Neutral or gender neutral refers to the act of having or showing qualities that are not associated with masculinity or femininity, or anything in between- a set of behaviors, presentations, and roles which were/are not strongly culturally associated with being a male, nor a female. Neutral can be used to describe one's gender, one's gender presentation, or both.
As a description of gender, neutral typically refers to genders that are not male or masculine, not female or feminine, and are not anything in between or derived from these. It is often used interchangeably with unaligned or abinary. It is sometimes used interchangeably with epicene. Genders that are associated with neutrality include: neutrois, stellarian, and agender, among others. Neutral is sometimes also interpreted as a gender quality in which masculinity, femininity, positivity, negativity, and all other genders qualities balance each other out or neutralize each other.
As a gender presentation, neutral describes a presentation that is not strongly indicative of men or women. It typically involves displaying traits that can commonly be found in men and women, and therefore does not strongly indicate either gender. The exact qualities associated with neutrality are different based on the culture and time period. Qualities that are typically associated with neutrality in western society include:
- A gender expression which includes wearing clothes that can be worn by any gender.
- A gender expression which includes using they/them pronouns or possibly neopronouns.
Not all individuals with neutral genders will present in a gender neutral way, and not all individuals who present as gender neutral have a neutral gender. individuals of any gender or sexual orientation can present as gender neutral. individuals who have a neutral gender or neutral gender presentation may be called transneutral.
Neutral is often confused with androgynous due to the terms being used interchangeably in society. However, in some cases it is useful to distinguish between the two. Neutral is a term describing something that is not strongly masculine nor strongly feminine, whereas androgynous describes something that is both masculine and feminine at the same time.
In addition to being a description of gender and presentation, "gender neutral" is often used as an adjective to mean "without regard to gender" or "inclusive of any gender". For example "Alex is a gender neutral name" or "We have a gender neutral restroom". The term "unisex" is also used in this regard.
Flag
The primary gender neutral flag was created by DeviantArt user enbygsrd on or before August 16, 2016.[1][2] The color meaning is unknown but green is likely used as it is very commonly associated with neutrois and other neutral genders. Yellow is likely used because it is commonly associated with non-binary genders, particularly abinary genders.
The second flag was created on December 22, 2020 by Tumblr user imoga-pride. This flag is based on the feminine and masculine flags.[3]
The third neutral flag was designed by an unknown user on or before August 16, 2016.[4] Yellow is likely used to represent non-binary genders, and purple represents a mix of femininity and masculinity, another common non-binary color.
Another alternate flag was created by Wikia FANDOM user kirbirb on January 7, 2021.[5] The flag's color meaning is currently unknown.