Bigender is a non-binary gender identity in which someone has two distinct gender identities. One could feel both genders at the same time or be fluid between them, in which case they may also identify as genderfluid. Bigender individuals can experience any two genders, including binary and non-binary genders. For example, a bigender individual could be male and neutrois or neutral. Those who are bigender do not have to experience both genders in equal amounts. One or both of their genders could be fluid or fluctuating, in which case they may identify as bigenderfluid, bigenderflux, and if they identify as both bigenderfluid and bigenderflux, they may identify as bigenderfluix.   [1]

Bigender should not be confused with androgyne or femache, which is a term used for those who strictly identify as male and female, in their gender identity, presentation, or both. Bigender individuals identify as two genders, and those two genders do not have to be binary male and female. [1]

Bigender individuals may also identify as transgender or non-binary, if they wish to. Those who experience more than two genders may identify as trigender, quadgender, multigender, etc.  Bigender individuals don't necessarily feel as if their gender is in-between the genders they have, which is classified as a centrigender experience. [1]

One of the first recorded instances of bigender being used comes from a trans organization called the Human Outreach and Achievement Institute in the 1980s which defined "bigenderist" as a type of androgyne, with the latter being defined as "a individual who can comfortably express either alternative gender role in a variety of socially acceptable environments." [1]

The more modern definition of bigender comes from Gary Bowen who, in his 1995 publication Dictionary of Words for Masculine Women, defined being bigender as "having two genders, exhibiting cultural characteristics of male and female roles". [1]

A 1997 paper concerning the "gender continuum" in International Journal of Transgender Health noted that "a individual who feels or acts as both a woman and a man may identify as bi-gendered."[4] A 1999 survey conducted by the San Francisco Department of Public Health observed that, among the transgender community, less than 3% of those who were assigned male at birth and less than 8% of those who were assigned female at birth identified as bigender. [1]