Genderfae
Fluid across genders, but never toward masculinity.
Genderfae describes someone whose gender moves, like genderfluid, but never lands on anything masculine. The movement happens across feminine, neutral and unaligned genders, with the masculine part of the range simply not in play.
It is the counterpart of genderfaun, fluid in the same way but never toward femininity. The two were coined together and are explained as a pair.
As with genderfaun, the change is not a decision and does not announce itself. What the word adds to genderfluid is the range: it says which direction the movement does not go, which saves the assumption that it goes everywhere.
Both words came out of Tumblr's gender vocabulary in the mid-2010s, which is occasionally used against them. Nearly every word here was coined by someone somewhere, and being recent is not a defect.
Genderfae is not a smaller version of genderfluid
Genderfluid describes movement and says nothing about the range. Genderfae adds the range, and for the person using it that addition is the whole point.
Being told your gender moves invites the assumption that it moves everywhere. For genderfae people that assumption is wrong in one specific and repeated direction.
Saying it well
Say this
- I am genderfae.
- My gender moves, but never toward masculine.
- Genderfae, so some days feminine and some days nothing.
- Genderfae and genderfaun are a pair.
Not this
- So you are just genderfluid
- So you are secretly a woman
- That is a made-up word
- Make your mind up
Questions people actually ask
What does genderfae mean?
Having a gender that moves between feminine, neutral and unaligned, but never toward masculine.
What is the difference between genderfae and genderfaun?
Direction. Genderfae never moves toward masculine, genderfaun never toward feminine.
Is genderfae a type of genderfluid?
Yes, with the range specified. Genderfluid alone does not say which genders are in play.
Where does the word come from?
From Tumblr's gender vocabulary in the mid-2010s, coined alongside genderfaun.