Gender fluidity (commonly referred to as genderfluid) is a non-fixed gender identity that shifts over time or depending on the situation. These fluctuations can occur at the level of gender identity or gender expression. A genderfluid person may fluctuate among different gender expressions over their lifetime, or express multiple aspects of various gender markers simultaneously.[1][2] Genderfluid individuals may identify as non-binary or transgender, or cisgender (meaning they identify with the gender associated with their sex assigned at birth).[3][4]
 The genderfluid pride flag | |
| Classification | Gender identity |
|---|---|
| Abbreviations | GF |
| Parent category | Non-binary |
| Symbol |  or  |
Gender fluidity is different from gender-questioning, a process in which people explore their gender in order to find their true gender identity and adjust their gender expression accordingly.[5] Gender fluidity continues throughout lives of genderfluid people.[6]
History
editTransgender people (including non-binary and third gender people) have existed in cultures worldwide since the pre-colonial era. One example is the existence of gender fluidity in many Indigenous communities. Although the earliest records of gender fluidity in Indigenous communities was written by those who colonized them,[7] current research shows that over 150 pre-colonial groups are known to recognize or have historically recognized more than two genders.[8]
The Navajo people are one group who historically recognized between four to five gender identities, one of them being nàdleehi ('changing one' in English).[8] In more recent history, two-spirit has been an identity adopted by Indigenous gender and sexual minorities.[9] The term challenges binary categories of sex and gender and enables some Indigenous people to reclaim traditional roles within their societies.[9] According to the 2012 Risk and Resilience study of Bisexual Mental Health, "the most common identities reported by transgender Aboriginal participants were two-spirit, genderqueer, and bigender."[9]
Another example of historical recognition of gender fluidity is the Philippines. In the Philippines, they use the umbrella term baklâ to refer to "those born male who currently exist with a feminine gender expression."[8] Although this definition of the term is most common, there are a variety of identities that exist within the baklâ umbrella.[8]
Impact of Colonization
editEuropean colonization strictly enforced the binary gender concept onto many groups, including those mentioned above.[7][8] In the 1500s, Europeans landed in North America and enforced binary gender conformity onto the Indigenous communities occupying the land.[8] They criminalized different gender and sexual expressions.[8] It is believed that they did this in an attempt to "eradicate the two-spirit identity before allowing it to be documented."[8] As a result of this, the cultural legacy of many Indigenous groups was nearly erased following colonization.[7][8] Going back to the Philippines example, enforcement of a binary gender concept began with the arrival of the Spanish in 1520.[8] The Spanish began to use the word baklâ as a slur in order to pressure Filipino people into adopting European ideals of gender expression.[8]
By forcing colonized groups to adopt European ideals of gender expression and identity, it erased key aspects of each group's history, culture and traditions.
The Modern Era
editThe modern terms and meanings of "transgender", "gender", "gender identity", and "gender role" only emerged in the 1950s and 1960s.[10][11][12] As a result, opinions vary on how to accurately categorize historical accounts of gender-variant people and identities, including genderfluid individuals.
The 1928 Virginia Woolf novel Orlando: A Biography features a main character who changes gender several times, and considers gender fluidity:
In every human being, a vacillation from one sex to the other takes place, and often it is only the clothes that keep the male or female likeness, while underneath the sex is the very opposite of what it is above.[13]
The first known mention of the term gender fluidity was in gender theorist Kate Bornstein's 1994 book Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us.[14] It was later used again in the 1996 book The Second Coming: A Leatherdyke Reader.[15]
As society moves forward, words change and new words arise to describe different phenomena. The fluidity of gender has always been around, but only relatively recently have we come up with words to describe the many different identities that humans adopt.
Symbols
editThe genderfluid pride flag was designed by JJ Poole in 2012. The pink stripe of the flag represents femininity, the white represents lack of gender, purple represents androgyny, black represents all other genders, and blue represents masculinity.[16][17]
The flag is a representation of the fluidity encompassed within the identity.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Cronn-Mills, Kirstin (2015). Transgender Lives: Complex Stories, Complex Voices. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Twenty-First Century Books. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-7613-9022-0.
