How Nonbinary people describe themselves

 

There are a seemingly infinite number of nonbinary genders that someone can find online.

Often, these terms appear without any indication of whether they are relatively common or incredibly rare.

Thankfully, we have a robust, reliable, annual survey that measures how nonbinary people describe themselves, and which nonbinary gender identities are the most common. 

 

Cassian, who is agender and nonbinary, created the Gender Census in 2013 to collect information about the nonbinary community.

Cassian, like many nonbinary people, uses they/them pronouns.

Cassian has administered the Gender Census every year since then, with the exception of 2014, allowing readers to compare results from year to year.

 

I have spent a lot of time over the past several months pondering the fascinating results of the Gender Census.

 

 

 

Who participates in the survey?

 

Before starting the survey, participants are required to check the following two boxes:

·        Yes, I confirm that I don’t really fit into just one of the two boxes of “always, solely and completely a woman/girl” or “always, solely and completely a man/boy.”

·        Yes, I understand that I can back out of the survey at any time before the end and my answers won’t be counted, and I understand that if I complete and submit the survey, my anonymized response will be made publicly viewable.

In 2023, Cassian received 40,375 usable responses from the Gender Census, which was conducted from April 9 - May 10. 

 

People from around the world completed the Gender Census.

A total of 56% of respondents were from the United States, 11% were from the United Kingdom, and 7% were from Canada.

The countries with the next largest numbers of participants were Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands.

 

 

Nonbinary identities

 

The Gender Census asked several questions, but we’re primarily interested in the identity question.

Participants were asked the following question.

“Which of the following best describe(s) in English how you think of yourself?”

Respondents could select as many checkbox terms as they wanted, and could also submit write-in responses.

Checkboxes were randomized to reduce primacy and recency bias. 

A total of 11 checkbox entries were chosen by more than 20% of respondents.

I will discuss the first five terms in this article, and next six terms in the next article.

These 11 responses are listed in the table below.

 

Identity                                                      Percent

 

1. Nonbinary                                               63%

2. Queer                                                     55%

3. Trans                                                      47%

 

4. A person/ human/                                   43%

[my name]/

“I’m just me”

 

5. Transgender                                           40%

6. Gender non-conforming                         39%

7. Genderqueer                                          35%

8. Enby                                                       32%

9. Transmasculine                                      29%

 

10. Genderfluid/                                         26%

Fluid gender

 

11. Agender                                                24%

 

Cassian visualized the results of the identity question in a bar graph.

 

 

Primary Source: Gender Census 2023, Worldwide Report

 

 

I created my own bar graph, using Flourish, to illustrate the top identity words in the 2023 Gender Census.

 

 

The first major revelation from this data is the nine terms chosen by the most respondents are all umbrella terms.

The first specific nonbinary identities are genderfluid and agender, which appear at numbers 10 and 11, respectively.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these terms individually.

 

 

 

1. Nonbinary, 63%

 

The most commonly chosen term was nonbinary.

 

Nonbinary refers to someone whose gender identity isn’t exclusively male or female.

Considering its definition almost identically matches one of the checkboxes participants are required to check before beginning the survey, I’m surprised nonbinary wasn’t chosen by almost every participant.

 

63% is a large number, especially compared to the other identities on this list.

Almost 2/3 of all participants selected nonbinary.

But that still leaves 37% of participants who didn’t select nonbinary as one of their identity terms.

 

By comparison, only 1.7% of respondents identified as binary.

 

Given these results, nonbinary is the best word for an organization to use to describe people who don’t identify exclusively as male or female.

Many organizations, such as employers and insurance companies, include a gender question on official paperwork.

If an organization chooses to request information about someone’s gender, I’d recommend allowing for the following options: male, female, nonbinary, and other.

Both “nonbinary” and “other” should allow for more specific responses if someone wishes to provide them.

Ideally, the question should be optional, unless the organization needs to know this information for some reason. 

Likewise, if an organization, such as a doctor's office, needs to know someone's biological sex, they should understand this might not match the person's gender, and should ask about it in a separate question.

 

 

I’m quite fond of the term nonbinary.

If I was filling out the Gender Census myself, nonbinary would be one of the terms I would select to describe my gender.

 

 

 

2. Queer, 55%

 

Queer was the only other term chosen by more than half of respondents who completed the Gender Census.  

