#wiccegender

[lefayfolkwitch]

As I’ve mentioned before I’m demigender, more specifically demifemme

(femme as in the predominantly lesbian gender identity associated with queered femininity by the way, not as in the French word in its traditional usage and also not necessarily in the context of butch/fem. Apologies for going on a long side tangent, but yes it was originally spelt butch/“fem”, not femme. It changed around the 90s and lesbian activists who were a part of the original counterculture did not care for the change and purposely continued to use “fem”. The French word femme is not exclusive to butch/fem when used in a queer context, it’s also used as a predominantly lesbian gender identity, used to express queered femininity, and way before it was ever used in the lesbian community it was used in ballroom culture. I’m sick of people using ahistorical references to justify gatekeeping the word femme as a lesbian exclusive label inherently tied to the butch/fem counterculture. It’s also ironic that I see these fems proclaim their whole identity surrounds protecting butches and yet they only seem to get defensive over femme being used as a gender identity and not butch. There’s nothing wrong with using either as a gender identity, both have been used as predominantly lesbian gender identities for decades, I just find it ironic their predominantly only getting upset over the word femme and not butch. Anyhow when I’m talking about being demifemme I mean femme as in the gender identity, not just woman in French lol.)

With that aside, I know I’ve talked about this before, but I find it so frustrating people, like especially other queer people, assume that demigender people who are in closer proximity to their agab on some level identify with their agab. I usually avoid explicitly talking about my agab, but I’m going to, to make a point. I (was) cafab, it’s something that unconsensually happened to me and I hate it. I’m not an afab, I’m not an afab nonbinary person, I’m not a female. Femme wasn’t my agab, I don’t identify as my agab, that’s what makes someone transgender. I’m tired of being perceived as a cis woman with extra steps by people in my own community. You don’t need dysphoria to be trans and you don’t need to medically transition to be trans, but I literally have dysphoria and was on HRT. Sometimes it feels like people think, well it’s not that big of a deal if I fuck up Fawn’s pronouns because she’s, I mean its just kind of trans and it doesn’t bother her, I mean it, that much. I know I’ve gotten kind of blasé about it after 10 years and acknowledge I just need to accept that I’m going to be misgendered constantly by strangers, but by other trans people who literally know me is extremely frustrating. Like, don’t get me wrong I fully acknowledge that trans people who are in closer proximity to our agab are privileged systemically speaking and that’s incredibly important for us to recognize. That being said I’m not cis, I’m nonbinary, and it would actually be really great if people in my community didn’t kinda see me as cis and didn’t frequently misgender me. I understand I have a nuanced relationship with womanhood and femininity as a nonbinary person, but that’s why I literally coined a xenogender/noungender called wiccegender to help describe an aspect of my identity in a more nonbinary way. I get I sit in a confusing pit where I’m not a woman, but I’m also not exactly not a woman and that’s confusing. What I know for a fact, though is that I’m not an afab, I’m not a female, I’ve known that since before I even knew nonbinary people existed. Also, if other tme nonbinary people try to use my post as a justification for why they choose to identify as a trans woman I will not put up with that transmisogyny bullshit and will call you out for it. I understand you’re quite possibly trying to express a really nuanced experience, but the way of doing that isn't by appropriating the terminology of tma trans people. You’re not a trans woman if you’re not transitioning into femininity, femininity is expected of us, even if we’re queering our femininity and expressing it in a non-heteronormative, non-patriarchal way we’re still in closer proximity to our agab and that comes with privilege. Trans women and all tma trans people have a very unique experience under patriarchy, and we do not have that experience as tme people.

[lefayfolkwitch]

I'm 23 and originally figured out that I'm nonbinary in 2015 when I was, like 13, and then officially came out when I was 14 in 2016. I've been out as trans for almost 9 years, and the cultural acceptance of nonbinary people where I live and online has changed a lot. In 2015/2016, when I first came out, I'd get shit on both IRL and online. It was just a joke to almost anyone I tried to talk to about it. Since I first started identifying as bigender in 2015, my access to information and the cultural acceptance around nonbinary people has changed so fucking much. I only originally identified as bigender because that's all I knew, I didn't even know the terminology nonbinary yet. I think I even learned the terminology agender before nonbinary. Anyhow, we live in a patriarchal binary society and I've always felt a lot of pressure to just identify as a man or at least in some way identify with the male binary.

