Gender-variant identities worldwide/en: Difference between revisions

* '''Description of sex/gender:''' AMAB and feminine. The 'yan daudu "are categorized as neither male nor female but as an ambiguous middle category."<ref>{{cite journal |title=Hausa concepts of masculinity and the 'Yan Daudu |journal=Journal of Men, Masculinities and Spirituality |date=January 2007 |volume=1 |issue=1 |last=Salamone |first=Frank A. |url=https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A189052344/LitRC?u=anon~ab905509&sid=googleScholar&xid=5446ee4e}}</ref>

In Mexico, the Zapotec people recognize the ''muxe'', who are assigned male at birth, and prefer to wear traditional women's styles of clothing and fashionable make-up. ''Muxes'' are thought to be usually attracted to men, though some ''muxes'' marry women.<ref name="muxe cobelo" /><ref name="Lynn 2002">Stephen, Lynn (2002). "Latin American Perspectives," Issue 123, Vol.29 No.2, March 2002, pp. 41-59. {{cite web |url= http://www.uky.edu/~tmute2/mexico/MexWeb/Mex+PDFs/stephan-gender-zapotec.pdf |title= ''Sexualities and Genders in Zapotec Oaxaca.'' |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20070129073904/http://www.uky.edu/~tmute2/mexico/MexWeb/Mex%20PDFs/stephan-gender-zapotec.pdf |archivedate= 2007-01-29 |df=  }}&nbsp;{{small|(98.6&nbsp;[[Kibibyte|KiB]])}}</ref> ''Muxes'' may consider themselves homosexual, heterosexual, or asexual.<ref name="muxe bbc" /> (Men who are not ''muxe,'' and who have relationships with ''muxe,'' are called ''mayetes'', and are not socially thought of as gay for doing so.<ref name="muxe bbc" /> ''Muxes'' themselves have various opinions about whether such men are really gay or straight.<ref name="muxe cobelo" />) A person recognizes from early childhood that they want to be a ''muxe'', based on their own natural instincts.<ref name="muxe cobelo" /> They usually do not seek [[surgery|gender-affirming surgery]].<ref name="muxe cobelo" /> Today, ''muxe'' are accepted and integrated in society, whereas gay men and trans women are not accepted as much, though this varies by the amount of Westernization in a given community.<ref name="muxe cobelo" /> One ''muxe'' named Gala who was interviewed in 2015 explained, "We are not men or women [...] We are a third gender. Men are men and women are women— and ''muxes'' are ''muxes''. Is that simple."<ref name="muxe cobelo" /> Much the same definition was given in a 2018 BBC interview with another ''muxe'' named Felina, who runs a group for ''muxe'' founded in the 1970s, ''[https://www.lasintrepidas.com/ Las Auténticas Intrepidas Buscadoras del Peligro]'' (The Authentic Intrepid Danger Seekers).<ref name="muxe cobelo" /><ref name="muxe bbc">Ola Synowiec. "The third gender of southern Mexico." November 26, 2018. ''BBC.'' http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20181125-the-third-gender-of-southern-mexico</ref> Another ''muxe'', performance artist [[Lukas Avendaño]];<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Stambaugh|first=Antonio Prieto|date=2014-01-01|title=RepresentaXión" de un muxe: la identidad performática de Lukas Avendaño|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/latin_american_theatre_review/v048/48.1.stambaugh.html|journal=Latin American Theatre Review|volume=48|issue=1|pages=31–53|doi=10.1353/ltr.2014.0030|s2cid=141999742|issn=2161-0576}}</ref>, explained in a 2017 interview that not all ''muxe'' identify the same way, and some ''muxe'' do identify as women.<ref name="muxe cruz">Mónica Cruz. "Muxes: una comunidad en Oaxaca desafía los conceptos tradicionales de la identidad y el género." ''Verne.'' February 2, 2017. https://verne.elpais.com/verne/2017/01/31/mexico/1485834145_612368.html</ref> In the Zapotec language, there is no grammatical gender, which makes it easier. The Spanish language has only masculine and feminine, so ''muxe'' have to choose one, even though many ''muxe'' do not feel like either.<ref name="muxe cruz" /> In recent years, ''muxe'' have campaigned for the right to use the [[toilets|restroom]] of their preference: some ''muxe'' (''gunaa muxe'', who think of themselves as like trans women) feel safer in the women's restroom, whereas other ''muxe'' (''nguiiu muxe'', who think of themselves as like feminine gay men) prefer the men's restroom.<ref name="muxe cruz" /> One study estimates that 6% of people assigned male at birth in an Isthmus Zapotec community in the early 1970s were ''muxe''.<ref>Rymph, David (1974). ''Cross-sex behavior in an Isthmus Zapotec village.'' Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Mexico City.</ref> Notable ''muxes'' include human rights activist [[Amaranta Gómez Regalado]] (b. 1977), who gained international prominence as the first trans candidate of Mexico, in the 2003 Oaxaca state elections;<ref name="muxe bbc" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2003/06/05/ls-amaranta.html|title=La nueva visibilidad lésbico-gay|last=Medina|first=Antonio|date=June 5, 2003|work=LETRA S|access-date=March 13, 2016|via=La Jornada}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=//www.copenhagen2009.org/Conference/Keynote_Speakers/Amaranta_Gomez_Regalado.aspx |title=Archived profile from Amaranta Gómez Regalado for the WorldOut Games in Copenhagen 2009 |last= |first= |date=January 11, 2016 |website=Amaranta Gómez Regalado – WorldOut Games 2009 |publisher=Wayback Machine Internet Archive |access-date=March 13, 2016 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090721073144/http://www.copenhagen2009.org/Conference/Keynote_Speakers/Amaranta_Gomez_Regalado.aspx |archivedate=July 21, 2009 |df= }}</ref> and food vendor [[Marven]], ''Lady Tacos de Canasta'', who became famous in a viral video taken while she was selling food at a pride parade in 2016, and has been featured on multiple media outlets since.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chilango.com/comida/lady-tacos-de-canasta/|title=Lady Tacos de Canasta: hay de chapulines, iguana, arroz con leche...|last1=M|first1=Sthefany|last2=ujano|date=2018-08-28|language=es-MX|access-date=2019-08-12}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.milenio.com/policia/lady-tacos-canasta-policias-agreden-tiran-puesto|title=A Lady Tacos de Canasta, policías la agreden y le tiran su puesto|website=www.milenio.com|access-date=2019-08-12}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://heraldodemexico.com.mx/tendencias/autoridades-intentan-retirar-a-lady-tacos-de-canasta-en-alcaldia-cuauhemoc/|title=Autoridades intentan retirar a Lady tacos de canasta, en alcaldía Cuauhémoc|date=2019-07-29|website=El Heraldo de México|language=es-MX|access-date=2019-08-12}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://culturacolectiva.com/movies/taco-chronicles-netflix-mexico-food-documentary-review|title='The Taco Chronicles' Does Justice To Mexico's Misunderstood Street Food Staple|date=2019-07-18|website=culturacolectiva.com|language=English|access-date=2019-08-12}}</ref>

