Demiboy
'Demiboy' (also 'demiman') is a non-binary label for someone who identifies partly, but not fully, with 'boy' or 'man'. The label is a specification within the demi-gender category and has been circulating in online non-binary communities since around 2014.
What is meant by it?
A demiboy does experience a masculine sense of gender, but 'only in part'. The other part can be agender, fluid, or unspecified. The bearer is usually AMAB (male birth sex) or AFAB (female birth sex); both occur.
Distinction and overlap
Demiboy is structurally related to demigirl: the same partial identification, but with 'boy/man' instead of 'girl/woman'. The term overlaps with some variants of genderfluid and with general non-binary self-descriptions.
Social and practical context
Demiboy does not appear on official documents. Pronouns vary: 'he', 'they/them' or a combination. In a social context the label is mainly recognised within specific communities.
Critical perspectives
The claim that someone is 'partly a man' raises the question of what the remaining half then actually comprises. Critics point out that the fine subdivision within non-binary self-descriptions has a sociological function: identity as a detailed self-mark within specific communities. For the bearer the experience is real; that does not automatically make 'demiboy' a separate category within a broader spectrum.
Sources
- Richards, C. et al. (2016). "Non-binary or genderqueer genders." International Review of Psychiatry, 28(1). DOI
- Vincent, B. (2020). Non-Binary Genders. Policy Press.
- Tumblr archives (2014): early publications of 'demiboy' and related variants.