bigenderism

English

Etymology 1

From bi- +‎ genderism; modelled on heterosexism. Coined in 2003.

Noun

bigenderism (uncountable)

1. The theory that society enforces a strict male-female gender binary, privileges masculinity and maleness over femininity and femaleness, and (when the theory is strictly construed) limits gender to a direct correspondence with assigned sex at birth.

   Understanding bigenderism may offer insight into the specific challenges faced by nonbinary people.

   • 2003, Miqqi Alicia Gilbert, “Bigenderism”, in Transgender Tapestry‎^[1], volume 102, retrieved September 23, 2020, page 16:

     Bigenderism is a plague that specifically punishes gender-diverse people, but its negative effects go way beyond that. Bigenderism is a cross many children have to bear, and many don’t bear it easily. Living up to the expectations of bigenderist ideals requires a great deal of effort on the parts of young people who quake at the idea of being labeled sissy if a boy or being ostracized if a girl.

   • 2009, Miqqi Alicia Gilbert, “Defeating Bigenderism: Changing Gender Assumptions in the Twenty‐first Century”, in Hypatia, volume 24, number 3, →DOI, page 93:

     Bigenderism maintains there are only two genders, which correspond with the two sexes, male and female. Basic bigenderism requires that legal documents and public institutions designate a single invariant gender (that is, sex). Strict bigenderism applies these categories in a social context that stigmatizes "imperfect" men and women who do not reach ideals set by the bigenderist schema.

   • 2020, Joel Rudin, Tejinder Billing, Andrea Farro, Yang Yang, “Bigenderism at work? Organizational responses to trans men and trans women employees”, in Organization Management Journal, volume 17, number 2, →DOI, page 75:

     Our study casts some doubts about the existence of a moderating effect of gender transition on transphobia, it raises some issues about bigenderism as an explanatory factor for any such effect and it implies that transphobia is situational.

Etymology 2

From bigender +‎ -ism.

Noun

bigenderism (uncountable)

1. The state of being bigender; the state of having two (or multiple) genders simultaneously.

   I find that bigenderism best describes my gender identity and pansexuality is a good descriptor for my sexual orientation.

   • 2012, Laura K. Case, Vilayanur S.Ramachandran, “Alternating gender incongruity: A new neuropsychiatric syndrome providing insight into the dynamic plasticity of brain-sex”, in Medical Hypotheses, volume 78, number 5, →DOI, pages 626–627:

     To our knowledge, however, no scientific literature has attempted to explain or even describe bigenderism [...] This may be due to the low prevalence of bigenderism and relatively recent adoption of the term by bigender individuals.

   • 2015, Mark J. Blechner, “Bigenderism and Bisexuality”, in Contemporary Psychoanalysis, volume 51, number 3, →DOI, page 503:

     The term "bigender" is proposed to describe people who combine male and female gender identities. Bigenderism is to be distinguished from "bisexuality" whose meaning would be limited to sexual attraction to both sexes.

   • 2016, Pere Estupinyà, S=EX²: The Science of Sex, Copernicus, →DOI, →ISBN, page 292:

     A little further on we will talk a bit about little-known bigenderism and the people who alternate cycles of male and female identity, but first we should reflect—especially as we begin this chapter—on the meaning of the word "normal."

Anagrams

• misbreeding