schorn |first=Johanna |title=Taking the 'Sex' out of Transsexual: Representations of Trans Identities in Popular Media |url=http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/schornglpaper.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025012342/http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/schornglpaper.pdf |archive-date=October 25, 2014 |access-date=October 23, 2014 |publisher=University of Cologne |page=1 |quote=The term transgender is an umbrella term 'and generally refers to any and all kinds of variation from gender norms and expectations' (Stryker 19). Most often, the term transgender is used for someone who feels that the sex assigned to them at birth does not reflect their own gender identity. They may identify as the gender "opposite" to their assigned gender, or they may feel that their gender identity is fluid, or they may reject all gender categorizations and identify as agender or genderqueer. |department=Inter-Disciplinary.Net |location=Cologne, Germany}}
Description
This group represents a spectrum of identities that diverge from conventional gender norms. According to scholar Finn Enke, not all agender individuals may self-identify as transgender.{{cite book |author= |title=Transfeminist Perspectives In and Beyond Transgender and Gender Studies |publisher=Temple University Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4399-0748-1 |editor=Anne Enke |pages=16–20 [18–19] |chapter=Note on terms and concepts}} While there is no universally accepted set of pronouns for agender people, singular they is commonly used.{{cite web |last=Sojwal |first=Senti |date=September 16, 2015 |title=What Does 'Agender' Mean? 6 Things to Know About People With Non-Binary Identities |url=http://www.bustle.com/articles/109255-what-does-agender-mean-6-things-to-know-about-people-with-non-binary-identities |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160222202333/http://www.bustle.com/articles/109255-what-does-agender-mean-6-things-to-know-about-people-with-non-binary-identities |archive-date=February 22, 2016 |access-date=February 22, 2016 |website=Bustle}}
A 2017 analysis of surveys of gender identity found that, of the transgender participants, 14% identified as agender.{{Cite journal |last=Morrison |first=Tessalyn |last2=Dinno |first2=Alexis |last3=Salmon |first3=Taurica |date=2021-12-01 |title=The Erasure of Intersex, Transgender, Nonbinary, and Agender Experiences Through Misuse of Sex and Gender in Health Research |url=https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/190/12/2712/6354680?login=false |journal=American Journal of Epidemiology |volume=190 |issue=12 |pages=2712–2717 |doi=10.1093/aje/kwab221 |issn=0002-9262}}
History
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first recorded use of the word was in 1996, as "A-gender", in an article in the Independent. The first use of the form without the dash was in the Usenet newsgroup alt.politics.democrats:{{Citation |title=agender, adj. |date=2023-03-02 |work=Oxford English Dictionary |url=https://oed.com/dictionary/agender_adj |access-date=2025-03-21 |edition=3 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/oed/1111057139}}
{{Quote|text=Cultures can have transgender, agender, and hypergender individuals.|source=Re: Homosexuality & Bible in alt.politics.democrats}}
The agender flag was created in 2014 by Salom X.{{Cite web |date=2023-07-27 |title=Resources for the agender community |url=https://www.akt.org.uk/resources/resources-for-the-agender-community/ |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=akt |language=en}}
In 2017, Judge Amy Holmes Hehn ruled that Patch, an agender resident of Portland, could be legally identified as agender.{{Cite web |date=2017-03-23 |title=Judge grants Oregon resident the right to be genderless |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/judge-grants-oregon-resident-right-be-genderless-n736971 |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=NBC News |language=en}}
"Agender" and "Neutrois" were among the custom gender options added to Facebook in February 2014 and to OkCupid since November 2014.{{cite news |last=Sparkes |first=Matthew |date=February 14, 2014 |title=Facebook sex changes: which one of 50 genders are you? |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/10637968/Facebook-sex-changes-which-one-of-50-genders-are-you.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180521104128/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/10637968/Facebook-sex-changes-which-one-of-50-genders-are-you.html |archive-date=May 21, 2018 |access-date=April 5, 2018 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph}}{{cite news |date=November 17, 2014 |title=OkCupid expands gender and sexuality options |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/okcupid-expands-gender-sexuality-options |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141119184104/http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/okcupid-expands-gender-sexuality-options |archive-date=November 19, 2014 |access-date=November 18, 2014 |publisher=PBS NewsHour}}
Types
- Agenderfluid: Identity where someone is both agender and genderfluid.
- Agenderflux: shifts between agender and masculine or feminine.
- Genderblank: gender identify that is indescribable that can best be described as a blank space.
- Genderfree: gender identity is ambiguous.
- Polyagender: gender identity that can relate to many aspects of agender.
References
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