This
article is part of Season 3 of “LGBT by the Numbers.”
Season 3
explores the results of the Gender Census, an annual online global survey of
nonbinary people.
Nonbinary
describes someone who has a gender identity that isn’t exclusively male or
female.
This
series examines how the popularity of various nonbinary identity terms has
changed over the past decade.
I
primarily focus on the results from 2015 to 2024, for reasons I explained in previous
articles.
We’re
beginning with the most popular terms, before making our way to the less common
ones.
Top of the Charts discussed the terms nonbinary,
queer, trans, and transgender.
Additional Umbrella Terms discussed gender non-conforming,
genderqueer, and enby.
The next
article discussed Transmasculine and Transfeminine.
For a
basic introduction to terms and concepts related to transgender and nonbinary
identity, you can read Gender Identity and Biological Sex.
The top nine
identity terms in the Gender Census are umbrella terms, which means they
describe multiple groups of people with more specific identities.
The most
common specific nonbinary identities, genderfluid and agender, are tenth and
eleventh on the list.
We will
discuss these identities today.
It’s worth
bearing in mind that some people use nonbinary to describe their gender
identity, without also using an additional, more-specific term.
It’s also possible
to imagine someone using many of the umbrella terms, which we have previously
discussed, without using an additional, more-specific identity term.
Genderfluid
and agender have remained fairly close together over the past 10 years in the
Gender Census.
Over the
past decade, they were the farthest apart in 2017, when agender outperformed
genderfluid by 5.2%.
Although not
shown on this graph, “fluid gender” (31.3%) outperformed agender (21.6%) in the
2013 Gender Census.
Agender
outperformed genderfluid from 2015 to 2020.
Genderfluid
outperformed agender from 2021 to 2024.
I created
the graphs in this article using flourish, a website that allows users to
create compelling visual aids.
You can view larger versions of these graphs by clicking on them.
Genderfluid
Genderfluid describes someone whose gender changes
over time.
I personally identify as genderfluid.
Some genderfluid people have a strong perception of their
gender at all times.
But many others, like me, do not.
Many genderfluid people experience fluctuations in their
gender between male and female.
That is certainly true for myself.
Others are fluid between other genders, such as female and
nonbinary, or male and nonbinary.
Meticulous Musings has featured videos where genderfluid people discuss their experiences. If you want to learn more, I
encourage you to check them out.
The genderfluid checkbox in the Gender Census has changed
subtly over time.
In 2013, it was, “fluid gender.”
From 2015-17, it was, “fluid gender / genderfluid.”
From 2018- 24, it has been, “genderfluid / fluid gender.”
In 2015, genderfluid received 31.2%.
Genderfluid declined until it reached its minimum of 21% in
2019.
Genderfluid rebounded with a gradual rise to 25.5% in 2023, before
declining slightly to 24.7% in 2024.
From 2015-24, genderfluid’s range has been 10.2%.
“Fluid gender” received 31.3% in 2013, which is only slightly
more than the 31.2% its counterpart received in 2015.
Genderfluid was the tenth most popular term in the Gender
Census in 2023 and 2024.
That’s a lot further down the list than it used to be.
In 2013, “fluid gender” was the fourth most common term.
In 2015, “fluid gender / genderfluid” was also the fourth
most common term.
Agender
An agender person feels they don’t have a gender.
This can be a confusing concept to understand.
Agender is itself a specific nonbinary gender, used to
describe someone whose internal experience of their gender is that they don’t
have one.
Someone who is agender may dress or present themselves in a
way that is traditionally seen as masculine or feminine, but to them, these are
simply things they do because they enjoy them, rather than because they view
these things as representing an underlying gender identity.
I have shared some wonderful videos created by Chandler Wilson, an agender YouTube creator who has publicly shared their
experiences.
If you would like to learn more, I recommend you watch their
videos.
Agender reached its maximum in 2017, when it received 33.1%.
From there, it declined until 2020, when it reached its
minimum at 21.9%.
Agender grew until 2023 when it received 23.8%, before falling
slightly to 23.1% in 2024.
From 2015-24, agender’s range has been 11.2%.
In 2013, agender received 21.6%, slightly less than the 21.9%
it received in 2020.
Agender was the eleventh most popular term in the Gender
Census in 2023 and 2024.
Previously, agender was higher up the list.
In 2015 and
2017, agender was the third most popular identity term in the Gender Census.
In 2024,
agender was the eleventh most popular checkbox, and the eleventh least popular checkbox,
making it the median identity term in last year’s Gender Census.
Discussion
I first
discussed genderfluid and agender identities in Non-binary genders: Beyond male and
female, which I
published in 2015.
I discussed
genderfluid and agender identities again in Season 1 of LGBT by the Numbers.
Gender Identity and Biological Sex discussed genderfluid and agender
identities, and their associated pride flags.
Nonbinary Nomenclature discussed how genderfluid and agender performed in the 2023
Gender Census.
I published
both of these articles in 2023.
The following example offers a way to better understand some of the identities we have discussed so far.
Let's imagine someone asks, "Are you male or female?"
