cactus talks: xenogenders

Instructions

hey! it's cactus (again) and I have another subject to present to you. the wonderful world of xenogenders. so, what is a xenogender? a xenogender is a gender outside of the gender binary that describes one's gender identity in a more "abstract" way than the typical male, female, both, neither. (yes, these are not all the combinations, I know and recognize that, but I'm not spending hours typing out genders.) xenogender is an umbrella term for all of these identities that describe how one feels about their own gender. yes, xenogender is a personal thing, like any other gender. for me, a xenogender is something that describes what other genders are unable to. as an example: example person: I'm a boy. okay. great. not a xenogender. example person: I'm a boy, but my gender feels playful like a dog. xenogender. (likely doggender or pupgender.) do xenogenders have to relate to animals? nope!! there are basically infinite xenogenders, some relate to foods, some to feelings, some to locations, some to plants, and some to something completely different! as someone who has done quite a bit of exploring xenogenders, I find that animal related genders tend to be the most common, though I have seen people whose gender feels like a fictional character. who can use xenogenders? well. this is a bit tricky, because xenogenders were originally created for neurodivergent people who experience gender in their own ways. (myself included) however, xenogenders are actually not limited to neurodivergent people. any being on earth could feel that their gender has the elegance of flowers, the feeling of a character or traits of an animal. anyone can use xenogenders if that's how they feel, and it's alright to identify with one for a little while and realize that you don't feel like that anymore. additionally, xenogenders can be used as a label with other genders. as in the example I shared above, the example person likely feels like a boy, but can /also/ identify as doggender. animal xenogenders. does that mean you feel like you are that animal? no. nope, no, no way. I have seen so many comments on Scratch xenogender studios from people being like "if you have dysphoria then you must feel like a cat (or other animal". if you feel catgender or another animal xenogender, you don't identify as that animal. instead, you feel your gender may resemble that animal or shares characteristics with it. however, identifying as an animal is a real thing, called therianthropy, which is too complex to explain here, though I will likely do so in a later project. therians are not insane or inhuman because of this, but that's not what we're talking about right now. cactus just tell us your gender you've been mysterious enough already!! >:( alright. geez. I personally identify as sonnegender, which I'm sure you've seen in my other projects. I have not explained it in depth, and it can vary from person to person. as with most xenogenders, sonnegender has multiple meanings. first off, sonne in German means sun. so, xenogender is when your gender relates to the sun? yes and no. sonnegender can mean your gender feels like a god/goddess of the sun, it could resemble characteristics of the sun, or your gender could fluctuate in intensity based off the sun. let's start with the first one. your gender might feel powerful and controlling like a god or goddess, but also light, like the sun. (this is not how I experience sonnegender, so I'm sorry if this is wrong to someone who experiences it this way!!) the second could mean your gender feels vast or extremely hot, or any other adjectives you might think of when someone says "sun". (once again, not how I experience sonnegender, my deepest apologies once more.) the last one is the one I identify as. I also identify as demiboyflux, an identity which your gender is closest to masculine at a demiboy, furthest at agender, and fluctuates. personally, sunrise, sunset and whenever the sun is not visible for extended periods of time (ex storms or night), I feel more like a demiboy, versus when the sun is visible and I feel agender. I know that all xenogenders are different, and I could've explained more, but that's on your own duty. google it if you're interested. quick reason for making this project: I saw recently (I will not say where to protect this person from hate comments, since no one really deserves a bunch of angry people attacking them because I, cactus, said so) someone who identified as wolfgender. I was like oh, cool, someone is putting themselves out there as xenogender! They went on to explain it as: it means I'm a wolf. it does not mean you're a wolf. that is not how this works. their pfp was also a cat holding a trans flag, but upon closer inspection, the flag had a red x through it, something I should've noticed earlier. anyways. hope you're more educated now! love and sparkles, -cactusshade