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Bigender

'Bigender' is an online-grown identity label indicating that someone reports experiencing two genders simultaneously or alternately – usually male and female, sometimes a different combination. The term generally falls under non-binary and is mostly distinguished from genderfluid in that it is supposed to involve specifically two identities.

What does the label mean?

According to self-descriptions, a bigender person shifts between two defined gender experiences, or experiences them simultaneously. Some adjust their presentation; others do not. What is meant by 'gender' in this context is an inner experience – not the body, which remains unchanged and binary.

Origin and scientific status

Bigender is a relatively recent category, developed largely online. There is virtually no independent clinical or empirical research validating bigender as a defined identity; the term occurs mainly in identity communities on social media and in self-reports. That is not a judgement on the people using the label, but it is relevant context: the academic underpinning is largely absent.

Critics point out that many experiences described as 'bigender' (alternating masculine or feminine clothing, taste or mood) can just as easily fall within a single sex. A woman who is sometimes a 'tomboy' and sometimes feminine is still a woman – there is no need for a separate identity category for that.

Distinction from other labels

Bigender is often compared with genderfluid. The difference – bigender would specifically involve two genders, genderfluid a spectrum – is fluid and cannot be sharply drawn in practice. Comparable labels are trigender (three genders), polygender (multiple specific genders) and pangender (all genders). All fall under the umbrella non-binary, a broad collective term without a single defined content.

Social context

In the Netherlands there is no legal category 'bigender'. For anyone using the label, the standard options for sex registration apply. Practical challenges – social expectations, pronouns, bureaucracy – are similar to those around other non-binary identifications, and are essentially a consequence of the fact that most institutions (rightly) operate on the basis of binary sex.