Intergender: Meaning, Identity, and Gender Diversity

For example, someone might feel:

• partly like a man and partly like a woman;
• located between male and female gender identities;
• connected to both masculinity and femininity;
• neither fully male nor fully female;
• part of a distinct intermediate gender.

The identity concerns how a person understands their gender. It does not determine their appearance, body, pronouns, sexual orientation, or relationship preferences.

• inter-, meaning “between” or “among”;
• gender, meaning a person’s internal and social experience of gender.

Intergender is most commonly used as an adjective:

• Alex identifies as intergender.
• They are an intergender person.
• Sam described their identity as intergender.

It may occasionally appear as a stand-alone identity noun:

• “I am intergender.”

However, intergender person or intergender people is generally more natural than treating the word as a countable noun.

Common expressions include:

• identify as intergender;
• come out as intergender;
• describe oneself as intergender;
• have an intergender identity;
• experience gender as intermediate;
• use intergender as a nonbinary label.

A Gender Between Man and Woman

Some people experience their gender as occupying a point between the two binary categories. They may not feel entirely male or entirely female but may still feel connected to both.

A Blend of Genders

An intergender person may experience masculinity and femininity as combined into one gender rather than as two completely separate identities.

An Intermediate or Distinct Gender

For some people, intergender is not simply “half man and half woman.” It may be a distinct identity with its own qualities, located outside ordinary binary language.

An Intersex-Connected Gender

Some intersex people use intergender because their experience of gender is closely connected to being intersex. This use is personal and should not be assumed for every intersex or intergender person.

Intergender is more specific. It commonly emphasizes being between, among, or intermediate to conventional gender categories.

An intergender person may identify as nonbinary because intergender falls outside an exclusively male-or-female system. However, not every nonbinary person is intergender.

Nonbinary identities may include:

• agender;
• genderfluid;
• bigender;
• demigender;
• multigender;
• neutrois;
• intergender;
• many other experiences.

A person may use both labels, such as nonbinary and intergender, or use only the more specific term.

Intergender concerns gender identity: a person’s internal understanding of being between, among, or beyond binary genders.

Intersex concerns innate sex characteristics, such as chromosomes, hormones, reproductiveanatomy, or genital development, that do not fit typical definitions of exclusively male or female bodies.

A person may be:

• intergender and intersex;
• intergender but not intersex;
• intersex but not intergender;
• neither.

Most importantly, being intersex does not automatically determine someone’s gender identity. An intersex person may identify as a woman, man, nonbinary person, intergender person, or another gender.

Likewise, a person does not need to be intersex to identify as intergender unless they personally use the term in an intersex-specific way.

Intergender usually describes one identity positioned between or combining gender categories.

For example:

• A bigender person may experience themselves as both a man and a woman.
• An intergender person may experience a gender that exists between man and woman.

The experiences can overlap. Someone may feel that both terms describe them, while another person may strongly prefer one.

Intergender and androgyne may be closely related, but they do not always mean the same thing.

• Androgyne often emphasizes a blend of masculinity and femininity.
• Intergender often emphasizes an identity positioned between gender categories.

Some people use the terms interchangeably for themselves. Others understand them as distinct identities.

Intergender does not necessarily involve change. An intergender person may experience a consistent gender located between man and woman.

A person may be both intergender and genderfluid if their gender moves among intermediate positions or if their connection to different genders changes. However, fluidity is not required.

Gender expression is how someone presents gender through clothing, voice, hairstyle, behavior, or appearance.

An intergender person may appear:

• masculine;
• feminine;
• androgynous;
• neutral;
• differently gendered in different settings.

Appearance does not prove or disprove an intergender identity. A person may dress conventionally masculine or feminine while privately experiencing a gender between those categories.

Similarly, an androgynous appearance does not automatically mean someone is intergender.

• they/them;
• she/her;
• he/him;
• neopronouns;
• more than one pronoun set;
• different pronouns in different contexts.

Some may choose a gender-neutral name, while others keep a traditionally masculine or feminine name. Names and pronouns are forms of expression, not tests of identity.

When a person’s pronouns are unknown, it is respectful to ask or follow the language they use for themselves.

Possible forms of affirmation include:

• changing a name or pronouns;
• adjusting clothing or hairstyle;
• using a neutral title such as Mx.;
• changing a legal gender marker where available;
• using hormones in an individualized way;
• choosing certain surgeries;
• requesting different gendered language from others.

There is no standard intergender body or transition path. Medical procedures do not make a person more or less authentically intergender.

Some people regard intergender as open to anyone whose gender exists between binary categories. Others prefer to reserve certain uses for intersex people whose gender is directly connected to being intersex.

This variation makes respectful self-identification especially important. People should not assign the term to someone else based on appearance, anatomy, or assumptions about their gender.

An intergender person may be:

• asexual;
• bisexual;
• gay;
• heterosexual;
• lesbian;
• pansexual;
• queer;
• another orientation.

Their orientation labels may depend on how they understand their own gender and the genders to which they are attracted. Some use familiar labels, while others prefer terms designed for nonbinary people.

Being intergender does not determine whether someone dates, has sex, marries, has children, or prefers a particular relationship structure.

Respectful practice includes:

• using the person’s stated name and pronouns;
• not asking intrusive questions about anatomy;
• not assuming the person is intersex;
• not describing the identity as confusion;
• avoiding pressure to choose either man or woman;
• allowing the person to explain what intergender means to them.

A person does not owe others a detailed explanation of their body, transition, or identity history.

Only intersex people can identify as intergender.
Usage varies. Some connect the term specifically to intersex experience, while others use it more broadly for an intermediate gender identity.

Intergender means exactly half male and half female.
Not necessarily. The identity may involve a blend, an intermediate position, or a distinct gender.

Every intergender person is genderfluid.
No. Intergender may be stable and unchanging.

An intergender person must look androgynous.
No. Gender identity cannot be determined from appearance.

Intergender determines sexual orientation.
No. Intergender people may have any sexual or romantic orientation.

1. Alex identifies as intergender because their gender feels located between man and woman.
2. An intergender person may use any set of pronouns.
3. Can someone be both intersex and intergender?
4. Her intergender identity does not determine her sexual orientation.
5. The glossary distinguishes intergender from intersex and genderfluid.
6. Being intergender does not require an androgynous appearance.
7. Sam uses intergender as a specific identity within the nonbinary umbrella.
8. Understanding intergender helped the family avoid forcing the person into a strictly male-or-female category.

The term also helps distinguish gender identity from sex characteristics. An intergender person may or may not be intersex, and an intersex person may have any gender identity.

Understanding intergender identity broadens awareness of gender diversity. It recognizes that some people experience gender as intermediate, blended, or positioned between conventional categories without needing to identify exclusively as a man or a woman.