Aporagender

'Aporagender' is a non-binary label for people who experience a distinct sense of gender, but describe that feeling as separate from man, woman, or a blend of the two. The Greek prefix 'apo-' means 'away from'. The term was coined on Tumblr in 2014.

What does it mean?

Aporagender is structurally close to maverique: both labels aim to express a 'third gender space' that cannot be placed on the man/woman spectrum. The difference from agender is that aporagender people describe their experience as 'present and strong' — not as an absence.

Distinctions and overlap

In practice, the boundary between aporagender, maverique, neutrois and agender is thin. Which term someone chooses depends mainly on the community in which they encountered it and on personal preference.

Social and practical context

Aporagender plays hardly any role outside Tumblr and similar online spaces. It does not appear on official documents. New research also shows that since 2023, fewer and fewer young people identify as non-binary or trans.

Critical perspectives

As with maverique, the claim that a gender exists 'separate from the man/woman spectrum' has neither empirical nor clinical support. The label is a social construct within a specific online community, not the discovery of an underlying category. It is one of the many labels in the overview of how many genders there are. That does not invalidate the experience of those who identify with it.

Origin of the term

According to the LGBTQIA+ Wiki, 'aporagender' was coined in 2014 on a Tumblr blog with the same name, roughly at the same time as maverique. The creator was looking for an alternative to the older term 'aliagender'. The prefix is derived from the Greek 'apo', which the wiki translates as 'separate'. The flag is attributed to the user Hyaenahart. In it, blue and pink appear at the ends to show the distance from man and woman. The term falls under the broader category of non-binary.