*deep breath* I'm probably gonna lose some followers but I have a small (not small?) coming out to do.

I am xenogender. What is that, you might ask? I'm gonna talk a little about it. I'm not gonna go into my specific xenic labels yet, but here goes: a thread. 1/

Xenogender is an umbrella category for genders or gender descriptors that are based in things that aren't usually used in relation to gender, especially "nonhuman" concepts. They're mostly (but not exclusively) used by Neurodivergent people. 2/

There are a few different umbrellas under the xenic (that's the word used to reference xenogender things, so we know as I go along here) umbrella. One of those things, is Neurogenders. Neurogenders ARE exclusively for Neurodivergent people, as they relate directly to that. 3/

Neurogenders include things like Systemgender and Systemfluid, which are about your gender being specifically influenced or related to you being a Plural/Multiple (such as in DID/OSDD), or things like Autigender where being autistic directly impacts your experience of gender. 4/

Xenic labels can be their own genders, but are often used as descriptors. For example, things like Colorgenders, which are most often used by folx with synesthesia like me, are often used to relate your gender to the qualities a color is linked to in your brain. 5/

An example of that would be if I were a woman, I could be an indigogender woman. That would mean, for me, that my experience as a woman would be related to the qualities I ascribe to the color indigo, which for me is ethereal, magical, light, and hard to perceive/grasp. 6/

Some of them sound very strange, and the temptation to mock them seems almost irresistible to a lot of folx that don't get it. They're the kind of labels that make your brain go "attack helicopter?" but I'm begging you not to do that. It's awful, and painful, and rude. 7/

You may not "get it" at all. That's actually ok, as long as you still respect it. It's ok to ask good faith questions, but not all of us are going to want/be able to answer those questions. I try to answer to the best of my abilities, so ask away. 8/

I am trying to trust Twitter right now by keeping the replies open. Please, don't make me regret that decision, alright? Anyhow, back to the topic at hand: there are a ton of xenic labels, because we experience gender in some very interesting ways. 9/

I have a handful of xenic labels. I'm not ready to openly share them yet, but I cried when I found out that this was a thing. There were labels that fit exactly what I feel, even named things that I would have named them. An understanding of myself I've never had. 10/

Cw: transphobia, general bigotry

As an aside for anyone looking into this stuff, don't go to MOGAIpedia. Especially if you're queer, save yourself the pain. Despite being a surprisingly comprehensive collection, they do it specifically to mock these identities. 11/

So in summary, people experience gender in very different ways, for a lot of reasons, and mocking or invalidating that is really shitty. If you have a problem with xenic labels, then this isn't the Twitter account for you to follow. I'm open to questions in good faith. 12/12