History of nonbinary gender: Difference between revisions

* 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. 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. The [[Hijra]] of South Asian countries including India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh date back to 400 BCE or 300 CE, where they were mentioned in the ''Kama Sutra.'' The Hijra are feminine eunuchs who consider themselves neither male nor female. The Scythians, who were Eurasian nomadic horseriders, were well-known to other civilizations for honoring gender-variant people as priests and warriors. The Scythians invented the world's earliest known hormone therapy as far back as the 7th century BCE, using licorice root as an antiandrogen,<ref name="enarees kaldera">Raven Kaldera. "Ergi: The Way of the Third." ''Northern-Tradition Shamanism.'' https://web.archive.org/web/20130501152328/http://www.northernshamanism.org/shamanic-techniques/gender-sexuality/ergi-the-way-of-the-third.html</ref> and mare's urine as an oestrogen, much as is used in the modern oestrogen medication, Premarin.<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> Hundreds of pre-colonial Native American cultures recognized various kinds of gender roles (today called by the umbrella term [[Two-Spirit]]) who did not fit into the Western gender binary. The māhū of Hawaii and Tahiti were also pre-colonial genders outside male and female. As far back as six centuries ago, the Bugis people of Indonesia have recognized five genders, one of which, called Bissu, is a combination of all the genders, even if they are not physically intersex.<ref name=ABC>{{cite news|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation News|first=Farid M|last=Ibrahim|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-27/indonesia-fifth-gender-might-soon-disappear/10846570|accessdate=27 February 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190227045350/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-27/indonesia-fifth-gender-might-soon-disappear/10846570|archive-date=27 February 2019|title=Homophobia and rising Islamic intolerance push Indonesia's intersex bissu priests to the brink|date=27 February 2019}}</ref> As far back as the 1st century CE, classical Judaism has recognized six genders/sexes, with distinct prohibitions for each.<ref>Robbie Medwed. "More Than Just Male and Female: The Six Genders in Classical Judaism." ''Sojourn'' (blog). June 01, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150714011440/http://www.sojourngsd.org/blog/sixgenders</ref>