Genderqueer refers to people who do not adhere to strictly male or female identities and roles. A genderqueer person often chooses to present as neither clearly male, nor clearly female, but rather as a gender-free individual, whose identity may shift and change over time.
Some genderqueer people are
Others do not identify with any of these categories.
The Gendercrash website explains:
The GenderQueer term started to come into use in approximately the late 1990's. It has been associated with primarily youth communities and those who are white and where born female and are now along the masculine spectrum, but there are many folks along the age and race/ethnic spectrum that use it to describe themselves and also those who where born male and are along the feminine spectrum.
If you think you might be genderqueer or are questioning your gender identity, it can be helpful to ask yourself some questions.
The Genderqueer Revolution offers these as a start:
- Do you ever feel like M, F, or even FTM [female-to-male] and MTF [male-to-female] aren't enough? And certainly not "gay," "straight," or "queer?"
- Or that your gender changes by the minute, hour, day, or season?
- That maybe you were meant to have more than one gender?
- Ever feel that your gender isn't so clear cut? (Or that it falls right off the map?)
- Tired of hearing, "You're just confused," when you already know who you are, or, you're comfortable with not knowing?
- Does it ever bother you - or amuse you - when people say you're "too" "feminine" or "masculine," that you "look like a girl," or "a boy," whatever these words mean, with a tone that implies that that's a bad thing?
- Ever wish people would just stop asking, whether sarcastically or seriously, when you're going to start hormones, have surgery, and "transition," with the assumption that these terms automatically apply to you? (They might, but that doesn't give others the right to assume).
If you answered yes to any of those questions, you might want to explore the genderqueer identity further.
These days, more and more college campuses are forming groups welcoming to genderqueer students.
You can also check out internet resources like United Genders.
A great book on the subject is the anthology, GenderQueer: Voices From Beyond the Sexual Binary
