Gender-variant identities worldwide: Difference between revisions
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From ancient history to the present, many cultures around the world that have established [[gender-variant identities worldwide]], some of which are accepted as an essential part of their societies. These are the gender identities and roles that Western anthropologists have called '''third gender''', because they are different than the Western [[gender binary]] idea of [[cisgender]], [[heterosexual]], masculine [[men]] and feminine [[women]]. Identities that have been called "third gender" are often [[transgender]] and [[nonbinary]], and the "third gender" label pushes that interpretation. However, many of the identities that anthropologists call third gender are not nonbinary identities: some are instead [[lesbian]]s, [[gay]] men, and [[intersex]] people. This is part of why "third gender" is a problematic colonialist label. | From ancient history to the present, many cultures around the world that have established [[gender-variant identities worldwide]], some of which are accepted as an essential part of their societies. These are the gender identities and roles that Western anthropologists have called '''third gender''', because they are different than the Western [[gender binary]] idea of [[cisgender]], [[heterosexual]], masculine [[men]] and feminine [[women]]. Identities that have been called "third gender" are often [[transgender]] and [[nonbinary]], and the "third gender" label pushes that interpretation. However, many of the identities that anthropologists call third gender are not nonbinary identities: some are instead [[lesbian]]s, [[gay]] men, and [[intersex]] people. This is part of why "third gender" is a problematic colonialist label. Calling these identities by outside labels such as "transgender" and "nonbinary," in cases where the people in question haven't said that they would call themselves by those words, can also be colonialist and problematic. | ||
Although it is challenging for Western writers to do so, it is important to talk about these identities without imposing modern Western ideas of gender on them, such as [[binarism]]. Sometimes it isn't clear to outsiders whether a certain apparently [[gender nonconforming]] or [[LGBT]] role was made of people who were like what they think of as gay cisgender people, transgender women, transgender men, or nonbinary people. It can be unwise for outsiders to try to fit them into those modern Western categories. However, it is also difficult to talk about them without doing something like that. | Although it is challenging for Western writers to do so, it is important to talk about these identities without imposing modern Western ideas of gender on them, such as [[binarism]]. Sometimes it isn't clear to outsiders whether a certain apparently [[gender nonconforming]] or [[LGBT]] role was made of people who were like what they think of as gay cisgender people, transgender women, transgender men, or nonbinary people. It can be unwise for outsiders to try to fit them into those modern Western categories. However, it is also difficult to talk about them without doing something like that. | ||
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People who aren't members of these cultures and ethnic groups aren't entitled to call themselves by any of the following genders. That would be [[ethnicity and culture#Cultural appropriation that impacts trans people|cultural appropriation]], which means taking parts of somebody else's culture to use for yourself. It is acceptable to learn about these cultures, so long as one does not take what is not one's own. | People who aren't members of these cultures and ethnic groups aren't entitled to call themselves by any of the following genders. That would be [[ethnicity and culture#Cultural appropriation that impacts trans people|cultural appropriation]], which means taking parts of somebody else's culture to use for yourself. It is acceptable to learn about these cultures, so long as one does not take what is not one's own. | ||
Outsiders should learn about cultures that accept transgender and nonbinary people so that | Outsiders should learn about cultures that accept transgender and nonbinary people so that they can support those people on their own terms, and so that they are informed about political challenges that those people face today. Outsiders should also learn about them in order to see that there have been hundreds of accepting cultures throughout history, that it has been done and that it has worked, and that these genders have always been real. This gives hope for other cultures to become accepting as well. | ||
==Third gender== | ==Third gender== | ||
'''Third | '''Third gender''' is a catch-all category used by some Western anthropologists when talking about other cultures that have societal gendered roles for people who can be thought of as under [[nonbinary]], [[transgender]], and sometimes larger [[MOGII]] [[umbrella terms|umbrellas]]. Third gender includes [[Two Spirit]], [[Hijra]], and many other gender-variant identities worldwide. The people described do not necessarily call themselves anything analogous to the label "third gender," as the term is applied to them by external anthropologists. Additionally, the culture itself may not necessarily think of there strictly being three genders, either. Some Western writers have used "third gender" only for people who they consider to be on the [[transgender women|male-to-female]] spectrum, and "fourth gender" for people on the [[transgender men|female-to-male]] spectrum. Other writers use "third gender" to include both. A "third gender" label has also sometimes been applied to people more accurately described as [[cisgender]], [[gay]], or [[lesbian]]. There have been critical analysis<ref>http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/tbettch/Coloniality.htm The Coloniality of Power: Critiquing the Transgender Paradigm</ref> about the use of the term third gender in anthropology and transgender rights movements as perpetuating the romanticization of cultures outside of the Anglo-Saxon West, and for this reason it is important to make the distinction that only people of the ethnic group which uses a particular designation are entitled to use it as an identity. For instance, someone who is not from India or of Indian descent should not refer to themself as hijra, as this would be [[ethnicity and culture#Cultural appropriation|cultural appropriation]]. Although there are strong historical patterns of the term "third gender" being used by white colonialist anthropologists to erase ethnic genders among People of Colour, it is important to remember that many phenotypically white cultures have also had nonbinary genders. It would, therefore, also be cultural appropriation for a non-Italian to refer to themself as a Femminiello, or someone who is not from the Balkans to refer to themself as a sworn virgin. | ||
In ''Whipping Girl'', Julia Serano talks about some of the problems of how Westerners have interpreted gender variant people in other cultures as "third gender" in order to support those Westerners' own theories about gender. For example, she says that Will Roscoe, who studied Two-Spirit people in history, interprets those people as nonbinary in ''every'' case, even when the people themselves made clear that they identified as women or men. Roscoe does this to support his view that gender is always only a social construct. Serano wrote, | In ''Whipping Girl'', Julia Serano talks about some of the problems of how Westerners have interpreted gender variant people in other cultures as "third gender" in order to support those Westerners' own theories about gender. For example, she says that Will Roscoe, who studied Two-Spirit people in history, interprets those people as nonbinary in ''every'' case, even when the people themselves made clear that they identified as women or men. Roscoe does this to support his view that gender is always only a social construct. Serano wrote, | ||