Agender
Definiton
Disclaimer: People can experience identities in different ways. As such, people can identify with a label without exactly matching the definition because identities are fluid.
Agender is a term used by people who experience little to no gender, experience a neutral gender, don't want to label their gender, and/or don't know or care about their gender. Agender only refers to a person's gender, so agender people can be any sexuality or romantic orientation. Agender people can use any pronouns they like or no pronouns, since pronouns don't equate gender. Agender people can present in any way they like; they do not have to present in an androgynous way to be agender.
Some agender people also identify as nonbinary and/or transgender, some see agender as its own gender identity, and some see it as not having a gender identity at all. As such, some agender people also identify as genderless, genderfree, gendervoid, genderblank, non-gendered, ungendered, and/or gendernull.
The following quote is from Scottie (any pronouns), Director of a University LGBT Center, who is agender:
“Gender always felt confusing to me. I never understood when people would describe a strong sense of their gender. I was mostly just frustrated about the whole idea and felt really lost. Then I came across the term agender and it completely opened up my world. For me, being agender feels right. I do not quite "fit" or "feel" a certain gender identity and prefer to reject cultural, gendered stereotypes while leaning into expressing myself in the ways that feel comfortable and bring me joy.”
Flag History and Meaning
The agender pride flag was created by Salem X (Tumblr user transrants) in 2014.
Each color of the agender flag has its own meaning (except for black and white, which have the same meaning). Salem X says they represent:
- Black and white: "absense of gender"
- Gray: "semi-genderlessness"
- Green: "nonbinary genders"
An alternative agender pride flag was created by Mars in 2021. It was created with similar colors and meanings, but with higher-contrast and fewer stripes to highlight how people can be any sexual, romantic, and gender identity (or multiple) while still being fully agender.
Related Identities
Agender is an umbrella term and can include labels such as:
- Agenderfluid
- Agenderflux
- Agenderfluix
- Anongender
- Apogender
- Cancegender
- Genderabyss
- Genderblank
- Genderfree
- Gendernull
- Gendervoid
- Librafluid
- Null gender
- Oneirogender
- Polyagender
Agender can also fall under these umbrella terms:
- Fluid
- Gender nonconforming (GNC)
- Genderqueer
- Nonbinary
- Queer
- Transgender
Additional Resources
- In "How Do I Know That I'm Agender?" from Ace Dad Advice on YouTube they describe what agender means, explain their own experience being agender, and combat stereotypes about agender people.
- "Transcending Traditional Labels: The Agender vs. Non-Binary Conversation" defines agender and nonbinary, discusses the differences between the two, and addresses common misconceptions.
Sources and Image Attribution
Sources:
- The Nonbinary Wiki's "Agender" page
- The Gender Fandom Wiki's "Agender" page
- LGBTQIA+ Fandom Wiki's "Agender" page
Images:
- "Agender flag" by Salem Fontana, public domain
- "Agender pride flag agender info" by agender.info, licensed under CC0 1.0
