Genderqueer

Genderqueer (GQ; alternatively non-binary) is a catch-all term for gender identities other than man and woman, thus outside of the gender binary and cisnormativity. People who identify as genderqueer may think of themselves as one or more of the following:

  • both man and woman (bigender, pangender);
  • neither man nor woman (nongendered, genderless, agender);
  • moving between genders (genderfluid);
  • third gender or other-gendered; includes those who do not place a name to their gender;
  • having an overlap of, or blurred lines between, gender identity and sexual and romantic orientation.

Some genderqueer people also desire physical modification or hormones to suit their preferred expression. Many genderqueer people see gender and sex as separable aspects of a person and sometimes identify as a male woman, a female man, or a male/female/intersex genderqueer person. Gender identity is defined as one's internal sense of being a woman, man, both, or neither, while sexual identity refers to an individual's enduring physical, romantic, and/or emotional attraction to others. As such, genderqueer people may have a variety of sexual orientations, as with transgender and cisgender people.

In addition to being an umbrella term, genderqueer has been used as an adjective to refer to any people who transgress distinctions of gender, regardless of their self-defined gender identity, i.e. those who "queer" gender, expressing it non-normatively. Androgynous is frequently used as a descriptive term for people in this category, though genderqueer people may express a combination of masculinity and femininity, or neither, in their gender expression and not all identify as androgynous. However, the term has been applied by those describing what they see as a gender ambiguity.

Read more about Genderqueer:  Gender Pronouns, Out Genderqueer People