In classical Arabic writings, people called Mukhannathun were queer people who were assigned male at birth. They were analogous to transgender women, or to very feminine gay men, depending on the individual. In Sunan Abu-Dawud, Book 41, Number 4910, Mohammed said to exile a mukhannath, and said not to kill them.<ref>USC-MSA compendium of Muslim Text: Partial Translation of Sunan Abu-Dawud, Book 41:General Behavior (Kitab Al-Adab), Number 4910 http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/hadith/abudawud/041.sat.html#041.4910</ref> At one point during the Umayyad dynasty, a caliph ordered that all mukhannathun should be castrated. In response to this, a group of mukhannathun are recorded as having this conversation about it: "This is simply a circumcision which we must undergo again." "Or rather the Greater Circumcision!" "With castration I have become a mukhannath in truth!" "Or rather we have become women in truth!" "We have been spared the trouble of carrying around a spout for urine." "What would we do with an unused weapon anyway?"<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rowson|first=Everett K. |date=October 1991| url=http://www.williamapercy.com/wiki/images/The_effeminates_of_early_medina.pdf| title=The Effeminates of Early Medina|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society 111 (4)|page= 671–693|doi=10.2307/603399 |jstor= 603399}}</ref>

In Thailand, ''[[kathoey]]'' can refer to a variety of kinds of LGBT people, but more specifically it means AMAB people who are feminine, and who may seek physical transition, and who do not entirely consider themselves to be men or women.<ref>Winter, Sam (2003). Research and discussion paper: ''Language and identity in transgender: gender wars and the case of the Thai kathoey''. Paper presented at the Hawaii conference on Social Sciences, Waikiki, June 2003. [http://web.hku.hk/~sjwinter/TransgenderASIA/paper_language_and_identity.htm Article online].</ref>  

* '''Name of identity:''' Mutarajjulat, "women who wish to resemble men."<ref name="bowen">Gary Bowen. "A Dictionary of Words for Masculine Women." ''FTM International.'' May 15, 1995. Retrieved November 5, 1996. http://web.archive.org/web/19961105010926/http://www.ftm-intl.org/Wrtngs/ftm-words.gary.html</ref>

