Epigender
A gender, or the absence of one, that sits above the whole gender spectrum rather than anywhere on it.
- One of twenty-seven Xenogender identities
- Verified flag
- 3 min read
A shorter entry: the essentials, written to the same standard. The fuller guides are on the main identities.
What it is
Epigender is described on its record as a gender, or lack of one, that is above the gender spectrum. The prefix is Greek epi-, over or above. Not at one end, not in the middle, not off the edge, but over the top of the whole arrangement, looking down at it, unattached.
Two things come bundled in. First, detachment: the spectrum is something other people are on. Second, for some users, a feeling of being non-human. The record links the word to beings it calls transcendent, and lists seraphim, cherubim, incubi and succubi. This is where epigender overlaps with kin identities more than with most gender words.
Provenance, plainly. The wiki records two coinings: first by Tumblr user arco-pluris in August 2018, as an alternative to non-binary and a counterpart to exorgender; then a recoining by another Tumblr user in November 2020, who also made the flag, which has no confirmed meaning. There is no community, no writing and no history beyond that. What it is not: it is not agender, which is absence within the frame, and it is not aliagender, which is other, beside the frame. Epigender is above it.
Pronouns
No set attached. It/its and neopronouns are common among people whose gender feels non-human; they/them is the usual public answer. Nothing here is implied by the word.
Does this sound like you?
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Twenty questions, about four minutes, nothing leaves your phone. It suggests. You decide.
Nearby identities
The distinction is the useful part.
Other, standing beside the usual categories and defined against them. Epigender does not stand beside; it stands above. If you feel outside, look there; if you feel over, you are here.
Compare Epigender and Aliagender →No gender, inside the ordinary frame. An agender person still answers the question; they answer none. Epigender treats the question as being asked on a different floor.
Compare Epigender and Agender →Gender tied to a non-human identity. If the non-human part is the centre and gender follows from it, kingender is the more accurate word, and its community is larger.
Compare Epigender and Kingender →It might not be you if…
- What you feel is nothing where gender should be. Agender and gendervoid are older, clearer words for that.
- You are non-human first and the gender part is a consequence. That is kin language, and kingender or the otherkin community will serve you better.
- You mean above as in better than. The word describes position, not rank, and using it the other way will end badly.
- You want a word that sounds mysterious. This one does. That is not a fit.
Questions people ask
Is epigender a real term?
It exists on the community wiki with two documented coinings, in 2018 and 2020, and almost nothing else. No survey, no history, no writing to speak of. Real as a description; thin as a movement.
Is it the same as agender?
No. Agender is absence inside the ordinary frame. Epigender claims to be above the frame altogether, and often carries a non-human feeling that agender does not.
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