History of nonbinary gender: Difference between revisions
imported>Sekhet (Improved article's focus on nonbinary history by removing some content that was strictly about intersex people, neutral language, and binary trans people, and expanding content about nonbinary people, such as descriptions of uranians who were definitely outside the gender binary, and a 17th century law that may have addressed nonbinary people. Improved organization of and explanations for extant entries.) |
imported>Sekhet (Added the 1st entry for 11th century: wæpen-wifestre and related terms for sex and gender variance in Anglo-Saxon Britain.) |
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==Antiquity== | ==Antiquity== | ||
* In Mesopotamian mythology, among the earliest written records of humanity, there are references to types of people who are neither male nor female. Sumerian and Akkadian tablets from the 2nd millennium BCE and 1700 BCE describe how the gods created these people, their roles in society, and words for different kinds of them. These included eunuchs, women who couldn't or weren't allowed to have children, men who live as women, intersex people, gay people, and others.<ref>Murray, Stephen O., and Roscoe, Will (1997). ''Islamic Homosexualities: Culture, History, and Literature.'' New York: New York University Press.</ref><ref>Nissinen, Martti (1998). ''Homoeroticism in the Biblical World'', Translated by Kirsi Stjedna. Fortress Press (November 1998) p. 30. ISBN|0-8006-2985-X<br>See also: Maul, S. M. (1992). ''Kurgarrû und assinnu und ihr Stand in der babylonischen Gesellschaft.'' Pp. 159–71 in Aussenseiter und Randgruppen. Konstanze Althistorische Vorträge und Forschungern 32. Edited by V. Haas. Konstanz: Universitätsverlag.</ref><ref>Leick, Gwendolyn (1994). ''Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature''. Routledge. New York.</ref> | * In Mesopotamian mythology, among the earliest written records of humanity, there are references to types of people who are neither male nor female. Sumerian and Akkadian tablets from the 2nd millennium BCE and 1700 BCE describe how the gods created these people, their roles in society, and words for different kinds of them. These included eunuchs, women who couldn't or weren't allowed to have children, men who live as women, intersex people, gay people, and others.<ref>Murray, Stephen O., and Roscoe, Will (1997). ''Islamic Homosexualities: Culture, History, and Literature.'' New York: New York University Press.</ref><ref>Nissinen, Martti (1998). ''Homoeroticism in the Biblical World'', Translated by Kirsi Stjedna. Fortress Press (November 1998) p. 30. ISBN|0-8006-2985-X<br>See also: Maul, S. M. (1992). ''Kurgarrû und assinnu und ihr Stand in der babylonischen Gesellschaft.'' Pp. 159–71 in Aussenseiter und Randgruppen. Konstanze Althistorische Vorträge und Forschungern 32. Edited by V. Haas. Konstanz: Universitätsverlag.</ref><ref>Leick, Gwendolyn (1994). ''Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature''. Routledge. New York.</ref> | ||
* In ancient Egypt (Middle Kingdom, 2000-1800 BCE), there were said to be three genders of humans: men, ''sekhet (s<u>h</u>t)'', and women, in that order. Sekhet is usually translated as "eunuch," but that's probably an oversimplification of what this gender category means. It may also mean cisgender gay men, in the sense of not having children, and not necessarily someone who was castrated.<ref>Sethe, Kurt, (1926), ''Die Aechtung feindlicher Fürsten, Völker und Dinge auf altägyptischen Tongefäßscherben des mittleren Reiches,'' in: Abhandlungen der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, 1926, p. 61.</ref><ref>[http://www.well.com/user/aquarius/egypt.htm The Third Gender in Ancient Egypt], Faris Malik. (web site)</ref><ref>http://www.gendertree.com/Egyptian%20third%20gender.htm</ref> | * In ancient Egypt (Middle Kingdom, 2000-1800 BCE), there were said to be three genders of humans: men, ''sekhet (s<u>h</u>t)'', and women, in that order. Sekhet is usually translated as "eunuch," but that's probably an oversimplification of what this gender category means, especially because there is no certain record of "eunuchs" having been castrated in ancient Egypt. It may also mean cisgender gay men, in the sense of not having children, and not necessarily someone who was castrated.<ref>Sethe, Kurt, (1926), ''Die Aechtung feindlicher Fürsten, Völker und Dinge auf altägyptischen Tongefäßscherben des mittleren Reiches,'' in: Abhandlungen der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, 1926, p. 61.</ref><ref>[http://www.well.com/user/aquarius/egypt.htm The Third Gender in Ancient Egypt], Faris Malik. (web site)</ref><ref>http://www.gendertree.com/Egyptian%20third%20gender.htm</ref><ref>Mark Brustman. "The Third Gender in Ancient Egypt." ''"Born Eunuchs" Home Page and Library.'' 1999. https://people.well.com/user/aquarius/egypt.htm</ref> | ||