In Italy, the femminielli are people who were assigned male at birth, and who begin to express femininity in mannerisms and clothing preferences from early childhood.<ref name="Femminiello Portland" /> They continue to do so into old age. However, they do not hide that they were assigned male at birth.<ref name="Femminiello Portland" /> The locals have always been accepting of the femminielli, and see them as good luck.<ref name="Femminiello Portland" /><ref name="NaplesLDM" /> Neapolitans invite a femminiello to come with them when they gamble in order to improve their luck,<ref name="Femminiello Portland" /> and mothers ask feminielli to bless their new-born babies.<ref name="NaplesLDM" /> There is a Neapolitan proverb: "If you need good luck, get blessed by a queer priest" (which uses a pejorative word rather than the word femminiello).<ref name="NaplesLDM" /> The femminielli are said to come from all over Europe to Torre del Greco to hold a secret and sacred ceremony once a year, ''figliata dei femminielli'' ("marriage of the femminielli"), led by priests from a modern continuation of the [[gender-variant identities worldwide#Gallae|Gallae]] priesthood of the goddess Cybele, which came to Rome from western Asia in antiquity.<ref name="NaplesLDM" /> The ''figliata'' has been practiced for centuries, only temporarily suspended during World War II, and then resumed after the war.<ref name="NaplesLDM" /> In the ''figliata'', the femminielli wed one another at sunset in front of a closed church. Nine months later, they simulate giving birth, and then celebrate with a banquet.<ref name="femminiello huffpost">Giuseppe Melillo. "Una storia antica: Napoli, i femminielli e la figliata." ''Huffington Post'' (magazine). January 24, 2018. Retrieved July 28, 2020.  https://www.huffingtonpost.it/giuseppe-melillo/una-storia-antica-napoli-i-femminielli-e-la-figliata_a_23339374/</ref> The remote mountain church at Montevergine is built atop what was once a temple to Cybele. Its icon, the Madonna of Transformation, Mamma Schiavona, "serving mother," is the Catholic syncretization of Cybele. According to legend, in 1256 CE, a mob had beaten a male-male couple, and then Mamma Schiavona miraculously saved the lives of the couple, so they lived happily ever after.<ref name="RoadsAndKingdoms" /> Ever since then, she has been seen as a patron of femminielli, who have gone on pilgrimage to that church for the procession of Candlemas, February 2, called ''juta dei femminielli''. It is celebrated with the long and energetic tammurriata dance, and a candle-lit procession, by pilgrims who are visibly gender nonconforming. The celebrants chant, "''Non c'è uomo che non sia femmina e non c'è femmina che non sia uomo''" ("There is no man who is not female and there is no female who is not man.")<ref name="femminiello huffpost" /> In 2002, a priest at Montevergine threw out a group of pilgrims who were LGBT, because he was offended by their tambourine and castanet playing.<ref name="RoadsAndKingdoms" /> (At festivals, femminielli use musical instruments such as bells and tambourines, which also came from the worship of Cybele.<ref name="NaplesLDM" />) In response, hundreds of pilgrims who were LGBT activists and allies came to Montevergine two weeks later, and established the festival of Candlemas as also being Femminiello Pride.<ref name="RoadsAndKingdoms" />

* '''Culture:''' The Scythians, who were Eurasian nomadic horseriders. They lived in regions that are now the modern-day countries of Russia, Ukraine, Iran, Egypt, and neighboring countries. They had contact with many more, due to their use of the Silk Road.<ref name="Beckwith58">{{harvnb|Beckwith|2009|pp=58–70}}</ref>

In her PhD thesis about trans history and spirituality, trans woman Helen Savage noted another way that the importance of horses in Scythian culture may have led to the Enarees' discovery of another method of gender transition: "The Roman poet Ovid, who was exiled to the borders of the Scythian steppe in the first century BC, provides a tantalising hint of the practice there of drinking mare's urine, a substance so high in oestrogens that it is still used as the source of a proprietary drug, 'premarin', widely used still for hormone replacement therapy -- and to feminise male-to-female transsexuals."<ref name="enarees savage 74">Helen Savage. (2006) "Changing sex? : transsexuality and Christian theology." Doctoral thesis, Durham University. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3364/</ref> The Enarees may have practiced the world's earliest-known hormone therapy for trans-feminine people. The practice of using mare's urine for oestrogen therapy was lost for hundreds of years, until being independently discovered by scientists in the 1930s CE.<ref name="SchachterMarrian1938">{{cite journal|last1=Schachter|first1=B.|last2=Marrian|first2=G. F.|title=The isolation of estrone sulfate from the urine of pregnant mares|journal=Journal of Biological Chemistry|volume=126|year=1938|pages=663–669}}</ref> This discovery was developed into Premarin in the 1940s, the first commercial oestrogen replacement drug in Western medicine,<ref name=MDD>Jim Kling  October 2000 [http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/archive/mdd/v03/i08/html/kling.html The Strange Case of Premarin] Modern Drug Discovery (3):8 46–52</ref> and still one of the most widely used today. The Enarees may also have used their herbal knowledge to influence their hormone balance. Present-day intersex trans man and shaman Raven Kaldera notes that the Enarees "ate a lot of licorice root - so popular among them that the Greeks to whom they exported it referred to it as 'the Scythian root' - which is also an anti-androgen."<ref name="enarees kaldera">{{cite web|author=Raven Kaldera|title=Ergi: The Way of the Third| |work=Northern-Tradition Shamanism |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130501152328/http://www.northernshamanism.org/shamanic-techniques/gender-sexuality/ergi-the-way-of-the-third.html|url=http://www.northernshamanism.org/shamanic-techniques/gender-sexuality/ergi-the-way-of-the-third.html| archive-date=1 May 2013}}</ref> Between all these treatments, the Enarees could have had the most medically advanced physical transition in the ancient world.