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'''Third gender''', or '''third sex''', is a concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves, by their society, or by outsiders to their society, as not fitting into the Western ideas of [[binary gender]] and heterosexual roles. The phrase "third gender" has been used for a wide variety of meanings: intersex people whose bodies do not fit outdated Western medical concepts of binary sex, hundreds of indigenous societal roles as described (and often misrepresented) by Western anthropologists (including indigenous identities such as south Asian [[hijra]]s, Hawaiian and Tahitian [[māhū]], and Native American identities now called [[Two-Spirit]]s),<ref>Julia Serano, ''Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity.'' Unpaged.</ref> transgender people who are [[nonbinary]], homosexual people even in Western societies,<ref name="Trumbach">Trumbach, Randolph. (1998) ''Sex and the Gender Revolution. Volume 1: Heterosexuality and the Third Gender in Enlightenment London''. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1998. (Chicago Series on Sexuality, History & Society)</ref><ref name="The Social Studies C">{{cite book |last=Ross |first=E. Wayne |title=The Social Studies Curriculum: Purposes, Problems, and Possibilities |publisher=SUNY Press |year=2006|isbn= 978-0-7914-6909-5 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4qFMqjxte9IC }}</ref><ref>Kennedy, Hubert C. (1980) ''The "third sex" theory of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs'', Journal of Homosexuality. 1980–1981 Fall–Winter; 6(1–2): pp. 103–1</ref> and women who were considered to be gender-nonconforming because they fought for women's rights.<ref>{{cite journal | jstor=407320 | pages=582–599 | last1=Wright | first1=B. D. | title="New Man," Eternal Woman: Expressionist Responses to German Feminism | volume=60 | issue=4 | journal=The German Quarterly | year=1987 | doi=10.2307/407320  }}</ref>
'''Third gender''', or '''third sex''', is a concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves, by their society, or by outsiders to their society, as not fitting into the Western ideas of [[binary gender]] and heterosexual roles. The phrase "third gender" has been used for a wide variety of meanings: intersex people whose bodies do not fit outdated Western medical concepts of binary sex, hundreds of indigenous societal roles as described (and often misrepresented) by Western anthropologists (including indigenous identities such as south Asian [[hijra]]s, Hawaiian and Tahitian [[māhū]], and Native American identities now called [[Two-Spirit]]s),<ref>Julia Serano, ''Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity.'' Unpaged.</ref> transgender people who are [[nonbinary]], homosexual people even in Western societies,<ref name="Trumbach">Trumbach, Randolph. (1998) ''Sex and the Gender Revolution. Volume 1: Heterosexuality and the Third Gender in Enlightenment London''. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1998. (Chicago Series on Sexuality, History & Society)</ref><ref name="The Social Studies C">{{cite book |last=Ross |first=E. Wayne |title=The Social Studies Curriculum: Purposes, Problems, and Possibilities |publisher=SUNY Press |year=2006|isbn= 978-0-7914-6909-5 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4qFMqjxte9IC }}</ref><ref>Kennedy, Hubert C. (1980) ''The "third sex" theory of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs'', Journal of Homosexuality. 1980–1981 Fall–Winter; 6(1–2): pp. 103–1</ref> and women who were considered to be gender-nonconforming because they fought for women's rights.<ref>{{cite journal | jstor=407320 | pages=582–599 | last1=Wright | first1=B. D. | title="New Man," Eternal Woman: Expressionist Responses to German Feminism | volume=60 | issue=4 | journal=The German Quarterly | year=1987 | doi=10.2307/407320  }}</ref>


A significant number of nonbinary people have adopted "third gender" to describe themselves. In the 2019 Worldwide Gender Census, 2.17% (244) of the 11,242 respondants called themselves third gender.<ref name="2019 Gender Census">"Gender Census 2019 - the worldwide TL;DR." ''Gender Census.'' March 31, 2019. Retrieved July 5, 2020. https://gendercensus.com/post/183843963445/gender-census-2019-the-worldwide-tldr Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20200118084451/https://gendercensus.com/post/183843963445/gender-census-2019-the-worldwide-tldr</ref> In a 2015 survey of non-[[cis]] people in the USA, 4% of respondents (about 1,108 people) called themselves third gender.<ref name="2015USTS-44">{{Cite web |title=2015 U.S. Transgender Survey Complete Report |date= |access-date=23 October 2020 |url= https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Full-Report-Dec17.pdf|page=44}}</ref>
