Bigender
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Bigender, bi-gender or bi+gender describes a tendency to move between feminine and masculine gender-typed behaviour depending on context. Some bigendered individuals express a distinctly "en femme" persona and a distinctly "en homme" persona, feminine and masculine respectively; others have shades of grey between the two. It is recognized by the American Psychological Association (APA) as a subset of the transgender group.[1] A 1999 survey conducted by the San Francisco Department of Public Health observed that, among the transgendered community, less than 3% of those who were genetic males and less than 8% of those who were genetic females identified as bigender.[2]
While an androgynous person retains the same gender-typed behaviour across situations, the bigendered person consciously or unconsciously changes their gender-role behaviour from primarily masculine to primarily feminine, or vice versa.
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[edit] Use of term
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It is worth noting that this concept emerged from within the transgender community itself, rather than being adopted after it was created by another sub-culture (for example, transsexual was defined first by the mental health community).
Because bigender is still a self-applied label, it is not possible to give a definitive outline of the typical bigendered person. Any description of a bigendered person is just an example of what someone who identifies as bigender might be like. Although there are patterns, the only firm characteristic is the sense of dual gender.
[edit] Sexual orientation
It might seem that a bigender identity must go with a bisexual identity but gender identity and sexual orientation are independent. It is possible to be bigender and not bisexual, or bisexual but not bigender.
For some bigender people, labels like gay, lesbian or bisexual can seem less relevant or satisfactory due to their focus on physiological sex. Some might prefer terms that refer to gender (see Gynephilia and androphilia) while others might prefer to not specify a sexual orientation at all. Since bigender is a gender-related term, not an erotic one, a bigender person can be asexual.
[edit] Addressing a bigendered person
Bigendered individuals usually decide for themselves how they wish to be addressed, as for obvious reasons, gender-specific social titles and honorifics apply either incompletely, or not at all. Some bigendered individuals forego the use of Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms altogether, whereas common gender-neutral titles chosen by other bigendered individuals are Ser and Mx.
Some bigender people use different pronouns depending on their presentation at the time. For example, going by "she/her" when en femme, and "he/him" when en homme.
[edit] See also
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[edit] Notes
- ^ Schneider, M., et al. APA Task Force on Gender Identity, Gender Variance, and Intersex Conditions, 2008
- ^ Clements, K. San Francisco Department of Public Health, 1999
