Topic on Talk:Gender-variant identities worldwide

These entries about gender-variant identities from around the world have been at least temporarily removed from the article itself, because they don't cite a source, or because they don't give reliable evidence that these really are gender-variant identities. If these problems can be solved, then these entries can return to the article. In some cases, such as if we find evidence that an entry is definitely not a gender-variant identity, then that entry should not return to the article, and should stay here in order to show why we will not include it.

Gender variance under the Mamluk Sultanate

• Name of identity: ?
• Culture: Egypt, during the Mamluk Sultanate
• Era: 1200s to 1700s CE
• Description of sex/gender: AFAB and masculine
• Role in society:

In Egypt, during the Mamluk Sultanate of the 1200s to 1700s, masculine children who were assigned female at birth (AFAB) could be raised as men.^{[citation needed]}

Why this entry was removed to the talk page: Because it needs a citation and more content.

Mino

• Name of identity: Mino, meaning "our mothers." Europeans called them Dahomey Amazons, because they saw them as warrior women.
• Culture: The Fon people of the Kingdom of Dahomey, which is in present-day Benin
• Era: 1640s CE until the end of the 19th century
• Description of sex/gender: AFAB and masculine
• Role in society: soldiers, including hunters, riflewomen, reapers, archers, and gunners^[1]

The Mino were a Fon all-female military regiment of the Kingdom of Dahomey. King Houegbadja (who ruled from 1645 to 1685), the third King of Dahomey, is said to have originally started the group which would become the Mino as a corps of elephant hunters called the gbeto. Membership among the Mino was supposed to hone any aggressive character traits for the purpose of war. During their membership they were not allowed to have children or be part of married life (though they were legally married to the king). Many of them were virgins. The regiment had a semi-sacred status, which was intertwined with the Fon belief in Vodun. The Mino trained with intense physical exercise. They wore uniforms indicating their rank. They learnt survival skills and indifference to pain and death, storming acacia-thorn defenses in military exercises and executing prisoners. Discipline was emphasised. Serving in the Mino offered women the opportunity to "rise to positions of command and influence" in an environment structured for individual empowerment. The Mino were also wealthy and held high status. The Mino took a prominent role in the Grand Council, debating the policy of the kingdom. Units were under female command. Some historians have seen the Mino as not just warrior women, but transgender, or outside the Western gender binary. An 1851 published translation of a war chant of the women claims the warriors would chant, "a[s] the blacksmith takes an iron bar and by fire changes its fashion, so have we changed our nature. We are no longer women, we are men."^[2]

Why this entry was removed to the talk page: There is cause to doubt whether this was really a gender variant role, as suggested by some Westerners. Much about the mino has been misrepresented or even fabricated by Western authors. Almost all photos of the mino are known to be staged fakes.^[3]

Ashtime

• Name of identity: Ashtime^[4]
• Culture: The Maale people in the country of Ethiopia^[4]
• Era:
• Description of sex/gender: AMAB and feminine, possibly eunuchs
• Role in society: sex worker?^[4][5]

In Ethiopia, the Maale people had a gender role called Ashtime, for assigned male at birth (AMAB) eunuchs who live as women, though later this became an umbrella term for all kinds of gender non-conforming AMAB people. There are opposing scholarly interpretations of the role and significance of the Ashtime. Some non-Maale historians believe that they are AMAB people who behave as women and also have sex with men.^[6] Other non-Maale historians who lived among the Maale describe them very differently, saying the duty of an ashtime was to allow the king to have sex "protected from even the merest whiff of female sexuality at key moments in the ritual life of the nation".^[5]

Why this entry was removed to the talk page: We need more evidence that this is a gender-variant identity.

Sekrata

• Name of identity: Sekrata
• Culture: The Antandroy, Hova, and Sakalava people in the island country of Madagascar
• Era:
• Description of sex/gender: AMAB and feminine
• Role in society: women's work

Several indigenous cultures of Madagascar have a gender category called Sekrata. When a small child who was AMAB shows a preference for women's work and women's clothes, then the child's family raises this child as a woman, a Sekrata. The Sekrata think of themselves as women, not men. People in these societies treat Sekrata with respect. They believe that if someone disrespects or offends a Sekrata, then she can put a curse on that person and make them ill.^[7]

Why this entry was removed to the talk page: Most sources about the Sekrata were copied from the one book that is cited, and that book is unreliable and very racist. We need a more reliable source that is not based on it.

