Agender

Last updated
Agender
Agender pride flag.svg
Agender pride flag
Classification Gender identity
Symbol Full moon symbol.svg
Other terms
SynonymsGenderless, gender-free, non-gendered, ungendered
Associated terms

Agender (also known as genderless, gender-free, non-gendered, or ungendered) [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] is a gender identity where an individual has no gender at all and does not necessarily follow gender roles. [7] [8] [9] [10]

Contents

This group represents a spectrum of identities that diverge from conventional gender norms. According to scholar Finn Enke, not all agender individuals may self-identify as transgender. [11] While there is no universally accepted set of pronouns for agender people, singular they is commonly used, although many agender people accept the use of any pronoun. [12] [4] The A in LGBTQIA+ stands for agender, alongside asexual and aromantic. [13]

A 2017 analysis of surveys of gender identity found that, of the transgender participants, 14% identified as agender. [14] Gender Census, an international survey of non-binary people, found in 2025 that 25% of participants identified as agender. [15]

History

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first recorded use of the word was in 1996, as "A-gender", in an article in the Independent. [16]

A 1997 paper in International Journal of Transgenderism (later renamed International Journal of Transgender Health ) states that "An individual of any genetic sex may also regard him-herself as [...] an ungendered person, who does not or will not identify with any conventional gender". [17]

The first known use of the term "agender" without the hyphen was on a Usenet forum referring to the gender of the Christian God. [18] The first known use of the term referring to a queer gender orientation was on the Usenet newsgroup "alt.politics.democrats" [16]

Cultures can have transgender, agender, and hypergender individuals.

— Re: Homosexuality & Bible in alt.politics.democrats

However, it is believed[ by whom? ] the term as referring to a gender identity appeared in the early 2000s.

A 2013 New York Times Article talked about a non-binary person who used the term agender to describe themself. [18] The agender flag was created in 2014 by Salom X, a Tumblr user. [19] The same user created the demiboy and demigirl flags. The black and white represent the absence of gender, the gray represents people who are semi-genderless, the green is for non-binary genders. [20]

"Agender" and "neutrois" were among the custom gender options added to Facebook in February 2014 and to OkCupid since November 2014. [21] [22] In 2017, Judge Amy Holmes Hehn ruled that Patch, an agender resident of Portland, Oregon, could be legally identified as agender. [23] The first agender pride day was celebrated on May 19, 2019 and is celebrated annually on that day. [20]

Notable agender people

Fictional characters

References

  1. ↑ "LGBTQ Needs Assessment" (PDF). Encompass Network. April 2013. pp. 52–53. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 24, 2014. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Gender alphabet" (PDF). Safe Homes. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 15, 2015. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
  3. ↑ "'The special moment my 4yo agender child decided on their pronoun'". kidspot. Archived from the original on 2023-03-04. Retrieved 2025-10-19.
  4. 1 2 Papisova, Vera (2016-01-20). "What It Means to Identify as Agender". Teen Vogue. Retrieved 2025-10-19.
  5. ↑ Ford, Tyler (2015-08-07). "My life without gender: 'Strangers are desperate to know what genitalia I have'". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2025-10-19.
  6. ↑ "What does it mean to be agender? One person shares their experience". TODAY.com. 2024-06-27. Retrieved 2025-10-19.
  7. ↑ Vargo, Marc E. (2011). "A Review of "Please select your gender: From the invention of hysteria to the democratizing of transgenderism"". Journal of GLBT Family Studies. 7 (5): 493–494. doi:10.1080/1550428x.2011.623982. S2CID   142815065.
  8. ↑ Cronn-Mills, Kirstin (2014). Transgender Lives: Complex Stories, Complex Voices. Twenty-First Century Books. ISBN   978-1-4677-4796-7. Archived from the original on December 2, 2016. Retrieved February 3, 2016– via Google Books.
  9. ↑ Schorn, Johanna. "Taking the 'Sex' out of Transsexual: Representations of Trans Identities in Popular Media" (PDF). Inter-Disciplinary.Net. Cologne, Germany: University of Cologne. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 25, 2014. Retrieved October 23, 2014. The term transgender is an umbrella term 'and generally refers to any and all kinds of variation from gender norms and expectations' (Stryker 19). Most often, the term transgender is used for someone who feels that the sex assigned to them at birth does not reflect their own gender identity. They may identify as the gender "opposite" to their assigned gender, or they may feel that their gender identity is fluid, or they may reject all gender categorizations and identify as agender or genderqueer.
  10. ↑ "How I came to terms with being agender". SBS Voices. 2020-04-16. Retrieved 2025-10-19.
  11. ↑ Anne Enke, ed. (2012). "Note on terms and concepts". Transfeminist Perspectives In and Beyond Transgender and Gender Studies. Temple University Press. pp. 16–20 [18–19]. ISBN   978-1-4399-0748-1.
  12. ↑ Sojwal, Senti (September 16, 2015). "What Does 'Agender' Mean? 6 Things to Know About People With Non-Binary Identities". Bustle . Archived from the original on February 22, 2016. Retrieved February 22, 2016.
  13. ↑ "A is for Asexual, Agender, Aromantic". GLAAD. 2015-02-11. Archived from the original on 2023-03-26. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  14. ↑ Morrison, Tessalyn; Dinno, Alexis; Salmon, Taurica (2021-12-01). "The Erasure of Intersex, Transgender, Nonbinary, and Agender Experiences Through Misuse of Sex and Gender in Health Research". American Journal of Epidemiology. 190 (12): 2712–2717. doi:10.1093/aje/kwab221. ISSN   0002-9262. PMID   34409983.
  15. ↑ "Gender Census 2025: Worldwide Report – Gender Census" . Retrieved 2025-10-21.
  16. 1 2 "agender, adj.", Oxford English Dictionary (3 ed.), Oxford University Press, 2023-03-02, doi:10.1093/oed/1111057139 , retrieved 2025-03-21
  17. ↑ Eyler, A.E.; Wright, K. (1997). "Gender Identification and Sexual Orientation Among Genetic Females with Gender-Blended Self-Perception in Childhood and Adolescence". International Journal of Transgenderism.
  18. 1 2 Nast, Condé (2018-08-07). "What Does It Mean to Be Agender?". Them. Archived from the original on 2023-06-03. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  19. ↑ "Resources for the agender community". akt. 2023-07-27. Retrieved 2024-12-29.
  20. 1 2 EDITOR (2025-05-19). "What is Agender Pride Day?" . Retrieved 2025-10-19.
  21. ↑ Sparkes, Matthew (February 14, 2014). "Facebook sex changes: which one of 50 genders are you?". The Daily Telegraph . Archived from the original on May 21, 2018. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
  22. ↑ "OkCupid expands gender and sexuality options". PBS NewsHour. November 17, 2014. Archived from the original on November 19, 2014. Retrieved November 18, 2014.
  23. ↑ "Judge grants Oregon resident the right to be genderless". NBC News. 2017-03-23. Retrieved 2025-03-21.
  24. ↑ Wakefield, Lily (May 12, 2021). "First non-binary mayor 'of any city, anywhere' hailed an 'example to all' after winning election aged 22". PinkNews. Retrieved October 22, 2025.
  25. ↑ Sutter, Robbie (2020-06-16). "#PrideMonth ASUKA/VENY, the Genderless Artist". Last Word on Pro Wrestling. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
  26. ↑ Stephanie (2017-12-27). "Transgender Japanese wrestler shares her story". Diva Dirt. Retrieved 2025-10-20.
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