- ^ McGuire, Peter (9 November 2015). "Beyond the binary: what does it mean to be genderfluid?". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 22 November 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
- ^ Bosson, Jennifer K.; Vandello, Joseph A.; Buckner, Camille E. (2018). The Psychology of Sex and Gender. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications. p. 54. ISBN 978-1-5063-3134-8. OCLC 1038755742. Archived from the original on 28 May 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
- ^ Whyte, Stephen; Brooks, Robert C.; Torgler, Benno (25 September 2018). "Man, Woman, "Other": Factors Associated with Nonbinary Gender Identification". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 47 (8). Heidelberg, Germany: Springer Science+Business Media: 2397–2406. doi:10.1007/s10508-018-1307-3. PMID 30255409. S2CID 52823167.
2 out of 7479 (0.03 percent) of respondents to the Australian Sex Survey, a 2016 online research survey, self-identified as trigender.
- ^ Katz-Wise, Sabra (December 3, 2020). "Gender fluidity: What it means and why support matters". Harvard Health Publishing. Archived from the original on April 12, 2023. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
- ^ Jolly, Divya; Boskey, Elizabeth R.; Thomson, Katharine A.; Tabaac, Ariella R.; Burns, Maureen T.S.; Katz-Wise, Sabra L. (2021-03-12). "Why Are You Asking? Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Assessment in Clinical Care". Journal of Adolescent Health. 69 (6): 891–893. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.08.015. ISSN 1054-139X. PMID 34629230. S2CID 238580640.
- ^ a b c Kamassah, Vashti E. (2024-07-02). "Sankofa: Embracing Gender Fluidity Through Decolonizing and Reclaiming Identities". The Educational Forum. 88 (3): 257–264. doi:10.1080/00131725.2024.2345652. ISSN 0013-1725.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wick, Kate (2022-04-01). "Gender Through Time and Culture". WWU Honors College Senior Projects.
- ^ a b c Robinson, Margaret (2020-10-14). "Two-Spirit Identity in a Time of Gender Fluidity". Journal of Homosexuality. 67 (12): 1675–1690. doi:10.1080/00918369.2019.1613853. ISSN 0091-8369.
- ^ Oliven, John F. (1965). Sexual Hygiene and Pathology: A Manual for the Physician and the Professions. Lippincott.
- ^ Janssen, Diederik F. (April 21, 2020). "Transgenderism Before Gender: Nosology from the Sixteenth Through Mid-Twentieth Century". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 49 (5): 1415–1425. doi:10.1007/s10508-020-01715-w. ISSN 0004-0002. PMID 32319033. S2CID 216073926.
- ^ Mesch, Rachel (May 12, 2020). Before trans : three gender stories from nineteenth-century France. Stanford, California. ISBN 978-1-5036-1235-8. OCLC 1119978342.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ "Thousands of U.S. copyrighted works from 1928 are entering the public domain". NPR. Archived from the original on 2024-01-13. Retrieved 2024-01-14.
- ^ Bornstein, Kate (2016). Gender Outlaw On Men, Women and the Rest of Us. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-101-97461-2. OCLC 1155971422. Archived from the original on 2022-01-10. Retrieved 2023-01-22.
- ^ Hernandez, Michael M. (1996). "Boundaries: Gender and Transgenderism". The Second Coming: A Leatherdyke Reader. Alyson. OCLC 757653724.
- ^ "Flags and Symbols" (PDF). Amherst, Massachusetts: Amherst College. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 May 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
- ^ "Gender-fluid added to the Oxford English Dictionary". LGBTQ Nation. Archived from the original on 25 October 2016. Retrieved 2016-12-20.
Further reading
editBibliography
edit- Booker, Lauren (2021-04-21). "What it means to be gender-fluid". CNN.