Intergender

The intergender flag by Dorian.

**Intergender** is a gender identity with three definitions. The most commonly accepted definition is as follows: intergender is a gender identity which exists between and among male and female. The term is exclusively intended to be used by intersex people. Another commonly accepted definition involves how one's intersex experiences impact one's gender identity, similar to amalgagender.

An older definition involves being a mix of male and female, in between, or neither. This definition works as an umbrella term similar to nonbinary, and is not exclusive to intersex people. However, this definition is largely considered outdated. Debate still remains over whether the identity should always be exclusive to intersex people. Dyadic people may instead opt to use labels such as androgyne, bigender, and nonbinary, for the sake of avoiding disrespect and misappropriation.

## Etymology

The term "intergender" comes from the prefix *inter-*, meaning "among, between, or together," and "gender," denoting gender identity. Alternatively, it may be taken from the word "intersex," replacing sex with gender.

## History

Intergender was likely first proposed around 1998, on a Usenet newsgroup called alt.support.intergendered. It may have been coined by Donna Lynn Matthews, based on a post on their website:

> Intergender : I latched onto this idea big time – enough to create a new Usenet newsgroup for it. I say myself as a mix of man and woman – somewhere between the two. But even this didn’t hold as well as I wanted and I expended it to be a mix of both or neither of the two. I felt (feel) like neither but from an operational perspective, both and neither are about the same.
>
> - Donna Lynn Matthews, Being Genderqueer - What it Means for Me

This original definition was not exclusive to intersex people. In fact, Matthews specified that the identity was not inherently related to being intersex. Matthews themself was not intersex; they were dyadic and AFAB. The term's intent originally encompassed gender identities which were a mix of male and female, or between the two. Matthews later expanded it to additionally encompass the experience of being neither male nor female, essentially creating an umbrella term similar to nonbinary.

In 2014, Aeshling (quietlyloud-intersex or indonintersex on Tumblr) coined intergender, independent of previous definitions. It was described as "A gender that is between and among male and female." This is similar to the original definition. However, in this instance, the identity was coined to be exclusively used by intersex people. It is somewhat similar to amalgagender.

## Flag

The first known intergender flag was created by Mod D, or Dorian, on the actuallyintersex Tumblr blog, on November 20, 2014. The flag was designed with Aeshling's definition in mind, and is not intended to be used by dyadic people. He created two versions of the flag: one with a blue stripe on top and a pink stripe on the bottom, and another with the stripe order flipped. The flag is correct no matter how it is oriented, and it's impossible to hold it upside-down. The stripes were inspired by Natalie Phox's intersex flag:

> I wanted to demonstrate that being intergender is related to being intersex, so I stuck within the same general layout and color scheme as the intersex flag, but I’ve placed the blue and pink[...] at the extremities of the flag, with purple in the middle. The gradient from blue to pink in the center of the intersex flag is here replaced by a gray stripe, as purple can’t make a gradient into itself.
>
> - Mod D (Dorian), untitled Tumblr post

Another intergender pride flag was posted to the pride-color-schemes Tumblr blog on July 31, 2016. It is unknown who designed it, which definition it correlates with, and what the colors mean. However, it can be assumed that pink and blue represent the binary, while yellow and grey represent being nonbinary.

Another intergender flag was created by Tumblr users interpunked (Rose) and cripdeaf (Cey) on January 17, 2020. It is based on the intersex flag by Morgan Carpenter, and is only intended to be used by intersex people:

> There’s no special meanings here - it’s really just the colors of the intersex pride flag + a white circle which I feel as part of the original intersex flag was a deeply important symbol. The white circle indicates our wholeness as ourselves, without intrinsic need for modification.
>
> - Rose (interpunked), Intergender flag updated design 1/17

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Hardell, Ash. *The ABC's of LGBT+*. Mango Media Inc., 2016. ISBN 9781633534087.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Mx. Anunnaki Ray Marquez (2017-01-21). Intersex, Intergender, and Altersex. Do Intersex Transexuals Exist?.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Pride-Flags (2015-08-17). Intergender (1).
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 actuallyintersex (2014-11-19). Intergender Flag (untitled post).
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Intergender (English). The Trans Language Primer.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Aeshling (2014). Intergender (no longer available online).
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Rose; Cey (2020-01-17). Intergender flag updated design 1/17. Tumblr. Archived from the original on January 27, 2022.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Non-Binary Noise (2016-01-07). Amalgagender.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 intermisogyny (2015-08-11). Amalgagender. Archived from the original on September 3, 2015.
10. ↑ Gender Expansive, Genderqueer, Gender Nonconforming (GE, GI). IT GETS BETTER PROJECT.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Matthews, Donna Lynn. CHARTER: alt.support.intergendered.
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Matthews, Donna Lynn (October 1998). What Is Intergendered?.
13. ↑ Curtis (2007-02-09). Intergender and intersex.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Trans and Intersex Glossary. OULGBTQ+ Society.
15. ↑ Androgyne (English). The Trans Language Primer.
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Lane, S. Nicole (2021-01-17). What Is Genderqueer?. Verywell Health.
17. ↑ Bigender / Trigender / etc. (English). The Trans Language Primer.
18. ↑ Nonbinary Definition & Meaning. Merriam-Webster.
19. ↑ Frequently Asked Questions about Transgender People. National Center for Transgender Equality (2016-07-09).
20. ↑ Transgender People. GLAAD. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021.
21. ↑ Non-Binary (English). The Trans Language Primer.
22. ↑ List of LGBTQ+ terms. Stonewall. Archived from the original on November 17, 2021.
23. ↑ PFLAG National Glossary of Terms. PFLAG.
24. ↑ Ferguson, Sian. What Does It Mean to Be Agender?. healthline.
25. ↑ Ferguson, Sian (2022-05-16). What’s the Difference Between Agender and Nonbinary Identities?. PsychCentral.
26. ↑ Inter- Definition & Meaning. Encyclopædia Britannica.
27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 Matthews, Donna Lynn (October 2006). Being Genderqueer - What it Means for Me.
28. ↑ Mod D (Dorian); Mod C (2014-11-20). untitled Tumblr post. Tumblr. Archived from the original on October 29, 2021.
29. ↑ pride-color-schemes (2016-07-31`). Intergender. Tumblr. Archived from the original on January 27, 2022.