Stevonnie's Gender
We all know stevonnie is nonbinary and intersex. For those who don't know. We know this because of the dove self esteem project, stevonnie was talking about social media and their profile had this info.
Now a lot of people think the definition of Non-binary is "being neither male or female" which it is, but interpret that as meaning "lack of gender" or "being neither" which it doesn't. That's the definition of agender which means "to be gender ambiguous"
Binary is being related to, composed of, or involving two things. When referring to gender this means being male or female. Being non-binary means not falling within these two categories.
It's an umbrella term.
So being agender, bigender, apagender, genderfuild, ECT. All falls under being non-binary.
Of course just because your gender identity falls under that umbrella doesn't mean you have to identify as non-binary. The whole point of a gender identity is to figure out what you are, what makes you the most comfortable, a potential community and people to relate to all so you can avoid dysphoria.
Now this leads me to stevonnie. They are non-binary, so what gender do they fall under?
I thought they were bigender for a moment but their pronouns are they/them. If they were they would use she/him.
Steven and Connie are comfortable in their own gender so Stevonnie would be too but stevonnie is their own person and while they are Steven and Connie they also aren't. So they are a boy and girl but also neither making them agender...but they are a fusion meaning they are a blend/mix of girl and a boy making them androgyne.
Which is defined as "a person with a gender identity that blends masculine and feminine traits, exists between genders, or rejects traditional gender roles, often identified as a non-binary identity"
Now I thought I had my answer. This sums them up I thought
But...
That doesn't change the fact that the others still apply and could very well be them. So I kept looking.
I eventually found quadgender. Which is a person who identifies with four defined genders. (There is also trigender and quintgender and while I was tempted to find how high this counter goes I had to continue my research)
And...this works!
But for some reason it didn't feel right. They are so much more than this. At the end of the day it's less about what I think they are and more about what they think they are. Putting them into categories they may or may not be in or feel like their in, defeats the whole purpose of gender identity.
Rebecca sugars or stevonnie themselves would have said if they fell into anything of these categories. They just said that their non-binary and trying to say that their a girl and a boy or neither or a blend disrespects and goes against the purpose of the characters.
Which is to challenge the gender norms as an individual. If they were to fit neatly into a category and be able to be explained away in such a way that tries to define them too specifically it would defeat the purpose.
So I started looking for a more vague gender and I found pomogender!
Which "describes a gender identity where someone feels their gender doesn't fit into existing labels or categories"
I thought this was perfect! And it is! The ability to say "there isn't a word in existence/in the human lexicon to describe me!" Or "I exist beyond words" or "a being beyond your comprehension" in response to "what do you identify as" To be able to say "I'm me" then give them your pronouns is SO cool.
However...
I found another option!
Now this doesn't have a term yet (or probably ever) but people have described themselves as feeling this way. Only three people so far but I'm sure there are more out there. Technically it falls under pomogender.
It's the feeling of knowing you have a gender but don't feel any gender fits quite right. They are neither correct nor incorrect. The idea of having a gender outside of yourself is odd. You feel that your gender is self contained. Like it wouldn't make sense outside of the context of yourself. Having any gender identity slapped onto you makes your dysphoria flair.
Here is the main example I am using to define it:
Maybe when looking at a person you find it strange how they can have a gender outside themselves at all.
You find it easier and much more comfortable to say you are non-binary and leave it at that. If this sounds familiar you're probably whatever this is!
I think this is definitely an option for stevonnie as they are supposed to be self defined. The only person who can define them is themselves and they only exist inside of the context of themself.
In fact I think this is why a good portion of people feel so connected to them.
They define their gender and who they are and it's just accepted because no one can claim otherwise because they are something no one has seen before. Something the human language cannot fully describe. Any attempt to do so will leave you hungry.
They're name is stevonnie, they are intersex and non-binary, end of story.
A lot of people may unknowningly identify with this mystery "megender" and maybe that's why they feel so connected and seen. Or maybe they just like the idea of not having to explain, label, or justify their existence to anyone and just being allowed to exist as an individual without the expectations of their gender and/or social norms and roles bogging them down.
Stevonnie is peace, stevonnie is freedom, stevonnie is stevonnie, and your you.
Once you accept yourself and just allow yourself to live then you'll be as free and stevonnie levels of in love with your identity too. You don't have to love yourself so fully, that's a hard thing to do, but... Give yourself some grace and the next time you see stevonnie say "I'll love like you".
_
Fuck I'm hungry. We all deserve a snack break after reading this.
