With the proliferation of gender identity labels in the last twenty years, more individuals are identifying outside of a binary understanding of gender. Agender individuals are among this group, but we know very little about their experiences. Gender theorists have examined the ways that gender is performative and structural, but present theory does not provide the tools to understand the experiences of those outside of the binary, and even more so those who identify outside of gender altogether. To address this gap, I ask how agender individuals define their experience and how they navigate a binary gendered world. To answer these questions, I draw on 14 in-depth interviews with agender individuals as well as data from the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. First, I show the ways that agender individuals can understand this identity and how it shapes their experiences. Second, I develop a framework of four strategies (avoidance, advocacy, performance, and acquiescence) to analyze how agender individuals navigate gendered space. I concluded with a discussion of theoretical and empirical contributions as well as implications for future research.

This research is a curiosity for the spaces outside the gender binary, the spaces where an “I” and a “we” could manifest unencumbered by this hierarchical binary[1]. The binary is often in gender research considered a system of understanding sexed peoples in this world based on their differential position in relation to one another. Gender as a “social category imposed on a sexed body”[2] arose in academic usage by feminists in the 1980s, it was introduced to dismantle the idea of separate spheres, and yet it “does not have the power to address existing historical paradigms”[3] and has therefore remained anchored in the idea of two, the male and female identity, and even whilst the idea of male and female social identities has been expanded to contain other sexed and gendered bodies, , the idea of an agendered subject is sparsely addressed. In essence this work seeks to address the binary of existence and non-existence in the bio-social-psychological world that is gender studies, to attempt to find the alchemical magic that creates a new cartography of gender, or at least a sliver of new territory.                Gender is currently one of the base categories of identification in a world built on: §  religious narratives in which “God/s” made only man and woman.  §  biological determination which posits a dependent binary relationship based on gametes.  §  and systemic thinking grounded in Patriarchal thinking.  Whilst the spaces outside the gender binary have become more thinkable in recent decades with the advent of Transgender studies[4] as an academic field, Irigaray[5] offers that the space outside the binary structure offers only “social and psychological damage”[6] to anyone seeking to inhabit it. This thesis thus explores a particular identity cartography which I here call the alchemy of agender, in reference to the potentially mythical, potentially magical space outside of the “norm”.    This research does not claim to cover all theories of power, subjectivity, sexual difference, or the growing body of knowledge within gender studies, pertinently transgender studies, queer studies, and intersectional studies. Conversely, I start from lived experience, both my own; in encountering questions and concerns from the students I teach; and the lived experience of others which manifests in a desire of a community to speak themselves into existence.                In my 8 years of teaching variations of gender studies I have observed that the language and space young people have for imagining and queering their gender has steadily increased. Yet, agender is still very unexplored as a concept, with a constant question of “why do we need gender?” accompanying my student’s reflections. Throughout human history we have examples of agender/non-binary/queer/non-conforming individuals, creating an “I” and a “we” that is outside, beyond or uninhibited by the gender binary, or at the very least the infamous, and equally at times unwelcome, “third wheel” to the binary.    With this research I would like to follow two intertwined threads; a short and questionable diachronic journey of agender; secondly to posit what an “I” and a “we” without and beyond gender might constitute, succinctly to explore how agender/ non-binary identities are formed. Our thought system allows for feminine males and masculine females, or a patchwork of gender traits blended in what is recognized as non-conforming or gender queer, yet I am curious if agendered experiences offer merely another blend or an entire alternative.   In my quest to draw a cartography of agender, I am motivated by the concept of eidetic reduction, this being the Husserlian approach that argues that we can determine the limitations of a phenomena through exploration of lived experiences of that phenomena. For this research, it means gathering experiences from self-identified agender individuals online to determine the essences of this experience. Namely eidetic reduction is when one moves from lived experience, to a more abstract essence, through to a kind of collective categorization of a concept. This is achieved through identifying experiences that are unique to the group in question. In this I am excited to see how exploring agendered experiences can create gender magic, and consequently a possibility to re-imagine who you or I might be.   Succinctly an online ethnographic study of agender discussions will be used to ascertain if there is something unique about the agender experience, how it might differentiate from a trans* experience or a gendered experience.  [1] Scott, J.W. (1986) Gender: A Useful category of Historical Analysis. The American Historical Review, Vol 91, No. 5, pp.[2] Scott, J.W. (1986) Gender: A Useful category of Historical Analysis. The American Historical Review, Vol 91, No. 5, pp.1056[3] Scott, J.W. (1986) Gender: A Useful category of Historical Analysis. The American Historical Review, Vol 91, No. 5, pp.1057[4] In the western world the advent of this field is associated with an article written by Sandy Stone published in 1987 entitled, “The Empire strikes back: A posttranssexual manifesto” (first presented at a UCSC conference entitled "Other Voices, Other Worlds: Questioning Gender and Ethnicity"). [5] Braidotti, R (2003) Becoming Woman: or sexual difference revisited. Theory, Culture and Society, Vol.20, Issue 3, pp. 43-64[6] Braidotti, R (2003) Becoming Woman: or sexual difference revisited. Theory, Culture and Society, Vol.20, Issue 3, pp. 43-64

