Bigender

Bigender is a non-binary gender identity in which someone has two distinct gender identities. They could feel both genders at the same time or be fluid between them, in which case they may also identify as genderfluid. Bigender people can experience any two genders, including binary and non-binary genders. For example, a bigender person could be female and neutrois. Bigender people do not have to experience both genders in equal amounts. One or both of their genders could be fluid or fluctuating, in which case they may identify as bigenderflux.

The original bigender flag by no-bucks-for-this-doe (controversial).

Bigender people may also identify as transgender or non-binary. People who experience more than two genders can be trigender, quadgender, multigender, etc.

History

One of the first recorded instances of bigender being used comes from a trans organization called the Human Outreach and Achievement Institute in the 1980s which defined "bigenderist" as a type of androgyne, with the latter being defined as "a person who can comfortably express either alternative gender role in a variety of socially acceptable environments."^[1]^[2]

The more modern definition of bigender comes from Gary Bowen who, in his 1995 publication Dictionary of Words for Masculine Women, defined being bigender as

having two genders, exihibiting [sic] cultural characteristics of male and female roles.^[3]

A 1997 paper concerning the "gender continuum" in International Journal of Transgenderism noted that "a person who feels or acts as both a woman and a man may identify as bi-gendered."^[4] A 1999 survey conducted by the San Francisco Department of Public Health observed that, among the transgender community, less than 3% of those who were assigned male at birth and less than 8% of those who were assigned female at birth identified as bigender.^[5]

Flag and Symbols

The original bigender flag was created by no-bucks-for-this-doe. The date of creation is unknown but it existed at least before July 30, 2014^[6]. It has no confirmed color meanings for most colors, but is assumed that blue represents manhood/masculinity, pink represents womanhood/femininity, and purple represents androgyny or a mix of genders. The white in the center is a reflection of the white at the center of the transgender flag, which stands for non-binary identities and represents the non-binary nature of this identity. White may also represent a shift from one gender to another. Although, it is still widely known this flag has become controversial, due to allegations of the creator being abusive and transphobic.^[7]^[8] The flag is also disliked as it only seems to focus on male-female bigender people.

The most popular alternate bigender flag was created by an unknown person and was created on or before August 23, 2015.^[9] It also has unconfirmed color meanings. The colors likely mean the same as the original flag, but with a yellow stripe likely representing non-binary genders.

The alternate flag by pastelflowers was created on or before January 9, 2015.^[10] Purple (in general) represents those who are non-binary. Dark purple leans more towards blue, representing those who identify partially as male. Light purple leans more towards pink, representing those who partially identify as female. Grey represents those who partially identify as a non-binary gender. White represents genderfluidity.

Many alternate flags exist, many of them have no or unknown color meanings, though meaning can be assumed to be similar to the original flag.

There is also an intersex flag that is often incorrectly called a bigender flag. This is due to the creator claiming the flag was a bigender flag when originally posted, but later saying that the flag was actually intended to be an intersex flag.

The most common bigender symbol is a mix of female (Venus) symbol and male (Mars) symbol. The symbol is most commonly associated with bigender but it is also sometimes used to represent intersex or transgender. It can also be interpreted as representing heterosexuality. It is the botanical symbol for hermaphrodite.

An additional bigender flag was proposed by Tumblr user lestis on August 31st, 2019, with the following meanings expanded upon as written below:[1]

"red: feminine or fem-aligned identities. the original flag had pink, as it is largely used at baby showers and other cisnormative associations. however, i chose red to express this to acknowledge the alternative expression that many bigender people experience.
Red-orange: combination and fluidity. for multiple identifications of gender that may both change through time or that may coexist alongside each other.
Pear: ommunity and allyship. many bigender people identify as bigender but also identify with other genders independently. to many, the bigender term functions to express those other genders simultaneously, as well as clarifying that they both exist to other, without needing to pinpoint exactly what those genders are to them. in this way, the bigender community is defined by many (but not all) people as a means to combine other identities, so many members will also belong to other trans communities. such is the importance of community and allyship to other trans people and to each other. as repeated below, yellow is a common color in flags used to represent nonbinary communities, which reflects the community aspect as well.
white: nonbinary identities. i chose white to mimic the original bigender flag but also the overarching trans flag in its meaning. bigender people overlap with the nonbinary community due to the literal “non-binary” expression and identification of gender. it’s in the middle both like the other flags, but also because if the flag was folded in the middle, this is where it would have the overlap, expressing how nonbinary identities often overlap the identity as a whole, as well as being an overlap or spectrum between the feminine and masculine identities.
yellow-green: presentation. meant to highlight the diverse presentation of bigender people, both by clothing and pronouns used. yellow is a common color in flags used to represent nonbinary communities, and so the mix of that and the green that is associated with nature and growth, et cetera, makes the meaning presentation.
blue: masculine or masc-aligned identities. similar to the red of the feminine identities, i wanted to keep the placement and meaning, but changed it to a color that’s deeper to express the connection that many bigender people have that differs from cis identification to masculinity."[2]

Instagram user double_gender published their redesign on April 8, 2021. It was intended to keep the original flag's colors, but with a different order. The "rose of the winds" in the center was placed to represent "total freedom over which of these two genders you can live," and was designed to resemble a compass.[3]