how to coin a xenogender

Or a flag for one, or a flag for an existing term, and so on...
Maintained by Paul. Feel free to send me any other resources you want me to add!

basic definitions

Transgender Flag

Transgender: An umbrella term covering all gender identities or expressions that transgress or transcend society’s rules and concepts of gender. To be trans means to identify as a gender other than the gender one was assigned at birth. The category of transgender includes people who have the binary gender identities of female (transgender women) or male (transgender men). The transgender umbrella includes people with nonbinary gender identities.

Transgender Flag

Xenogender: A nonbinary gender identity that cannot be contained by human understandings of gender; more concerned with crafting other methods of gender categorization and hierarchy such as those relating to animals, plants, or other creatures/things. It’s mainly an umbrella term for genders with themes such as nouns, archetypes, synesthetic experiences, neurodivergences.

searching

It's important to search if the term you're looking for already exists, especially if it's a xenogender. Accidental re-coinings with the same name are confusing and make it hard for archivists and people who might want to use terms alike.
It's sometimes really hard, though, to know where to search for xenogender information, so...

Here's a HUGE compilation of different links to search, and tips on searching!

You can also just go straight to the MOGAI wiki discord and ask, and someone can help you look!

defining

  • Does this already exist? If it does, is there anything particularly different about the term you're coining? What are the benefits of using this label, compared to the other existing one?

  • Is this label exclusive to anyone? For example, is it only for ND people, or open to anyone? If it's exclusive to ND people, why?

  • What metaphors could people who identify as this use to describe their experience?

  • Is this label anything in nature? Gender natures are a method of describing qualities of a gender. (For example, in addition to the other words used in it's description, gendersolus is described as AGIN, meaning that it's agender-in-nature.)

  • What categories might this gender fall under? Cryobinary? Faunagender? Gamegender?

naming

When naming a gender, too, remember that it doesn't have to just be called (thing)gender. There are plenty of options. (Also, if you're worried about recoining, a good majority of terms are already named (thing)gender!)

making a flag

  • Look at other pride flags - Don't directly take a unique flag and recolor it, especially if the term you're coining isn't related, but try to gain inspiration from the kinds of designs other people make.

  • Flags don't all have to look the same! Some examples of unique flags for inspiration:

  • Including symbols is a good way to make your flag stand out, but make sure they're vectors, which can be resized/recreated (not illustrations or real photographs, which can't be resized or recreated easily and make your flag difficult to use). High quality, free-for-commercial-use vectors of all types of things can be found on Pixabay. You can also check out this HUGE compilation of symbols by Mod Hermy of Pride-Color-Schemes!

  • Avoid extremely bright or clashing colors. Not only can these cause people eye strain, but some people with photosensitive epilepsy can have seizures triggered by that eye strain. Pride flags should be accessible.

  • It's a good idea to make sure the flag includes colors that could feasibly made into merchandise like printed flags. Pantone's color finder is a good place to start.

  • Medibang Paint and GIMP are popular for flag making. Here's a tag of other free art programs. You can use most image editors to make a flag.

  • Keep in mind that people who use your pride flag may not be able to credit you every time, and your flag, if it catches on, will more than likely be reposted without credit and printed on merch, which is just a byproduct of designing a flag that you may need to be prepared for. (When was the last time the pansexual flag's creator was tagged in an edit?)

posting your term/flag

  • Try to include pronunciation, color/layout meanings, date of original coining, exclusivity, and anything else you think might be important for people to know about the term.

  • On Tumblr, DNI banners are also a good idea.

  • Avoid using colored text, fancy fonts, typing quirks, or rapidly moving GIF images so that the post is easier to understand and doesn't cause eye strain.

  • Too nervous to post in case you get hate? Ask someone post it for you! You can ask in the discord for help posting.

suffixes (and some prefixes)

Remember not everything has to be -gender, gender- is also common, or it may not use the word gender at all! (Like kenochoric, intric, etc)
If applicable, a gender term may also use -man, -woman, -boy, -girl, -fluid, -flux, etc.
If appropriate, don't be afraid to use another language's version of the affix, which can usually be found by Googling it; For example, -ic comes up with it's origins: French -ique, Latin -icus and Greek -ikos.

  • -an (one that does or deals with)

  • -al, -ial (resembling or pertaining to, having the characteristics of)

  • -ac (related to)

  • -an (relating to, belonging to)

  • -ary (belonging to)

  • -ant (inclined to or tending to)

  • -en (to become, to make __, made up of something, to cause to)

  • -ess (female)

  • -ette (smaller)

  • -esque (reminiscent of)

  • -ion (the action of)

  • -ous, eous, ious (having the qualities of)

  • -ian (relating to, belonging to)

  • in-, im-, il-, ir- (not)

  • -ive (having the nature of)

  • -ure (having the condition of)

  • mid- (middle)

  • semi- (half)

  • sub (under)

  • vasi (base)

Associated With Specific Kinds Of Genders (General)

  • -ique (related to, often used autonomous in nature genders like maverique)

  • -baonic (based off the Greek word for base, referring to a gender's base)

  • vir (for male aligned/connected genders, gendervir)

  • -wavic (genders related to -wave aesthetics, synthwave, vaporwave.)

  • -coric (for genders based off -core aesthetics, any established -core aesthetic that gets results when searched for)

  • -albumic: genders related to a certain music album

  • -numeralic: genders that are related to a number

  • -kinic (for kingenders, alienkinic)

  • -honum (for genders relating to being nonhuman)

  • -siderea - genders somehow connected to stars, star aesthetics, etc.

  • -planeta - genders somehow connected to planets, planet aesthetics, etc.

  • -lunata - genders somehow connected to the moon, moons, moon aesthetics, etc.

  • -solata - genders somehow connected to the Sun, suns, sun aesthetics, etc.

Associated With Specific Kinds Of Genders (Neurogenders)

  • -intric (genders relating to being an introject, gemintric)

  • -nurix (fluctuating neurogenders, when the gender stays still because it is connected to a mental illness, but the strength of it is fluid)

  • -hypic (neurogenders related to hyperfixations, minehypic)

  • -musihypic (neurogenders based off of music hyperfixations)

  • -fascic (from fascigender, neurogenders related to special interests)

  • - spinnic/spinny (an alternative to fascic)

  • -littioete: a suffix for genders related to sound-color synesthesia

You can see more examples by browsing around the MOGAI wiki! Some pages on the wiki have examples of specific suffixes, such as the page for fictigender, which has a list of suffixes for specific medias!

flag templates

There are many templates online to make flags. Pride-flags on Deviantart has an extensive catalogue of them. If you know any template resources please send them in the discord so they can be added!

canva templates

Canva is an online image editor with a focus on graphic design. It has both free and paid versions, the free version works just fine for making flags and edits. It connects to numerous stock image resources, lets you upload your own images and sample colors from them, has templates, etc. All of the above flags were made in Canva.

Canva template of 25-ish flags.
75 pages of 'flag scraps,' designs that might make good bases for flags.
Canva templates by Genderheaven.

If any links break or you need more help with using Canva, let me know! Please note that I can't fix the templates, I'll just remove the links from the carrd.