Quiz: Am I Xenogender?

Imagine being asked to describe the color of the sky to someone blind from birth. You’d reach for metaphors, comparisons, sensations – everything except the color itself. This is roughly how some people feel when trying to explain their gender through the prism of traditional categories of “masculine” and “feminine.” If you’ve found yourself here, perhaps you’re one of them. Our quiz will help you understand whether the concept of xenogender resonates with you – one of the most enigmatic and poetic ways of conceptualizing one’s own identity.

What Is Xenogender and How Should We Understand It?

Xenogender is an umbrella term for gender identities that cannot be adequately described through traditional concepts of masculinity, femininity, or their absence. Instead, people with xenogender identity use metaphors connected to natural phenomena, abstract concepts, animals, plants, or even cosmic objects.

This doesn’t mean the person literally considers themselves a star or an ocean. Rather, these metaphors become the only available language for describing a deeply personal internal experience that doesn’t fit within the binary coordinate system. For example, someone with a “voidgender” identity might experience their gender as a void – not the absence of gender, but specifically the presence of void as an independent entity.

Xenogender identities are often found among neurodivergent people, especially those on the autism spectrum. Researchers suggest this is connected to particular ways of perceiving social constructs and a tendency toward synesthetic thinking. For such people, traditional gender categories may seem too rigid or simply inapplicable to their internal experience.

It’s important to understand: xenogender is not a whim or a desire to stand out. It’s an attempt to find language for describing a real experience that exists regardless of whether words exist to denote it. Just as synesthetes truly see colors when listening to music, people with xenogender identity truly experience their gender through the prism of chosen metaphors.

How Does Our Quiz Work and What Will It Show?

Our quiz is built on analyzing patterns of thinking, emotional reactions, and modes of self-perception characteristic of people with xenogender identity. We don’t diagnose or issue certificates – the quiz serves as a tool for self-discovery and a starting point for further reflection.

The methodology is based on gender psychology research and includes questions about your relationship to traditional gender categories, preferred metaphors for self-description, experiences of gender dysphoria or euphoria, as well as how you perceive the connection between your identity and the surrounding world.

Quiz results are presented as a spectrum: from “unlikely” to “high probability” of xenogender identity. We also provide information about specific xenogender subtypes that might resonate with you, and resources for further exploration of the topic. Remember: only you can determine your identity. The quiz merely helps structure your reflections and provides vocabulary for self-description.

Signs and Signals the Quiz Considers

Our quiz analyzes five key aspects that often manifest in people with xenogender identity. These signs are neither mandatory nor exhaustive – each person is unique, and your experience may differ. However, if you recognize yourself in most of the patterns described below, this might indicate that traditional gender categories don’t fully reflect your internal reality.

1. Metaphorical Thinking About Gender

If when trying to describe your gender you instinctively reach for images of nature, cosmos, abstract concepts, or sensations, this might be a sign of xenogender identity. You might feel that your gender “flows like water,” “shimmers like stars,” or “grows like a forest.” These metaphors aren’t just poetic embellishments – they become the only way to accurately convey your internal experience.

2. Discomfort With Binary Categories

This isn’t just about disagreeing with your assigned sex at birth. People with xenogender identity often feel that the very coordinate system of “male-female-nonbinary” is irrelevant to them. It’s like trying to measure temperature with a ruler – the instrument simply doesn’t suit the task. You might experience frustration when filling out forms with gender selection or feel that any traditional label distorts your essence.

3. Synesthetic Perception of Identity

Many people with xenogender describe their identity through sensory experiences: colors, textures, sounds, smells. Your gender might be associated with the velvety darkness of night, the crunch of snow underfoot, or the taste of storm-charged air. These associations are stable and repeatable, forming a complete picture of your identity.

4. Fluidity and Multifacetedness

Xenogender identity often includes elements of changeability. You might experience yourself as a constellation of different genders, shimmering and interacting with each other. Or your gender might change depending on the season, moon phase, or emotional state. This fluidity differs from genderfluidity in that changes occur not between masculine and feminine, but between various metaphorical states.

5. Special Connection With Chosen Metaphors

People with xenogender often experience a deep emotional connection with the objects or phenomena through which they conceptualize their identity. If you identify yourself through the image of the ocean, you might feel inexplicable calm near water, experience gender euphoria from the sound of waves, or feel resonance with maritime symbolism in art and literature.

The Spectrum of Non-Binary Identities in the Modern World

Xenogender doesn’t exist in a vacuum, but as part of a rich spectrum of non-binary identities. While demigender people feel a partial connection to a certain gender, and agender people feel the absence of gender altogether, xenogender people create entirely new coordinates for self-determination.

Contemporary understanding of gender increasingly moves away from rigid categories toward recognizing individual experience. In some cultures, such diversity has existed for centuries: two-spirit among Indigenous peoples of the Americas, hijra in South Asia, fa’afafine in Samoa. Xenogender is a modern Western reimagining of the idea that gender can transcend familiar categories.

It’s important to note the growing recognition of xenogender identities in queer communities. Specialized resources are being created, research is emerging, and language for describing this experience is developing. Neopronouns – pronouns like xe/xem, fae/faer, or even emoji pronouns – are becoming tools for self-expression and recognition.

Critics often point to the seeming absurdity of some xenogender identities. But history shows that every expansion of gender understanding initially met resistance. What seems radical today may tomorrow become part of the accepted diversity of human experience.