The aim of this paper is to examine the possibility to be impossible, to examine how the socially intelligible can come to exist. This is done through the concept of sex/gender, as sex/gender has such a determining place in the production of what can be understood as human, it also has the properties to shed light on the possibility to be and exist beyond the socially intelligible. In this paper I will interview and analyze how four genderqueer people understand themselves and their identity in relation to the phenomenon sex/gender. Through Karen Barad’s concept of posthumanist performativity and her conceptualization of phenomena and intra-action I understand sex/gender, not as entities, but as phenomena of ever changing and ever intra-acting agents. The study suggests that the limitations of the concept of sex/gender can be addressed through an understanding of the body as itself a web of intra-actions, that is, the body as a phenomenon.

This is a qualitative interview study where 7 transgender people is interviewed about their experiences of treatment from institutions within society. In semi-structured interviews, respondents talk about the treatment they received from health care, education, legal system, employment offices and social services. The study's purpose is to examine the treatment transgender peoples gets based on their own stories and perspectives. The study also discusses the social structures, like binary gender norms, that contribute to a negative attitude and the consequences of this approach. The result shows that there is a great lack of knowledge within institutions and professionals have insufficient training in how to treat people with transgender identities. Respondents have often had to educate professionals and carries their identity as a backpack that they can not get rid of. The results also indicate that the prevailing social structures that divide people in binary gender norms is problematic for transgender people. / Detta är en kvalitativ intervjustudie där 7 transpersoner intervjuats om deras erfarenheter av bemötande från samhällets instanser. I semistrukturerade intervjuer har respondenterna berättat om det bemötande de fått från vården, utbildning, rättsväsendet, arbetsförmedlingen och socialförvaltningen. Studiens syfte är att undersöka bemötande transpersoner får utifrån deras egna berättelser och perspektiv. I studien diskuteras även samhällsstrukturer, såsom tvåkönsnormen, som bidrar till ett negativt bemötande samt konsekvenserna av detta bemötande. Resultatet visar att det råder en stor kunskapsbrist inom samhällets instanser och professionella har bristande utbildning i hur de ska bemöta personer med könsöverskridande identiteter. Respondenterna har ofta fått agera utbildare för professionella och bär med sig sin identitet som en ryggsäck som de inte kan bli av med. Resultatet pekar också på att rådande samhällsstrukturer som delar in personer i en tvåkönsnorm är problematisk för transpersoner.

Transpersoner i Sverige har en ökad risk för psykisk ohälsa, samtidigt som cirka hälften har god livskvalité. Då de positiva hälsofaktorerna för gruppen är underbeforskat, framför allt för ickebinära transpersoner, var studiens syfte att undersöka vilka positiva erfarenheter (minoritetglädje) ickebinära transpersoner har av att tillhöra minoritetsgruppen. En kvalitativ intervjustudie gjordes med åtta deltagare som sedan analyserades med tematisk analys. Det huvudsakliga resultatet visar att minoritetsglädjen främst utgörs av en stark gemenskap med andra transpersoner och att leva ett autentiskt liv i relation till sig själv och omgivningen. Även att utvecklas som person och att transtillhörigheten blir ett verktyg för att förstå världen och andra människor är viktiga fynd. Resultaten går i linje med tidigare forskning om positiva hälsofaktorer för gruppen. Nya fynd är framför allt att upplevelsen av frihet från tvåkönsnormen tycks kunna utgöra en extra stor positiv faktor för den ickebinära gruppen.