Genderfuck

Genderfuck
The genderfuck flag
Alternative name	Genderpunk
Classification	Gender expression Gender identity
Spectrums or Umbrellas	Gender non-conforming Transgender
Related terms
Different from	Genderqueer

Genderfuck can describe a gender identity and/or gender expression where gendered expectations are deliberately played with to combine gender-specific signals. The act of engaging in this identity or expression is sometimes referred to as genderfucking. Individuals who genderfuck are sometimes referred to as genderfucks or genderfuckers.

Genderfuck people are considered under the umbrella terms gender non-conforming and transgender, but not all identify with those terms. Some genderfuck people transition socially, physically, and/or legally. Individual drag performers may or may not additionally identify as genderfucks. In the 2020 Gender Census, 42 people described their identity as "genderfuck", 11 described their identity as "genderfucked", and 3 described their identity as "genderfucker".

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Etymology

The term Genderfuck appears as early as 1972. In 1974, it was explained when gay activist and artist Christopher Lonc used the term in a Gay Sunshine article he titled "Genderfuck and Its Delights". He wanted to encourage more men to wear drag. The term became closely associated with drag culture. Jesse Shiedlower cited a definition for gender fuck in Laud Humprey's 1972 research novel, Out of the Closets: Sociology of Homosexual Liberation. Jesse described the term as "a form of extended guerilla theatre".

The use of the term 'fuck' in genderfuck means to "rebel against" or "mess with". Thus it is a label for those who wish to mess with the traditional gender binary, usually by "mixing or bending one’s gender expression, identity, or presentation". It can also be seen as a way to combat or dismantle the gender binary via "a gender identity, expression, or presentation that challenges existing norms and expectations in a given cultural context".

The term "genderpunk" is sometimes used as an alternative term to genderfuck.

Community

History

Genderfuck is a form of identity politics that stems from the political movement in the 1950s and 1960s, when "the personal is political" became popular.

The term genderfuck is also used for the name of a party event held regularly on the Swarthmore College campus. Similar to the term it was named for, the event has a focus on students wearing gender-bending outfits. It was originally just the after-party for the college's Sager Symposium, which was focused on LGBTQ issues. The event start sometime after 1988, and by 1995 it "became an event featuring gender-bending themes much looked forward to by students". It continues to be held on campus since then, and is seen as "one of Swarthmore’s strangest, most exciting traditions".

Flag

The genderfuck flag was designed by an agender person named Jasper, who at the time was known as yo-ho-sebastian on Tumblr. Purple combines pink and blue, the traditional colors for girls and boys. Yellow represents the opposite of purple, including neither feminine nor masculine elements and completely rejecting and existing outside the gender binary. Purple and yellow complement each other to represent those whose identities combine both of these experiences. The skull represents the rebellious and gender non-conforming nature of this identity. This flag was designed as late as July 29, 2016.