* Many cultures and ethnic groups have concepts of [[gender-variant identities worldwide|traditional gender-variant roles]], with a history of them going back to antiquity. For example, [[Hijra]] and [[Two-Spirit]]. These gender identities and roles are often analogous to nonbinary identity, as they don't fit into the Western idea of the [[gender binary]] roles. | * Many cultures and ethnic groups have concepts of [[gender-variant identities worldwide|traditional gender-variant roles]], with a history of them going back to antiquity. For example, [[Hijra]] and [[Two-Spirit]]. These gender identities and roles are often analogous to nonbinary identity, as they don't fit into the Western idea of the [[gender binary]] roles. | ||
==Eleventh century== | |||
* ''Wæpen-wifestre'', or ''wæpned-wifestre'' (Anglo-Saxon, ''wæpen'' "sword," "penis," "male" (or ''wæpned'' "weaponed," "with a penis," "male") + ''wif'' woman, + ''estre'' feminine suffix, thus "woman with a weapon," "woman with a penis," or "man woman") was defined in an eleventh-century glossary (Antwerp Plantin-Moretus 32) as meaning "hermaphrodite." The counterpart of this word, ''wæpned-mann,'' simply meant "a person armed with a sword" or "male person."<ref>Dana Oswald, ''Monsters, Gender and Sexuality in Medieval English Literature.'' Rochester, NY: D.S. Brewer, 2010. p. 93.</ref><ref name="ClarkMedieval">David Clark. ''Between medieval men: Male friendship and desire in early medieval English literature.'' Oxford University Press, 2009. P. 63-65.</ref> ''Wæpen-wifestre'' is known to be a synonym for "scrat" (intersex).<ref>''Catholicon Anglicum: An English-Latin Word-book, dated 1483, volume 30.'' Accessed via Google Books: https://books.google.com/books?id=I7wKAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22W%C3%A6pen-wifestre%22&pg=PA325#v=onepage&q=%22W%C3%A6pen-wifestre%22&f=false</ref> Another synonym given for ''wæpen-wifestre'' is ''bæddel,'' an which also means intersex, but also feminine men, from which the word "bad" is thought to be derived, due to its use as a slur.<ref>"bad (adj.)" ''Online Etymology Dictionary.'' https://www.etymonline.com/word/bad</ref> The related word ''bæddling'' was used in eleventh-century laws for men who had sex with men in a receptive role.<ref name="ClarkMedieval" /> Additional meanings of ''wæpen-wifestre'' are possible. When ''wæpen-wifestre'' is read as "woman with a penis," it could describe a feminine man, a man who has sex with men, or a transgender woman. When read as "woman with a sword," it could refer to a warrior woman. When read as "man woman," it could mean not only an intersex person, but also people who transgressed the gender binary that seems to have been the rule in Anglo-Saxon England, as far as is known from limited literature from that era. From this range of meanings that the word potentially covers, it's possible that ''wæpen-wifestre'' may have been a general category for intersex, queer, and gender-variant people in Britain contemporary to Beowulf. | |||
==Seventeenth century== | ==Seventeenth century== | ||
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* The earliest known true [[transsexual]] genital conversion [[surgery]] of any kind was performed in 1882 on a [[Binary genders#Transgender men|trans man]] named Herman Karl.<ref>James Sears, ''Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Issues in Education.'' p. 109. [http://books.google.com/books?id=w7365W7rQKQC&lpg=PA109&ots=gSa98lwR0v&dq=sophia%20hedwig%20transgender%20herman%20karl&pg=PA109#v=onepage&q=sophia%20hedwig%20transgender%20herman%20karl&f=false Google Books link]</ref> However, "earliest transsexual genital conversion surgery" depends on one's definition. [[Eunuch]]s have been around for all of human history, and while many eunuchs consider themselves [[Binary genders#Cisgender men|cisgender men]], many others consider themselves another gender that isn't female or male, such as [[hijra]]. Some sources credit the first trans male genital conversion surgery as, instead, the one performed on a trans man named Michael Dillon in the 1930s, perhaps depending on how one defines that | |||