Xenogender

Social Justice Usage

Source: Nonbinary Wiki

Xenogender (coined in 2014 by Tumblr user Baaphomett in a submission to the MOGAI-Archive blog, from xeno alien + “gender”) is a nonbinary gender identity “that cannot be contained by human understandings of gender; more concerned with crafting other methods of gender categorization and hierarchy such as those relating to animals, plants, or other creatures/things.” Xenogender isn’t defined in relation to “female” or “male” (the binary genders), but by other kinds of ideas that most people don’t think of as having to do with gender. When people talk about nonbinary gender, they often find that there aren’t any words for their experiences. This is called a lexical gap. In order to fill a lexical gap, this wiki takes up “xenogender” as an umbrella term for an entire category of nonbinary genders that are defined by characteristics with no relation whatsoever to “female” or “male.” The adjective “xenine” means “of or pertaining to xenogenders”. The noun form of xenine is xenity.

New Discourses Commentary

“Xenogenders” are “genders” that are ideas that are “alien” (hence, “xeno”) to the usual human understanding of gender. Xenogenders can include taking “animals, plants, or other creatures or things” as one’s “gender” identity. For example, one could consider their “gender” to be “cat,” “tree,” “galaxy,” or “star,” which genuinely makes absolutely no sense in reality but is comprehensible under the broad umbrella of queer Theory and its activity of queering categories, especially those related to sex, gender, and sexuality. Xenogenders (see also, otherkin) stretch not only the stability of categories of identity but also of gender and gender identity, pushing these toward meaninglessness and absurdity. (In this sense, xenogenders represent queer gender identities—see also, genderqueer and genderfucking.) That means the establishment of xenogenders is not merely an exercise in fantastical narcissism and attention-seeking but also an activist project in deconstructing the very concept of gender, which makes room for less extreme deconstructions of gender (relevant to the queer approach to transgender issues, for example) easier to accept.

The proffered “need” for xenogenders is that the normativity of the gender binary in our society dramatically limits the possibilities (or “potentialities”) for non-binary gender expression, not only in the sense that society is Theorized not to accept nonbinary identities but also in the sense that no meaningful vocabulary exists for expressing gender in a way disconnected from masculinity and femininity (see also, man and woman). Xenogenders are offered as a means to “close the lexical gap” for people who don’t know how to describe the nonsensical idea that they believe their gender to be best described by a category mistake, largely in self-indulgent terms that places the blame for this wholly pretend problem on society for not catering to it and indulging it for the people involved in identity-based theatrics of this kind (see also, gender performativity).

Thus, Critical Social Justice Theory, in the form of queer Theory, would advocate for a need to expand the concept of gender to include gender-expression-by-simile (“my gender is hard to describe, but it’s like the way a chipmunk is…”) in order to make room for people whose claimed gender identities lack descriptions. (This is rather similar to how we have few highly accurate smell-oriented words in English and thus often say that something “smells like strawberries,” for example, but for self-assessed gender identity.) Without such options, people who do not feel that they fall clearly anywhere within the masculine/feminine binary—or within the otherwise expansive range of proposed gender identities that actually have something to do with gender as a concept—are said to be excluded from full participation in gender identity. The overwhelming normativity of the gender binary is blamed for this apparent problematic (or violence) against nonbinary people (see also, violence of categorization).

Believe it or not, there exists an incredible hierarchical taxonomy of xenogenders that, in clear description, number in the hundreds and could potentially be indefinite in number, as anything, even an abstract concept, could be made into someone’s xenogender. These include archetypes, feelings, nouns, numbers (perhaps also equations, including 2+2=5), aesthetics, “synaesthetic perceptions,” quasi-spiritual concepts, the universe itself, and even mental illnesses. These exist in hierarchies, like “caelgender,” which means a “gender” that has anything to do with space, nebulae, galaxies, and stars, and within that category, one could adopt a xenogender that specifically relates to space itself, the emptiness of space, the Orion Nebula, various types of galaxies or any galaxy in particular, or any type of star or some particular star like Betelgeuse or even its impending supernova. In this regard, xenogenders are probably best understood as a very advanced form of navel-gazing and fantasy engaged in by creative (mostly) young people who are uncertain of who they are. This becomes particularly concerning in the cases when a mental illness is considered inextricable from one’s xenogender (see also, medicalizing and disability studies).

Generally speaking, xenogenders represent a bizarre and playful exploration of self that is, for the most part, silly (though it would be considered extremely bigoted to say this), but for two primary reasons, the trend is somewhat concerning. First, the entire queer Theoretical project seeks to tear down stable meaning in categories around sex, gender, and sexuality, and xenogenders are a rather profound way for trying to move the needle in this regard. Second, and related to the first, while this kind of exploration can be a fun and, perhaps, even insightful way to use metaphors to better understand about how one feels about oneself, taken too seriously, it can be a severe impediment to forming a strong, stable self-identity, which is important for psychological maturity. Queer Theory, and thus many of the people who would claim a xenogender, are likely to take the project altogether too seriously, in fact, even recognizing that queer Theory tends to be self-consciously ironic as it proceeds. There is, therefore, very little to recommend in the concept of xenogenders.

See also, otherkin.

Related Terms

Binary; Critical; Deconstruction Disability studies; Exclusion; Gender; Gender identity; Gender performativity; Genderfucking; Genderqueer; Identity; Man; Medicalizing; Non-binary; Normativity; Otherkin; Problematic; Queer; Queer Theory; Queering; Reality; Sex; Sexuality; Social Justice; Theory; Transgender; Violence; Violence of categorization; Woman

Revision date: 11/10/20

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James Lindsay