Altersex

Altersex or alteradic is a term that can either mean "having or desiring sex traits that deviate from what would be considered the sex characteristics of a müllerian or wolffian individual, while also not having those particular divergent sex characteristics from birth", or "a somatic sex category modified or altered from müllerian, wolffian, or intersex traits".

The altersex flag

Intersex individuals can also be altersex. Intersexness is not inherently altersex, as intersex sex characteristics are present from birth, rather than being modified or changed later, or wanting variant sex characteristics that do not match their current sex characteristics.

Altersex was originally intended to be used mostly for fictional characters to describe body plans that are not found naturally in humans (phantasex), but are not considered intersex within the fiction.

Alternate altersex flag with symbol.

The altersex symbol.

Altersex does not imply any specific sex characteristics, just as intersex does not. This allows for privacy of the altersex individual and avoids reducing individuals to their genitalia. It is neutral descriptor for any individual who is not protosex. Some altersex individuals/characters may resemble the binary sexes to some degree but have complex hormonal or gonadal differences.

Examples

Examples of real life individuals who may identify as altersex include:

• Individuals who have medically changed their sex characteristics (through HRT or surgery). Making it so their combination of chromosomes, primary, and secondary sex characteristics no longer strictly fits the definition of binary. Someone who has this experience might also consider themself to be transsex.
• Individuals who have the physical desire to have ambiguous sex characteristics or a mix of sex characteristics. Terms relating to this experience are salmacian, afabris, amabris, AMAB-V, AFAB-P, and sinealt, among others.
• Individuals desiring little to no sex characteristics, or missing sex characteristics. Terms to describe this include angenital and angonadal.
• Individuals desiring sex characteristics that are not naturally possible in humans or animals. Terms to describe this include xenogenital, floragenital, astrogenital, cyberex, machinex, and morphisex.
• Individuals desiring sex characteristics that are animalistic in nature. The specific term for this is faunagenital.
• Individuals who desire gonads and/or reproductive traits that are different than what they were born with or currently have, and may or may not be biologically possible. A term to describe this is diffprodu.

Fictional Altersex Forms

Altersex can also be used to describe fictional characters. Characters who may be described as altersex include:

• Characters who fit criteria stated in the "real individuals" section.
• Characters born with a combination or mix of sex characteristics that would be considered intersex in the real world but are not in the world of the fiction.
• Characters who have sex characteristics or a combination of sex characteristics that are not naturally possible in (real life) humans (That is not considered a variation of intersex in the fiction).
• Characters who have a sex based on/inspired by a real life animal that does not fit the male/female sex binary (that is considered normal for their species within the fiction).
• Characters of a fictional/impossible/alien sex that does not fit the male/female sex binary (that is considered normal for their species within the fiction).
• Characters who can change their sex through shape-shifting or other fictional means.

History

The term altersex was coined by Farorenightclaw on or before July 23, 2015. The term was coined to address the usage of intersexist slurs when describing individuals and characters who are not intersex, but are not strictly endosex either. The term was used to stop intersexism and transphobia surrounding the bodies of fictional characters and real people, and was later described as a sex category of somatic nature by altersex people. The altersex symbol was created by Intelligent-Ad6222 on November 16, 2022.

Flag

The flag was designed by Pastelmemer on May 29, 2017. The color meanings are as follows:

Mint green is commonly associated with specific altersex identities, like angenital and salmacian. Green also represents abundance and growth: abundance of possible body types, and growth for individuals who physically transition to "grow" into their true bodies. Blue represents fluidity, for bodies that have fluid sex characteristics. White represents transcendence, as well as bodies with no sex characteristics. Purple represents the alternative, non-traditional nature of altersex bodies. Reddish pink represents sex characteristics.