Catgender
A xenogender in which someone's sense of gender is closely bound up with cats.
Catgender is a [[xenogender|xenogender]]: a gender described through something other than man, woman, masculine or feminine. For a catgender person, the closest description of their gender is feline. It feels cat-like, or deeply connected to cats, in a way the usual vocabulary does not reach.
It does not mean believing you are literally a cat. Xenogenders work through comparison: my gender is like this, shares something with this. It is the same move people make when they call a voice warm. Nor is it sexual. A widely shared guide to the term, written by its self-described coiner, answers that question with a flat no.
It is also not the same as identifying as nonhuman. The wikis that catalogue these words keep genders tied to a nonhuman identity under separate names, and catgender, as usually defined, does not require one.
It is closely associated with autistic people. One widely used definition was written with autistic and other neurodivergent people in mind, and the guide above describes xenogenders as a way autistic people often put their relationship to gender into words. Anyone may use it. Who coined it first is disputed: an early use has been claimed but not traced, and the flags date from 2019 onward.
It is often mocked, and it has been tangled up in false stories. From January 2022 a claim spread that schools were putting out litter boxes for pupils who identify as cats. PolitiFact found no evidence for it in any school and quoted experts calling it transphobic. Nothing in that story describes what catgender means.
If someone tells you they are catgender, you do not need to understand it from the inside. Use their pronouns and carry on.
Catgender is not a claim to be a cat
The joke version assumes a catgender person thinks they are an animal. The word describes a gender, with a cat as the nearest comparison, because man and woman have nothing useful to offer for that particular experience.
It is also not a punchline about trans people in general, though it is often used as one. The people who use it are describing themselves, and the mockery tells you more about the mocking than about them.
Saying it well
Say this
- I am catgender.
- Catgender, under the xenogender umbrella.
- The nearest word for my gender is feline.
- You do not have to get it. Just use my pronouns.
Not this
- So you think you are a cat
- Do you need a litter box?
- This is why nobody takes nonbinary people seriously
- Treating it as proof the whole vocabulary is a joke
Questions people actually ask
What does catgender mean?
A xenogender in which a person's gender feels feline or is closely connected to cats, described through that comparison rather than through man or woman.
Does catgender mean you think you are a cat?
No. It describes a gender through a comparison, the way xenogenders do. It is not a belief about being an animal.
Is catgender a sexual thing?
No. The term is about gender, and people who use it have said so directly.
Is catgender the same as being a therian or otherkin?
No. Identifying as nonhuman is a separate thing, with separate words for the genders connected to it.
Did schools really provide litter boxes for students who identify as cats?
No. PolitiFact investigated the claim repeatedly from 2022 and found no evidence that any school did.