Ninauposkitzipxpe

• Name of identity: Ninauposkitzipxpe, "manly-hearted women"
• Culture: The Blackfoot Confederacy
• Era:
• Description of sex/gender: AFAB
• Role in society:

The Blackfoot Confederacy recognizes Ninauposkitzipxpe, "manly-hearted women," who are AFAB and occupy a gender role different from that of women and men.^{[citation needed]}

Why this entry was removed to the talk page: Because it needs to cite a source and include more content.

Winkte

• Name of identity: Winkte
• Culture: Lakota
• Era:
• Description of sex/gender: AMAB
• Role in society:

The Lakota recognize Winkte, who are AMAB and occupy a gender role different from men.^{[citation needed]}

Why this entry was removed to the talk page: Because it needs to cite a source and include more content.

Nadleehi and Dilbaa

• Name of identity: Nadleehi and Dilbaa
• Culture: Diné (Navajo)
• Era:
• Description of sex/gender: Nadleehi are AMAB and feminine. The Dilbaa are AFAB and masculine.
• Role in society:

The Diné recognize Nadleehi, who are AMAB and feminine, and the Dilbaa, who are AFAB and masculine.^{[citation needed]}

Why this entry was removed to the talk page: Because it needs to cite a source and include more content.

Ininiikaazo and Ikwekaazo

• Name of identity: ininiikaazo and the ikwekaazo
• Culture: Ojibwe people in what is now Canada
• Era:
• Description of sex/gender: Ininiikaazo means "woman who functions as a man," and ikwekaazo means "man who functions as a woman."
• Role in society:

The Ojibwe recognized the ininiikaazo and the ikwekaazo pre-colonization. Ininiikaazo means "woman who functions as a man," and ikwekaazo means "man who functions as a woman."^{[citation needed]}

Why this entry was removed to the talk page: Because it needs to cite a source and include more content.

Machi

• Name of identity: Machi
• Culture: The Mapuche (Araucana) people in what is now Chile and Argentina
• Era: traditional to present
• Description of sex/gender: whether AMAB or AFAB, their spiritual practices involve cross-dressing. Many but not all Machi themselves
• Role in society: shaman, spiritual leader

The Machi are the shamans of the Mapuche people. During their rituals, the Machi cross-dress in order to communicate with certain aspects of the Creator.^[8]

Why this entry was removed to the talk page: Because it needs more evidence that this is a gender-variant identity.

Waria

• Name of identity: Waria
• Culture: Indonesia
• Era: traditional to present
• Description of sex/gender:
• Role in society: often sex workers

Waria is a traditional third gender role still found in modern Indonesia.^[9] Because of the discrimination they face, most warias only have the option to work as sex workers.

Why this entry was removed to the talk page: Because it needs more evidence that this is a gender-variant identity.

Köçek

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• Name of identity: köçek, from a Persian word meaning "little" or "young."
• Culture: In Turkey, köçek were recruited from among the ranks of the non-Muslim subject nations of the empire, such as Jews, Romani (Gypsies), Greeks, and Albanians.^[10]
• Era: 17th to 19th centuries CE
• Description of sex/gender: AMAB and feminine
• Role in society: dancers, acrobats, entertainers, and sex workers in connection with harem culture

In Turkey, in the 17th century Ottoman Empire, until the 19th century, the köçek were feminine AMAB people. They were the AMAB counterparts to the AFAB çengi (belly dancers), but the köçek were seen as more desirable.^[11][12] A köçek would begin training around the age of seven or eight to become expert at dancing to köçekçe music, and would be considered accomplished after about six years of study and practice. A dancer's career would last as long as he was beardless and retained his youthful appearance.^[13] They wore makeup, long hair, jewels, velvet, and gold. Like belly dancers, their dance involved gyrating their hips and snapping their fingers to the rhythm. The occasions of their performances were wedding or circumcision celebrations, feasts and festivals, as well as the pleasure of the sultans and the aristocracy. The köçeks were available sexually, often to the highest bidder, in the passive role.^[14][15] They performed before men who were screaming fans, and sometimes these audiences would become violent with one another as the fans tried to attract their attention.^[11]

Why this entry was removed to the talk page: Because it needs more evidence that this is a gender-variant identity. So far, it sounds more likely to mean underage children recruited into entertainment and sex work.

