Home › Terms › Demigirl

Demigirl

'Demigirl' (also 'demiwoman') is a non-binary label for someone who identifies partly, but not fully, with 'girl' or 'woman'. It is the feminine counterpart of demiboy and a specification within the demi-gender category.

How the label originated

The term 'demigirl' appears around 2014 on Tumblr, in a period when micro-labels for gender identification were proliferating rapidly. The Dutch translation 'demimeisje' followed via translation communities. The label is therefore relatively young and exists largely in online spheres; it has no place in formal psychological literature or clinical diagnostics.

What the bearer is saying with it

Those who call themselves demigirl signal: I identify partly with 'girl' or 'woman', but not fully. What 'partly' means remains subjective. Some report a fluctuating experience between feminine and non-feminine. Others experience a constant 'moderate' femininity. The label captures something that is missing in standard gender vocabulary — though it is more about self-description than about an objectively measurable category.

How it relates to other labels

Demigirl is one of the dozens of micro-labels that arose on Tumblr in the years 2014-2020. Related terms — genderfae, genderfluid, demi-gender — overlap substantially. External observers rarely make the distinction; within the communities that use the label, the difference can carry weight.

Social status

'Demigirl' does not appear on official documents. The Personal Records Database, passports and medical files have no field for partial identification. Employers and educational institutions rarely adjust their policy to this level of differentiation. Outside online communities, the term is rarely actively recognised; in everyday interaction the bearer falls back on 'she', 'they/them' or a combination.

Critical perspectives

Methodologically, 'partial femininity' is awkward. Identity is hard to fractionate as a percentage or quantity. From a cognitive psychology perspective the label functions primarily as a self-description — a tool for ordering one's own experiences. Whether it also constitutes a distinct category within a broader gender spectrum is conceptually an open question.

For the bearer the label is meaningful because it names something that otherwise remains without language. For institutions — care, education, government — the inflation of micro-labels is awkward: every attempt to accommodate all labels leads to an unmanageable field, while not accommodating is experienced as rejection. The practical solution — seeking the broadest common denominator — is usually: pronoun respect and first names. Further institutional recognition remains out of reach.

Historical context

Similar self-descriptions exist in other cultures and periods, often without the Tumblr-specific vocabulary. Anthropological research (Vincent, 2020) points to a general human pattern: people do not always experience their gender as monolithic. The question is not whether that experience exists, but what social implications must be attached to it.

What is meant by it?

A demigirl experiences a partially feminine sense of gender, often combined with a second component (agender, fluid or unspecified). The bearer can be either AFAB (female birth sex) or AMAB (male birth sex); the label says something about identification, not about biology.

Distinction and overlap

Demigirl overlaps with genderfae (fluid within the feminine spectrum) and with some variants of genderfluid. Unlike with genderfluid, in demigirl the feminine anchor is constantly present, albeit partial.

Social and practical context

Demigirl does not appear on official documents. Pronouns are often 'she', sometimes 'they/them' or a combination. Outside online communities the term is rarely actively recognised.

Critical perspectives

The question of what 'partly a woman' precisely means is conceptually awkward: a sense of gender is difficult to measure or compare as a fraction. The fine micro-labels in this area mainly meet a social need for precision within specific online communities. For the bearer the label may feel meaningful; that does not automatically make it a delineated category within a broader gender spectrum.

Must a demigirl be AFAB?

What is the difference from demimeisje?

Which pronouns do demigirls use?

Is demigirl a clinically recognised category?