Aprescigender is a term for individuals who want their body to be perceived as genderless or gender neutral unless specified otherwise, or don't want their body to be tied in with their gender in any way. Aprescigender individuals are not necessarily uncomfortable with their bodies, but they are uncomfortable with the assumptions others make about them. Often, they perceive their bodies as genderless, gender neutral, or otherwise unrelated to their gender, and therefore should not be used as an indicator for their gender.
Aprescigender individuals may have any gender identity, but do not want anyone to assume their gender based on their body or appearance, even if the assumption is correct. Apresci- may be combined with any gender label (examples: apresciboy, aprescigirl, aprescinonbinary).
Subgenders
Aprescifeminine
Aprescifeminine, or aprescifem, is an umbrella term for aprescigender individuals who are fingender, fiaspec, or are otherwise connected to femininity. Aprescifeminine individuals want to be referred to with gender neutral terms unless specified otherwise. Once specified, they may want to be referred to with feminine or woman-aligned terms.
Aprescimasculine
Aprescimasculine, or aprescimasc, is an umbrella term for aprescigender individuals who are mingender, miaspec, or are otherwise connected to masculinity. Aprescimasculine individuals want to be referred to with gender neutral terms unless specified otherwise. Once specified, they may want to be referred to with masculine or man-aligned terms.
History
Aprescigender was coined by reddit user bloomdust on April 5, 2021. It was coined in the comment section of a post on r/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns.[1]
The definition of the term was further developed privately.
Flags
The aprescigender, aprescifeminine, and aprescimasculine flags were all created on April 5, 2021. The large black stripe represents usage of gender neutral terms by default. The rainbow represents the gender spectrum, and the possible desire to be referred to in a gendered manner once specified. The warm colors were chosen for the aprescifeminine flag, as they are more commonly associated with femininity. The cool colors were chosen for the aprescimasculine flag, as they are more commonly associated with masculinity.
Etymology
Aprescigender is a combination of a meaning "without/not," pre meaning "before," sci meaning "know(ing)," and gender. Together, this means "not before knowing gender," referring to default gender neutrality until ones gender is specified and made known.
The pronunciation of this term is left up to interpretation, but possible pronunciations include:
- ay-pree-shuh-gender
- uh-pree-shuh-gender
- ay-pruh-see-gender
- uh-preh-sye-gender
- ah-preh-skih-gender