The Gender Census included the description “in relation to gender” to specify the question was asking whether respondents would describe their gender as Queer, not whether they would describe their sexuality as Queer.

Queer is a synonym for LGBT that refers to people with a minority sexual orientation or gender identity.

But it can also refer to someone who is intersex or has a minority romantic orientation.

 

Nonbinary people really like the word Queer.

And I’m one of them.

If I were filling out this survey, I would select Queer as well.

 

 

 

3. Trans, 47%

 

“Trans” and “transgender” appear as separate entries in the Gender Census.

A total of 47% of respondents identify as trans, whereas 40% identify as transgender.

The shortened version of the word attracts 7% more respondents than the full version. But both are fairly popular responses.

 

The number of respondents identifying as trans and transgender have increased in recent years.

This year, trans is up 8.5% from last year’s survey.

If next year sees a similar increase, trans could pass the 50% mark.

 

I’ll discuss “trans” more in the section on “transgender.”

 

If I was completing the identity question, I would select trans as one of my identity labels.

 

 

 

4. A person / human / [my name] / I’m just me, 43%

 

Cassian created this option based on similar write-in responses that participants provided to the Gender Census in previous years.

I believe there are two ways someone could interpret this option.

The first is an impulse someone might feel to dodge the question by choosing not to provide a description of their gender.

They would identify with non-gendered responses, instead, in an effort to deemphasize the importance of their gender.

Secondly, someone might choose this response based on a desire to identify with categories that are more universal.

We are all human, after all.

 

I’m surprised this option is as popular as it is. It’s the fourth most frequently selected response in the survey.

I have plenty of terms that I use to describe my gender, and I don’t see the need to dodge the question or deemphasize the importance of my gender in a survey about the topic.

 

I wouldn’t select this option if I were answering the identity question.

 

 

5. Transgender, 40%

 

I absolutely consider nonbinary identities to be transgender.

Nonbinary people experience symptoms of gender dysphoria that are similar to those experienced by binary transgender people.

Gender dysphoria refers to the discomfort someone experiences when their internal sense of the their own gender conflicts with how they are treated by others based on other people's perception of what their gender is or should be. 

Nonbinary people have similar experiences and struggles to binary transgender people.

 

Many people who appear to be binary transgender, based on their appearance and life decisions, actually identify as nonbinary if you ask them how they would describe their own gender.

 

Sadly, some transgender women have argued against considering nonbinary people to be transgender, based on a limited definition of who should be considered transgender.

Personally, I haven’t seen this perspective expressed by any transgender men.

Some nonbinary people are reluctant to identify as transgender, because they want to avoid upsetting binary transgender people who don’t consider nonbinary people to be transgender.

I have experienced this hesitation myself. 

That being said, there are plenty of binary transgender people, trans women included, who consider nonbinary people to be transgender.

 

The most prominent transgender activists, and LGBT advocacy organizations, generally take the position that nonbinary people are transgender, or are at least welcome to identify as transgender if they want to.

 

There is also a simple argument for why nonbinary people are transgender, directly from definitions alone.

Transgender is commonly defined as a term that refers to someone who identifies as a gender different than the gender they were assigned at birth.

This is the definition I use, and it’s also the definition that is most commonly used for the term.

Nonbinary refers to someone who has a gender identity that isn’t exclusively male or female.

Because almost no one is assigned nonbinary at birth, nonbinary people are, by definition, transgender.

 

I believe a world where nonbinary people are welcome to identify as transgender is more inclusive and enlightened than one where they are not.

Identity, and the terms someone uses to describe their identity, are deeply personal things.

 

According to the Gender Census, many nonbinary people identify as transgender.

This year, 40% of respondents identified as transgender, which is an increase of 6.4% from 2022.

For comparison, only 2.5% of respondents identified as cisgender.

 

“Trans” in on the cusp of reaching 50% in the Gender Census.

“Transgender” isn’t too far behind.

But even though neither has reached 50%, they are the 3^rd and 5^th most popular words nonbinary people use to describe themselves, which makes them fairly popular, all things considered.

 

I absolutely identify as both “transgender” and “trans,” and I would select both options if I completed this survey.

 

I own several pride symbols associated with my nonbinary and transgender identity, which I have shared on this blog many times before.

 

I will discuss additional identity terms from the Gender Census in the next article in this series.