Remember, someone's gender and biological sex aren't the same thing, and they don't always align.
If someone believes they can't honestly and accurately describe their gender with only one of these two options, they are nonbinary.
Genderfluid is the most common identity among people who would reply to the question by answering, "both."
Although, some genderfluid people are fluid between genders other than male and female.
Agender is the most common identity among people who would reply to the question by answering, "neither."
We can also learn more about these identities by looking more closely at the data from the Gender Census.
Last year, 5.2% of respondents identified as both genderfluid and agender.
There are many ways people might identify with both terms, but one of the simplest is that agender could be one of the genders someone is fluid between.
Taking this overlap into account, 42.6% of respondents identify as genderfluid, agender, or both.
Therefore, a majority of respondents, 57.4%, don't identify as either genderfluid or agender.
But considered together, genderfluid and agender (42.6%) would be the fourth most common term in the Gender Census, after trans (44.7%), and before "a person / human / [my name] / 'I'm Just Me' " (39.1%).
Put simply, many nonbinary people identify as genderfluid, agender, or both.
More Graphs
Now that
we’ve looked closely at the lines for genderfluid and agender, let’s return to
a graph that appeared earlier in this series.
This graph
shows how the sixth through eleventh most popular identity terms from 2024 have
performed over the past decade.
You can see
where the lines for enby and transmasculine surpassed the lines for genderfluid
and agender.
You can also
see that gender non-conforming and genderqueer have always outperformed
genderfluid and agender.
We have now
discussed all eleven identity terms that received more than 20% in last year’s
Gender Census.
These are
also the only terms that have received more than 20% at any point from 2015 to
the present.
Next, let’s
take a look at a really chaotic graph.
This graph
shows all of the terms that received between 20% and 50% in the Gender Census
from 2015 to 2024.
During this time, nonbinary
has always received more than 50%, so its line can’t be seen.
Only part of
the line for queer can be seen, before it surpassed 50% in 2022.
This graph
shows the interactions between the lines for many identities that can’t easily
be seen in simpler graphs.
It’s
especially useful for comparing how identities that have fallen in popularity
over the past decade interact with identities that have risen in popularity.
There are
many places where identities are essentially tied, and places where lines cross
paths.
You can see
how agender briefly surpassed trans in 2017.
You can see
how trans was the second most popular term in 2018, behind nonbinary, because
genderqueer had declined, and queer hadn’t yet been added as a checkbox.
You can also
see where enby and transmasculine surpassed 20%.
Identities Worth Knowing
There are a
theoretically infinite number of nonbinary genders.
The Gender
Census is an incredibly valuable tool that allows people to know which
nonbinary identities are the most common.
And to a
surprising degree, the most common nonbinary identities are fairly consistent,
from year to year.
There are times when a nonbinary person chooses to discuss their gender with a friend,
family member, employer, or someone else.
It would be
greatly beneficial to everyone involved for the person learning this
information to already be somewhat familiar with the terms and ideas that will
be discussed during this conversation.
Otherwise,
the nonbinary person will be required to explain their identity terms, and the
entire concept of nonbinary identity itself, to someone who has absolutely no
idea what they are talking about.
If you want to be an ally, it would be really helpful if you could learn
about these ideas BEFORE you find yourself in a situation where you will need
to know them.
You don’t need
to know every possible nonbinary identity someone might use, but you should be
familiar with the ones that are most common.
These are
the terms we have covered in this series thus far.
In the years
ahead, you will continue to hear conservative Republican politicians rally crowds of profoundly ignorant people by
proclaiming, “there are only two genders.”
On cue, these
crowds will erupt into thunderous applause at the prospect of someone telling
them they are wise for being so close minded.
Many people,
listening to this, will know the conservative politician is being a transphobic
asshole, but for the life of them, they won’t know what those additional
genders are.
Because
you read this series, you will know a lot more than that.
The group of
people disparaged by these remarks are nonbinary people, who have a
gender identity that isn’t exclusively male or female.
About 1% of
US adults are nonbinary.
The most
common identities used by nonbinary people are umbrella terms, like queer, transgender, and genderqueer.
Some people
use nonbinary to describe their gender, without also using a more specific
term.
The most
common specific nonbinary identities are genderfluid and agender.
So not only will
you know that the conservative politician is wrong, but why.
You will
also know the basic facts about the ideas and identities they are looking to
disparage and suppress.
In addition
to hearing these identity terms, you might also see the colorful pride flags
associated with them.
The most
common gender identity flags are the transgender, nonbinary, and genderfluid
flags.
I discussed
these flags in Gender Identity and Biological Sex.
Where next?
We have now
discussed all eleven identity terms that received more than 20% in last year’s
Gender Census.
These are
also the only terms that received more than 20% at any point from 2015 to the
present.
I recommend allies and the public become familiar with these most-common nonbinary
identities.
But we’re
not done yet.
There are
more fun, interesting, and useful identities further down the list.
I will cover
the remaining checkbox identity terms from the 2024 Gender Census in the
remaining articles in this series.
So join me
next time as we continue Season 3 of LGBT by the Numbers.
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