What is the FLUID GENDER and how to know if I am

The new generations are more and more open and there are more and more names to identify all the existing realities. The world, like the genre, evolves and changes rapidly. What were believed to be natural truths are now nothing more than socially constructed options. Life is no longer black or white. Binaryism dies and in its place is born a universe of colors and possibilities that embrace diversity and authenticity. The fluid gender emerges. And in this Psychology-Online article we want to explain to you what is gender fluid and how to know if you identify with this option.

Index

1. What is gender fluid: meaning
2. What is gender fluid
3. How to know if I am gender fluid

The gender fluid or genderfluid it's a gender identity type non-binary whose people who identify with her are characterized by having different gender identities at different times. Most identify as men or as women at different times, but it can also happen that both sit at the same time, that they do not feel either, or that they make combinations. The common feature is the fluctuating character of this identity. In the following articles you will find

Gender fluid identity is by nature ambiguous and changeable, so trying to classify this identity becomes a problematic task since its individuals establish their own parameters of Identity: Not only can one fluid gender identity differ greatly from another, but it can also vary over time and circumstances.

Identifying with the fluid gender should not be automatically associated with sexual identity, that is, being gender fluid does not imply wanting a sex change. Nor should it be associated with sexual orientation: a person of fluid gender can feel comfortable with a sexuality heteronormative assigned to her apparent physical gender, regardless of how she perceives her psychological gender identity. For instance: An individual born anatomically male may have heterosexual tendencies, but psychologically identify as something other than male, including, but not necessarily, female

Fluid gender identity, although it may still appear to be emerging, is not new. Before, there were already people who felt this way, but they simply did not have any term to be able to name and identify how they felt. So if you couldn't name it, it didn't exist. And if you didn't hide it, they called you sick.

Today, although we have advanced a bit, we continue to live in a difficult world for those people who feel and are different. In the contemporary Western context, the world of gender-fluid people is not considered equal to the dominant heteronormative world and, therefore, the former is subjugated. Trans or gender fluid people encounter a multitude of negative and oppressive experiences as a result of the rigid gender constriction in which society is plunged and the subsequent marginalization that derives from this rigidity.

Trans or gender fluid people often face significant barriers to their well-being as a result of social belief that their mere existence is only for the purpose of challenging the dominant gender discourse of "man" or "woman". This people frequently experience acts of discrimination and they are exposed to multiple stressors for the simple fact of being the way they are. In the field of psychology, very little attention was given to the ways in which people trans or gender fluid moves through social and personal adversity, and in which they embody the resilience.

Being of one gender or another is not innate, so knowing what gender you belong to it depends on how you feel. Gender labels are nothing more than words to be able to name what we feel and to be able to identify with something. If reading the following characteristics you think you are comfortable adopting the gender fluid label, then you can say that you are:

• You don't quite identify with either genre. You don't feel comfortable with the gender you were assigned at birth, but you don't feel like you belong entirely to the other gender either.
• You feel like your gender identity is somewhat unstable. In some moments or periods of time you feel more masculine and in others more feminine.
• You identify with elements of both genders. There are aspects associated with masculinity that you feel define you, but in the same way you feel that there are aspects associated with femininity that also define you.
• You use gender pronouns interchangeably or you use gender-neutral pronouns. It doesn't bother you that people sometimes get confused with your pronouns or you even prefer that they use neutral pronouns to refer to you.
• Your look is not ascribed to any gender or it varies between the two. You like to wear clothes that are not associated with your gender but also with those that do, it depends on the moment and how you feel.

Remember, these labels are always indicative, never descriptive, and what you feel, like fluid gender, may change.

Here you will find the difference between fluid and non-binary gender.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to What is gender fluid and how to know if I am, we recommend that you enter our category of Social psychology.

• Jackson, M. (2011). Re-presenting gender fluid identity in a contemporary arts practice.
• Jaroszewski, S., Lottridge, D., Haimson, O. L., & Quehl, K. (2018, April). "Genderfluid" or "Attack Helicopter" Responsible HCI Research Practice with Non-binary Gender Variation in Online Communities. In Proceedings of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-15).
• Malaret, J. (2013). "Sticks and stones ...": A Qualitative Exploration of the Resilience Process of Transgender and Gender Fluid Persons: A Research Proposal. Alliant International University.