Dating app Tinder rolled out 37 new gender identity options this month after the company received criticism for being transphobic.

In an official blog post on November 15, the company announced the launch of its #AllTypesAllSwipes campaign in which it stated “starting today, no matter how you identify, you can express your authentic self.”

But what do the terms mean and how do they differ?

Sean RadTinder co-founder and president Sean Rad speaks onstage, New York City, May 5, 2015. Rad said he believes “gender is not binary” and hopes the app’s new feature will be more “inclusive.” NOAM GALAI/GETTY 


Without gender. Often used as an identification for people who do not identify with or conform to any gender.


A person who fits both physical characteristics or feels like they are both a male and female. Some androgynes have both male and female parts and, in this case, they sometimes also identify as “intersex.”


Androgyny is the combination of masculine and feminine characteristics. Gender ambiguity may be found in anything from fashion and lifestyle to a person’s singing or speaking voice.


Bigender people experience two gender identities, either simultaneously or varying between the two. These two gender identities could be male and female.

Female to Male/FTM/Male to Female/FTM

Someone who once identified as female, and who know identifies as male. Or vice versa.

Gender Fluid

A gender that varies over time. A gender-fluid person may at any time identify as male, female, either, or some combination of identities. Their gender can also vary at random or vary in response to different circumstances.

Gender Nonconforming

This term refers to people who do not follow other’s ideas or stereotypes about how they should look or act based on the female or male sex they were assigned at birth.

Gender Questioning

Used by people who may be unsure, still exploring, and concerned about applying a social label to themselves.

Gender Variant

Gender variance, or gender nonconformity, is behavior or gender expression by an individual that does not match the gender norms of the gender they are perceived to be by society.



Male to Female/MTF

Someone who once identified as a male, but who now identifies as a female.


Neutrois is a non-binary gender identity that is considered to be a neutral or null gender. It may also be used to mean genderless, and has considerable overlap with agender.


Someone who has not found a term that they feel accurately represents their gender.


Pangender people are those who feel they identify as all genders. The term overlaps with genderqueer and trigender.


Short for transgender, the term includes people whose gender identity is the opposite of their assigned sex.

Transfeminine relates to a person who was born male but whose gender identity is more female than male.


Transfeminine relates to a person who was born female but whose gender identity is more male than female.




Two-Spirit is a modern term used by some indigenous North Americans to describe certain spiritual people—gay, lesbian, bisexual and gender-variant individuals—in their communities.