Bigender (bi+gender) is a tendency to move between
feminineFemininity refers to qualities and behaviors judged by a particular culture to be ideally associated with or especially appropriate to women and girls....
and
masculineMasculinity is manly character. It specifically describes men and boys, that is personal and human, unlike male which can also be used to describe animals, or masculine which can also be used to describe noun classes. When masculine is used to describe men, it can have degrees of comparison—more...
genderGender commonly refers to the set of characteristics that humans perceive as distinguishing between male and female entities, extending from one's biological sex to, in humans, one's social role or gender identity. As a term, "gender" has more than one valid definition...
-typed behaviour depending on context, expressing a distinctly "
en femmeThe term en femme is used in the transgender community, usually by male crossdressers, to describe wearing feminine clothing or expressing a feminine personality. The term is derived from the French, meaning literally "as a woman"...
" persona and a distinctly "en homme" persona, feminine and masculine respectively. It is a subset of
transgenderTransgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to diverge from the normative gender roles....
. It is recognized by the APA as a subset of the transgendered group. A 1999 survey conducted by the San Francisco Department of Public Health observed that, among the transgendered community, less than 3% of those who were genetic males and less than 8% of those who were genetic females identified as bigender.
While an androgynous person retains the same gender-typed behaviour across situations, the bigendered person consciously or unconsciously changes their gender-role behaviour from primarily masculine to primarily feminine, or vice versa.
It is worth noting that this concept emerged from within the
transgenderTransgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to diverge from the normative gender roles....
community itself, rather than being adopted after it was created by another sub-culture (for example, transsexual was defined first by the mental health community).
Because bigender is still a self-applied label, it is not possible to give a definitive outline of the typical bigender.
Bigender (bi+gender) is a tendency to move between
feminineFemininity refers to qualities and behaviors judged by a particular culture to be ideally associated with or especially appropriate to women and girls....
and
masculineMasculinity is manly character. It specifically describes men and boys, that is personal and human, unlike male which can also be used to describe animals, or masculine which can also be used to describe noun classes. When masculine is used to describe men, it can have degrees of comparison—more...
genderGender commonly refers to the set of characteristics that humans perceive as distinguishing between male and female entities, extending from one's biological sex to, in humans, one's social role or gender identity. As a term, "gender" has more than one valid definition...
-typed behaviour depending on context, expressing a distinctly "
en femmeThe term en femme is used in the transgender community, usually by male crossdressers, to describe wearing feminine clothing or expressing a feminine personality. The term is derived from the French, meaning literally "as a woman"...
" persona and a distinctly "en homme" persona, feminine and masculine respectively. It is a subset of
transgenderTransgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to diverge from the normative gender roles....
. It is recognized by the APA as a subset of the transgendered group. A 1999 survey conducted by the San Francisco Department of Public Health observed that, among the transgendered community, less than 3% of those who were genetic males and less than 8% of those who were genetic females identified as bigender.
While an androgynous person retains the same gender-typed behaviour across situations, the bigendered person consciously or unconsciously changes their gender-role behaviour from primarily masculine to primarily feminine, or vice versa.
Use of term
It is worth noting that this concept emerged from within the
transgenderTransgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to diverge from the normative gender roles....
community itself, rather than being adopted after it was created by another sub-culture (for example, transsexual was defined first by the mental health community).
Because bigender is still a self-applied label, it is not possible to give a definitive outline of the typical bigender. Any description of a bigender is just an example of what someone who identifies as bigender might be like. Although there are patterns, the only firm characteristic is the sense of dual gender.
Expression
Some express their bigender identity through crossdressing or performing as a
drag kingDrag kings are mostly female performance artists who dress in masculine drag and personify male gender stereotypes as part of their performance. A typical drag king routine may incorporate dancing and singing or lip-synching...
/
drag queenA drag queen is a person, usually a man, who dresses, and usually acts, like a woman often for the purpose of entertaining or performing. There are many kinds of drag artists and they vary greatly from professionals who have starred in movies to people who just try it once. Drag queens also vary by...
; others may adopt a strictly masculine, feminine, or androgynous appearance and experience the shift between genders on a purely mental, or only subtly physical, level.
Sexual orientation
It might seem that a bigender identity must go with a bisexual identity but gender identity and sexual orientation are independent. It is possible to be bigender and not bisexual, or bisexual but not bigender.
For some bigender people, labels like gay, lesbian or bisexual can seem less relevant or satisfactory due to their focus on physiological sex. Some might prefer terms that refer to gender (see
Gynephilia and androphiliaGynephilia is the erotic attraction to adult females and/or femininity, and its counterpart androphilia is attraction to adult males and/or masculinity.The term "androphilia" was originally coined to describe age aspect of...
) while others might prefer to not specify a sexual orientation at all. Since bigender is a gender-related term, not an erotic one, a bigender person can, of course, be asexual.
Popular culture
While performers such as
David BowieDavid Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. Active in five decades of popular music and frequently reinventing his music and image, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
and
Boy GeorgeBoy George is an English singer-songwriter who was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He helped give androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by...
are known for combining masculine and feminine aspects, performers who switch between a primarily masculine or feminine image, such as
Eddie IzzardEdward John "Eddie" Izzard is a two-time Emmy winning British stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy style is expressed in rambling, whimsical monologue and self-referential pantomime. Izzard's works include standup sets Definite Article, Dress to Kill and a starring role in the television...
,
Chris CrockerChris Crocker may refer to:* Chris Crocker with Cincinnati Bengals since October 2008* Chris Crocker American video blogger...
and
Annie LennoxAnnie Lennox is a Scottish musician and recording artist. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, Lennox showed aptitude in music when she was a child and later studied classical music at the Royal Academy of Music in London...
, better fit the
bigender label. Crossdressing is not always related to gender identity, however.
Multiplicity involving Multiple Genders
When two or more people share one body and are of different genders, as opposed to the sense of one person sometimes experiencing themselves as masculine and sometimes as feminine, they may use the term "bigender" to describe themselves in the event that the two people are of different genders. In this situation, at times when the person who is of the opposite gender to the body sex is dominant, they may experience similar feelings to a transsexual.