I've heard some gender fluid identified people saying that they identify as that because sometimes they feel more masculine some days and feminine others. This is really pissing me off cos I know that you can feel very feminine but at the same time feel male and vice versa. I'm just very confused about the whole thing would someone mind explaining exactly what gender fluidity is? Also is that the same as genderqueer? :icon_winkThx
Genderqueer is pretty much another term for non-binary people, but people have varying definitions. I don't identify as genderqueer, so I can't really say much about it. Here is the wikipedia link. Gender fluidity, in my opinion, is very different from feeling feminine and masculine. I am fully male, however, my gender expression is teetering to the feminine side. According to the gender fluid people I know, they don't describe it as feeling feminine and masculine. They describe it as feeling male and female. You can be masculine and female and feminine and male. Femininity and masculinity = gender expression. Female and male = gender identity. Just my two cents, I guess. Don't take my word for it.
Yeah its hard to find a lot of information about gender-fluidity on the internet. But I do agree with Nychthemeron, that femininity and masculinity are gender expressions. You can be a feminine male or a masculine female and vise versa. Its hard to describe…all I can say is mentally you feel like either or neither gender. Depending on the person some (such as myself) mentally see pecs and the male bits and other days you mentally see the female components. And on other days you don't identify as either male or female. It also doesn't help that the term gender its self is confusing because every one sees it differently and its always evolving. Now I could be wrong…but from my understanding gender fluids are under the gender queer umbrella. GENDERQUEER AND NON-BINARY IDENTITIES - What is “Genderqueer”?
The way I understood genderfluid is an explanation I saw on Yahoo that I agreed with. If you have one of those lights that can become all different levels of brightness (like when you turn a dial it slowly gets brighter or darker, or on a handheld electronic when you adjust the brightness and there's a bar ranging from dark to light), picture either extremes as male and the other as female. A genderfluid person can pick whichever spot they want on it and that is their gender for that time period. It can range between more than just male and female, too. There are other genders. That's how I understand it, anyways. One day they feel very male so they go all the way to the male side. Another day, they feel 40% male and 60% female, so they're almost in the middle but just a bit more on the female side.
It has nothing to do with masculine/feminine presentation. Genderfluidity simply means that your gender changes. On some days I feel male, some days I feel female, some days I feel something in between or no gender at all. I present however I feel like presenting that day. Often it lines up with the typical presentation for my gender, but sometimes it doesn't. Genderqueer is an umbrella term for various nonbinary genders.