Xanith

• Name of identity: Xanith (also spelled Khaneeth or Khanith; خنيث; khanīth). The word is closely related to مخنث mukhannath, another word for feminine AMAB people described elsewhere on this page.^[16] More information is needed to determine whether these two entries on this page should be merged, or if they are distinct.
• Culture: Oman and the Arabian Peninsula
• Era:
• Description of sex/gender: AMAB and partially feminine
• Role in society:

In Oman, the Xanith are AMAB people with a partially feminine gender expression.^{[citation needed]}

Why this entry was removed to the talk page: Because it needs to cite a source and include more content.

Metis

• Name of identity: Metis
• Culture: Nepal
• Era:
• Description of sex/gender: AMAB and feminine
• Role in society:

In Nepal, the Metis are AMAB people with a feminine gender expression.^{[citation needed]}

Why this entry was removed to the talk page: Because it needs to cite a source and include more content.

Acault

• Name of identity: Acault
• Culture: Myanmar
• Era:
• Description of sex/gender: AMAB and feminine
• Role in society:

In Myanmar, the Acault are AMAB people with a feminine gender expression.^{[citation needed]}

Why this entry was removed to the talk page: Because it needs to cite a source and include more content.

Chuckchi shaman

• Name of identity:
• Culture: the indigenous Chuckchi people of Siberia
• Era:
• Description of sex/gender: usually AMAB and feminine
• Role in society: shaman

In Siberia, the indigenous Chuckchi people have shaman who are a gender role that do not fit into the Western gender binary. They are usually feminine AMAB people.^{[citation needed]}

Why this entry was removed to the talk page: Because it needs to cite a source and include more content.

Sumerian priesthood

• Name of identity: Assinnu, Kurgarru, and Kalaturru
• Culture: ancient Sumeria, in what is now the country of Iraq
• Era:
• Description of sex/gender: Each of these three classes of priesthood had a different gender identity: feminine AMAB, masculine AFAB, and nonbinary. No surviving records tell us which word was for which gender.
• Role in society: priesthood

In what is now Iraq, the ancient Sumerians had several kinds of priesthoods that do not fit into the Western gender binary, called Assinnu, Kurgarru, and Kalaturru.^{[citation needed]}

Why this entry was removed to the talk page: Because it needs to cite a source and include more content.

Bacha Posh

• Name of identity: bacha posh (بچه پوش literally "dressed as a boy")
• Culture: Afghanistan and Pakistan
• Era: about 1900 CE to present^[17]
• Description of sex/gender: AFAB and masculine
• Role in society: to perform the family duties of a son

In Afghanistan and Pakistan, there is a 100 year old tradition in which a family with no sons will choose a daughter to raise as a bacha posh, a male or intermediate gender role. This lasts until the child has reached marriage age, whereupon the child is pressured to switch to a female gender role.^{[citation needed]}

Why this entry was removed to the talk page: Because it needs to cite a source and include more content. It needs evidence that this is a gender-variant identity, rather than parents misgendering their children.

Whakawahine and Wakatane

• Name of identity: Whakawahine and Wakatane
• Culture: New Zealand Māori
• Era: traditional to present
• Description of sex/gender: Whakawahine are feminine and AMAB. Wakatane are masculine and AFAB.
• Role in society:

In New Zealand, the Maori culture recognizes transgender identities called Whakawahine (feminine and AMAB) and Wakatane (masculine and AFAB).^{[citation needed]}

Why this entry was removed to the talk page: Because it needs to cite a source and include more content.

There's some sources for some of these in Two-spirit#Traditional_Indigenous_terms.

Thanks, I'll use those sources as I work my way through researching and rewriting these entries.

Cool. I found another resource, Living the spirit: a gay American Indian anthology which is on Archive.org and can be read in full with a free user account.