Disclaimer: Obviously, I'm not saying this is the experience of most trans men / transmasculine people, but I do know a fair few nonbinary people have gone through this as well. I've tried to identify as a man in some way at least three or four times and was on testosterone for 9 months. I don't regret going on hrt. That being said, I wouldn't say that transmasculinity is my transition goal or that I ever actually identified as a man. As I've mentioned before, I've never liked calling myself or being called a man. I'm nonbinary, but also to some capacity identify with womenhood, and one of my biggest concerns is being labeled a detransitioner. I'm definitely not detransitioning. I'm definitely not cis. I would be incredibly fucking uncomfortable, unhappy and dysphoric being forced to detransition and percent as my cagab. Even as a nonbinary person who identifies in closer proximity to my cagab, I'm very particular about gendered language associated with my cagab, I'm xenogender and write zines about my xenogender identities, I'm very very active in my local trans community, but somehow people are still going to see me as a detransitioner. It's a huge insecurity of mine, especially because I know that me being seen as a detransitioner will theoretically be weaponized against other trans people, too. ( I'm going through my drafts, and I found this from September )

[lefayfolkwitch]

I'm finally coining a xenogender. I'm witchgender and even wrote a zine about being witchgender. That being said, I define witchgender a little differently for myself than how the original coiner described it. I think that's completely fine, but I've always been interested in creating a xenogender because I think xenogenders are really cool. I guess you could say wiccegender falls under the witchgender umbrella. Anyhow, this is what I've got so far. I haven't created a flag yet, but probably will within the next couple of days. Let's please not take this too seriously. For me, xenogenders are all about imagination and expressing your identity.

Wiccegender

(pronounced witch-eh gender)

Wiccegender is a noungender that encapsulates a gender identity with a significant connection to identifying as a witch, practicing witchcraft, and concepts like the witch archetype within literature and pop culture while also simultaneously encapsulating a gender identity with a significant connection to concepts like womenhood or femmeness. You don't have to blanketly identify as a woman to identify as wiccegender, though. A wiccegender person may identify with womenhood but not explicitly call themselves a woman or may not identify as a woman or with womanhood, but does identify as a femme and with femmeness. A wiccegender person may also feel that being a lesbian or sapphic is a significant part of their gender identity. A significant part of wiccegender is recognizing how the patriarchy has used the word witch and the witch archetype as a weapon and reclaiming that. Wiccegender doesn't exclude people who express themselves/dress in a way that's stereotypically masculine, but as an identity does decenter men and manhood. Wicce is actually the Old English term for a woman who practiced magic. Though to re-clarify, you don't need to in any way identify as a woman to identify as wiccegender. For me, a big appeal of xenogenders is reconstructing gender identity in a way that decenters the language of the gender binary.

As per usual, constructive criticism is welcomed.

[lefayfolkwitch]

Wiccegender Flag!

Wiccegender

(pronounced witch-eh gender)

Wiccegender is a noungender that encapsulates a gender identity with a significant connection to identifying as a witch, practicing witchcraft, and concepts like the witch archetype within literature and pop culture while also simultaneously encapsulating a gender identity with a significant connection to concepts like womenhood or femmeness. You don't have to blanketly identify as a woman to identify as wiccegender, though. A wiccegender person may identify with womenhood but not explicitly call themselves a woman or may not identify as a woman or with womanhood, but does identify as a femme and with femmeness. A wiccegender person may also feel that being a lesbian or sapphic is a significant part of their gender identity. A significant part of wiccegender is recognizing how the patriarchy has used the word witch and the witch archetype as a weapon and reclaiming that. Wiccegender doesn't exclude people who express themselves/dress in a way that's stereotypically masculine, but as an identity does decenter men and manhood. Wicce is actually the Old English term for a woman who practiced magic. Though to re-clarify, you don't need to in any way identify as a woman to identify as wiccegender. For me, a big appeal of xenogenders is reconstructing gender identity in a way that decenters the language of the gender binary.