Variant describes a person who does not fall into the expected cultural ideals or roles for gender, sex, gender expression, orientation, relationships, and other related forms of self-identification. It involves not being accepted as a member of conformant society due to one’s identity differing from the one assigned to and/or expected of them. The opposite of variant is conformant. People can be variant in some areas and conformant in other areas. To specify certain subcommunities, terms like gender variant, attractional variant, relational variant, etc. can be used.
Forms of Variance
Attractional Variance
- Varioriented: When one's sexual orientation and romantic orientation do not match.
- Amplusic: An orientation that is not strict or constant (is flux, flexible, or abro).
- Asexual spectrum: Not regularly feeling sexual attraction.
- Aromantic spectrum: Not regularly feeling romantic attraction.
- Ultramoric: Non-heterosexual attraction.
- Multisexual/Pluralian: Attracted to multiple genders.
Relationship Variance
- Nonamorous: Not desiring a close partnership.
- Polyamorous/Non-monogomous: Open to relationships with more than one person at once.
Gender Variance
- Cisn’t: Not being cis.
- Transgender: Not identifying with one's assigned gender at birth.
- Amplusian: A gender that is not strict or constant (fluid, flux, or in a grey area between identities).
- Non-binary: Not identifying as a man or woman.
- Abinary: Not identifying as a gender related to masculinity or femininity.
- Atrinary: Not identifying as a gender related to masculinity, femininity, or neutrality.
- Xenogender:Having a gender best described by its relation to ideas or concepts.
Presentation Variance
- Gender non-conforming: Not presenting in a way typical of one's gender.
- Pronoun non-conformity: Using non-typical pronoun usage.
- Transvestic: Wearing clothes that are not typical of one's sex and/or gender in one's culture.
Sex Variance
- Intersex: Being born with sex characteristics outside of male or female.
- Altersex: Having or desiring sex characteristics outside of male or female, while not being intersex.
- Varsex: Any sex variance, includes intersex and altersex.
- Transsex: Someone who has medically changed their sex characteristics, or wishes to do so.
Flag
The variant flag was created by Tumblr use variant-archive on January 14, 2019.[1] The was chosen shape to evoke queer chevrons and the letter V for variant. The flag color are meant to represent certain variant sub-communities. Colors were chosen based on the colors used in pride flags and symbols associated with certain identities.
Lilac represents all of the variant community and inclusionism. Lilac is the color representing variance, and is a common color in many pride flags.
Purple represents ace-spectrum, amplusian, pluralian, strayt, bicurious, varioriented, wlw, queer, genderqueer, androgyne, genderfluid, kingender, genderfuck, gender creative, transexpressive, gender nonconforming, pronoun nonconforming, cross-aligned, altersex, and transsex.
Blue represents gay (all forms of gay), gai, lesbian, enbian, alterous, aplatonic, fluitic, objectum, non-monogamous, multigender, and (responsible/consensual) kinky-identified variants, as well as other variants with variant relationship orientations/preferences.
Yellow represents ultric, nblnb, pulsaric, queerplatonic, abinary, neutral genders, pangender, aporagender, maverique, xingender/xenogender, aesthetigender, isogender, and intersex.
Green represents mlm, medusan, abrosexual, aro-spectrum, oriented aroace, agorarelational (open relationship), agender, neutrois, orientationgender, aliagender, antigender, neurogender, and angenital.
Black represents a-spec, anattractional, omniasexual, ARCsexual, nonpronominal, unaligned, nonamorous, gendervoid, anonbinary, apothigender, apothibinary, leptrois-spectrum.
Gray represents grayasexual, uingender, graygender, questioning, genderflux, amplusic, utrinque, and demigender.