Gender Identity Classification (In Progress)

This is a currently-in-progress system for helping people to find their own gender identities. Note that I have never studied this professionally, and am doing this for my own personal enjoyment, and because I feel that the "systems" in place now are decades behind. I do one day hope to study them properly. If I do, I'll probably write my thesis on this subject, after much more research. Note that, because of the experience-based methods I've used to form these theories, that they're still quite rough. I always, ALWAYS welcome critique and discussion. Much love, everyone, and I very much hope that this is both informative, and interesting to read, though it is a bit long.


Physical Sex:

This is one's biological sex, or birth sex. This is what your genes and your genitalia, at birth, signify your gender to be. This can be Male, Female, or one of many types of intersex (having genitalia or genes that do not match one gender or the other).

Identity:

So far, I have identified four "primary" identites, though there are almost infinite other possible self-applied labels. The four identities I am going to specifically discuss are "Cisgender", "Transgender", "Androgyne", and "Bigender".

How these are classified: Identity is a personal subject, as it's primarily based on how we see ourselves. Thus, I realise that not all people will fit comfortably into four categories, and that some may choose to not be categorized at all. However, I hope that these categories provide a good starting point for those people wondering what terminology may describe them. Gender is something described by how many aspects of you compare with your physical sex. Much of how we perceive our genders is based on our cultures' views of what a man and a woman embody. Another aspect of our gender identity comes from body image: When we look in the mirror, do we want to see a man or a woman there? Because no one person fits completely into what basically amounts to cultural stereotypes, every person embodies a unique balance of male and female traits. If we think of the masculine and feminine as "entities" (almost as personalities) within us--I like to use Jung's terminology of the "Anima" for feminine and "Animus" for masculine--we can define four "primary" identities based on how dominant each of these entities is within us. I define these as the entities' being "Alpha" for dominant, or "Beta" for submissive. The relationships of the Anima and Animus to the physical sex is more difficult to place for an intersexed person, so I mainly talk of physical males and females here. However, the general feeling of dominance or submissiveness in regards to Anima and Animus still applies. (The problem here arises specifically when looking at Cisgender and Transgender. In this regard, intersexed would be its own category, with identity as masculine, feminine, or a mix of the two.)

--Cisgender: Cisgender is when the physical sex and the gender identity match. In a physical male, there would be an Alpha Animus, and a Beta Anima, or a dominant male and submissive female. In a physical female, it is just the opposite, with an Alpha Anima and Beta Animus.
--Transgender: A transgender person is the polar opposite of a cisgender one. In a transgendered person, the identity is the opposite of the physical sex. A physical male would have an Alpha Anima and Beta Animus. Opposite for the physical female.
----------Note: In both the Cisgender and Transgender person, the Alpha entity determines the overall identified gender in the person, while the Beta entity may only control certain traits, such as certain behaviours, appearances, etc. For example, a transvestite (one who dresses in clothing of the opposite sex) who still identifies as his or her physical sex would still be a cisgender person, but the Beta entity controls an aspect of appearance.
--Androgyne: An Androgyne is one who has a gender identity that does not strictly lean one gender or the other, but remains neutral, or androgynous. An Androgyne of either sex would have a Beta of both the Anima and Animus. There is a general lack of inner conflict or preference for either gender, and the person may prefer to retain an androgynous appearance. He and/or she may be moderately to highly amused by being mistaken for the opposite gender ("Genderfuck"), or may simply not care for labels. Androgynes may consider themselves a third gender. In this definition, the main deciding factor for an androgyne is a lack of preference for either gender. The experience of an androgyne may be one of acceptance of both genders, one of frustration at gender identity labels as a whole, or possibly a feeling of "emptiness" or "missing something" as he and/or she doesn't fit the stereotypes of either gender.
--Bigender: A bigender person, in opposition to the Androgyne, has an Alpha of both the Anima and Animus. Where the Androgyne lacks a preference, the Bigender feels a conflict. Essentially, two very dominant "personalities" (Some bigendered people are described as embodying a sense of "healthy multiplicity", or literally embodying both a male and female persona in one body) are fighting for the same space. Where the Androgyne sits fairly comfortably on the neutral line, the Bigender shifts. Because of the general feeling of a conflict between the two dominant sides, there's often an experience of the bigender person frequently leaning toward the opposite identity of his and/or her physical sex and experiencing episodes similar to that of a transgendered person. This is caused by the fact that the body is only one sex, and so the matching gender is "winning the battle". The bigender person likely experiences "episodes" or periods of time that he and/or she is similar to cisgender, transgender, and androgyne at different stages in life, often dependant on moods or circumstances. Because of the frequent tendency for bigender people to "lean transgendered" more than "leaning cisgendered", Bigender is currently considered a subset of transgender.
----------Note: A few other terms that you may hear are "Genderqueer", "Gender-fluid", "Pangender", "Third Gender", or "Genderless", among many others. Each of these things has it's own meaning to the person embodying it, and the definitions for each may change person-by-person.

Sub-Categories Within Identity:

The above diagram is a chart I put together to illustrate, as best I can, the spectrum of how my personal gender identity is expressed. This chart is very much a prototype, and though it could technically be applied to anyone, I'm still working out the kinks of how each individual would be placed into the chart. Any people who are curious for how the diagram would look for other people, or who would like me to make diagrams for them, just ask. Since I haven't developed any specific questionnaires or systems as of yet for defining each person, we would have to discuss for a while about your personal feelings about each category for me to make sample diagrams. Each person I talk to helps me to refine the chart further, and helps me to identify the questions that need to be asked.

How to read the chart: The Gender Identity Spectrum Diagram (hereon GISD) takes a person's physical sex and personal gender identity, and further breaks it down into personal identity, behaviour, and appearance. Under each of the three categories, there is a colored bar denoting both the amount of shift the person experiences, and the frequency of each level in the shift. The larger the bar, the more of a shift the person experiences. In my case, I am bigendered, and thus my bars are rather large, as I can shift very dramatically from masculine to feminine. The colours (I used rainbows simply due to personal preference) denote how frequently I lie in each place on the spectrum, red being most frequent, flowing out to purple, which is very infrequently. Below, I've taken each category and explained it further.

--Identity: The Identity category denotes what gender I "feel" most of the time. This can affect the other categories, and judges how I feel and want to be perceived by the people around me. Note that my red section is toward neutral, leaning masculine. This shows that I am normally leaning male and that I usually think of myself as male, though it isn't so strong as to be disruptive in my daily life. The range of the colours shows that I have a tendency to lean farther masculine more often than I lean far feminine.
--Behaviour: This is mostly determined by societal views on how a man or a woman "should" behave, and would be judged under different circumstances for people of different cultural backgrounds, though there seem to be certain behaviours that are judged by hormones, genetics, and evolutionary instinct. The diagram shows that I actually behave in more of a masculine fashion even than I "feel", and that even feeling my most feminine, my behaviour may be more masculine. In my culture, that stereotypically denotes a directness, a lack of modesty (haha), often less refinement, etc. I once best described this trend as "God, I'm SUCH a guy with boobs." XD
--Appearance: This actually may surprise a few people. While many bigendered or transgendered people prefer to look very much like the opposite sex, my personal preference for feminine-looking men shows itself in how my appearance manifests. Though my behaviour is primarily masculine, my appearance is most generally neutral, but leaning toward male, while still retaining hints of femininity.

So, there you have it. This is an introduction. Here's a sample GISD for what an Androgyne may be feeling. See if you can read it. Feel free to discuss anything in this entry. :D