Xenogender

Contributions by: Rust&Stardust

Definitions and Usage
A xenogender is any gender that does not fit typical ideas of what gender is, or uses unconventional terminology. They may or may not have a connection to the standard gender spectrum (using -in-nature or -aligned terminology). When an individual (or their gender) is not fully a xenogender, it may be described as "xenic" or "xenine".


 * xenogender: a gender 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 - Baaphomett, 2014

If you ask a man to describe his gender he might say his gender is something like "blue, strong, and protective". If you ask a woman the same question, she might say her gender is "beautiful, powerful, and nurturing". If you didn't know these peoples' gender, this might sound a bit silly, because a gender can't literally have these qualities. However, we are still able to imagine these genders and associate them with these qualities. Since society has told us what men and women are these seem to make sense to us.

Xenogenders attempt to describe genders that aren't masculine or feminine using the same method, except to do so they have to use concepts that typically aren't associated with gender. So instead of "blue, strong, and protective" and gender might be "yellow, bright, and calming" just as an example.

The only reason why describing a gender as masculine or feminine "make sense" to us and xenogenders do not is because we have been socialized since birth to recognize masculinity and femininity. If you were to actually stop and try to explain exactly how to describe masculinity or femininity you'd find that you can only describe them through metaphor and abstract qualities, just like how xenogenders are described. Written by Chaoticcylinder.

History
The term was coined in 2014 by Tumblr user Baaphomett. Since then, it's become a widely used MOGAI label.

Related Terms
There are thousands of different xenogenders because of how diverse gender experiences can be. There are three main categories of xenogenders, with subcategories beneath those. Noungenders are ones associated with concepts or nouns, like animals or natural objects. Aesthetigenders are those best described with colors, feelings, sound, light, or aesthetics. Neurogenders connect gender to neurodiversity, disability, or mental illness. There is an overlap between these categories. Many xenogenders also fall under the aporagender & nonbinary umbrellas.

Flags
The symbol on the xenogender flag is that of Iris, the Greek goddess of rainbows.