nonbinary gender

nonbinary gender, gender identity adopted by individuals who feel that they do not fit into the traditional male/female gender binary. In the 21st century, the gender binary is increasingly considered to be a social construct that reinforces gender roles and stereotypes, a tendency that harms even those who are cisgender (that is, identify with the gender assigned at their birth). Those who identify as nonbinary may not feel that they are a man or a woman. Nonbinary individuals should be distinguished from intersex individuals: those who identify as nonbinary are typically born with either male or female sexual characteristics, while those who are intersex are born with some combination of male and female sexual characteristics and often identify as cisgender. In contemporary gender discourse the concepts of sex and gender are often separated, with sex referring to biological attributes, and gender referring to a more amorphous conglomeration of behaviour, expression, and identity.

Nonbinary is an umbrella term under which many labels fall: bigender and pangender individuals may identify with both or all genders at once, while genderfluid or genderflux individuals may feel that their gender identity fluctuates over time. Agender individuals may identify as having no gender. Some nonbinary individuals identify as transgender, since they identify with a gender different from their birth-assigned gender, while others do not. Nonbinary identities are highly complex and subjective; adoption of these labels is considered a personal matter, and individuals who share the same label may still experience gender very differently from one another.

Those who identify as nonbinary generally consider themselves a part of the LGBTQ+ community. They may identify as straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, or any other sexual orientation. Though sexual orientation and gender identity are separate, they share a close and complicated relationship. A 2021 study indicated that 26 percent of LGBTQ+ youth in the U.S. identify as nonbinary, though much of the discourse on sexual identities such as homosexuality or bisexuality is still very much rooted in the gender binary. As a result, nonbinary individuals may face discrimination even from within the LGBTQ+ community.

Some nonbinary individuals may choose to use pronouns that they feel reflect their gender identity. They and them used as singular pronouns are a common gender-neutral choice. Other gender-neutral alternatives are newly created “neo-pronouns” such as ze and zir or xe and xem. These new pronouns are an option for nonbinary individuals who may feel that conventional pronouns, such as she, he, or they, do not suit their gender identity. Some nonbinary individuals, often those who identify as genderfluid, may prefer multiple sets of pronouns, such as she/her and they/them. Among the controversies sparked by gender-neutral pronouns is disagreement about whether the use of they in a singular context is ungrammatical. However, English speakers have been using they in a singular context for more than 600 years. The Modern Language Association (MLA) and Associated Press style guides endorse the use of the singular they when appropriate, and in 2019 dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster named they the Word of the Year.

Like other members of the LGBTQ+ community, nonbinary individuals are predisposed to face some level of discrimination or oppression in their daily lives. Nonbinary individuals must function in what is characterized as a “cisnormative” society—that is, a society that operates primarily with cisgender identity being treated as the default. One obstacle faced by many nonbinary and transgender individuals is the separation of genders in public restrooms. Transgender individuals have a history of being harassed and attacked in public restrooms, and studies have shown that many trans people avoid public restrooms for this reason, which poses health risks. In the mid 2010s protests calling for the installation of gender-neutral bathrooms in schools erupted across the United States, led by advocates of transgender rights.

At the same time, some states saw major setbacks for transgender and nonbinary rights, such as bills that prohibited the use of bathrooms that did not align with one’s birth-assigned sex. By the late 2010s some school districts had worked to pass new regulations that would require gender-neutral bathrooms in all new school construction. California was the first state to see such progress. In 2019 California was also the first state to offer a third gender option on legal documents such as driver’s licenses and birth certificates. Over the next several years other states have followed suit, including Colorado, Maine, and Massachusetts. Others have moved in the opposite direction. In 2022 Florida adopted a law, commonly called the “Don’t Say Gay” law, prohibiting teachers in early grades from including instruction on gender and sexual identity. As of 2023 countries that allow nonbinary identification on legal documents include Argentina, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

Although nonbinary and transgender rights may seem like a relatively recent issue in the United States and other Western countries, diverse gender expression has been an integral part of many non-Western cultures for centuries. For example, some Indigenous peoples of North America recognize a third gender, or combination of genders, known as two-spirit. Two-spirit individuals occupied special roles in their tribes. In Oaxaca, Mexico, the Zapotec people recognize third-gender individuals called muxes. Muxes are born as male but adopt feminine traits and characteristics and function in the world as women. These identities tend to differ from Western notions of gender-nonconformity, for they often hold religious and cultural significance in the greater community.