A significant number of nonbinary people have adopted "third gender" to describe themselves. In the 2019 Worldwide Gender Census, 2.17% (244) of the 11,242 respondants called themselves third gender.<ref name="2019 Gender Census">{{cite web|title=Gender Census 2019 - the worldwide TL;DR|work=[[Gender Census]].|date=31 March 2019|accessdate=5 July 2020|url= https://gendercensus.com/post/183843963445/gender-census-2019-the-worldwide-tldr| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200118084451/https://gendercensus.com/post/183843963445/gender-census-2019-the-worldwide-tldr|archive-date=18 January 2020}}</ref> In a 2015 survey of non-[[cis]] people in the USA, 4% of respondents (about 1,108 people) called themselves third gender.<ref name="2015USTS-44">{{Cite web |title=2015 U.S. Transgender Survey Complete Report |date= |access-date=23 October 2020 |url= https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/usts/USTS-Full-Report-Dec17.pdf|page=44}}</ref>


== Intersex people and third gender ==
== Intersex people and third gender ==
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Like non-intersex people, some intersex individuals may not identify themselves as either exclusively female or exclusively male, but most appear to be men or women.<ref name="Money">{{cite book |last=Money |first=John |author-link = John Money |author2=Ehrhardt, Anke A. |title=Man & Woman Boy & Girl. Differentiation and dimorphism of gender identity from conception to maturity |year=1972 |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |location=USA |isbn=978-0-8018-1405-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/manwomanboygirl00mone }}</ref><ref name="Dreger">{{cite book |last=Domurat Dreger |first=Alice |title=Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex |year=2001 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=USA |isbn=978-0-674-00189-3 }}</ref><ref name="maranon">{{cite book |last=Marañón |first=Gregorio |title=Los estados intersexuales en la especie humana |year=1929 |publisher=Morata |location=Madrid }}</ref> A clinical review suggests that between 8.5–20% of people with intersex conditions may experience [[gender dysphoria]],<ref name="furtado">{{cite journal | author = Furtado P. S.| year = 2012 | title = Gender dysphoria associated with disorders of sex development | url = | journal = Nat. Rev. Urol. | volume = 9 | issue = 11| pages = 620–627 | doi = 10.1038/nrurol.2012.182 |display-authors=etal | pmid=23045263}}</ref> while sociological research in Australia, a country which offers a nonbinary legal sex classification ("X"), shows that 19% of people born with atypical sex characteristics selected an "X" or "other" option, while 52% are women, 23% men and 6% unsure.<ref name="jonesbk2016">{{Cite book|publisher=Open Book Publishers |isbn=978-1-78374-208-0 |last1=Jones |first1=Tiffany |last2=Hart |first2=Bonnie |last3=Carpenter |first3=Morgan |last4=Ansara |first4=Gavi |last5=Leonard |first5=William |last6=Lucke |first6=Jayne |title=Intersex: Stories and Statistics from Australia |location=Cambridge, UK |accessdate=2016-02-02 |date=February 2016 |url=http://oii.org.au/wp-content/uploads/key/Intersex-Stories-Statistics-Australia.pdf |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160914152729/http://oii.org.au/wp-content/uploads/key/Intersex-Stories-Statistics-Australia.pdf |archivedate=2016-09-14 |df= }}</ref><ref name="oiiaudemo">{{Citation| last = Organisation Intersex International Australia| title = Demographics| date = July 28, 2016| url = https://oii.org.au/demographics/ | accessdate = 2016-09-30}}</ref> [[Alex MacFarlane]] is believed to be the first person in Australia to obtain a birth certificate recording sex as indeterminate, and the first Australian passport with an 'X' sex marker in 2003.<ref name="West Australian">[http://www.bodieslikeours.org/pdf/xmarks.pdf "X marks the spot for intersex Alex"], West Australian, via bodieslikeours.org. 11 January 2003</ref>
Like non-intersex people, some intersex individuals may not identify themselves as either exclusively female or exclusively male, but most appear to be men or women.<ref name="Money">{{cite book |last=Money |first=John |author-link = John Money |author2=Ehrhardt, Anke A. |title=Man & Woman Boy & Girl. Differentiation and dimorphism of gender identity from conception to maturity |year=1972 |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |location=USA |isbn=978-0-8018-1405-1 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/manwomanboygirl00mone }}</ref><ref name="Dreger">{{cite book |last=Domurat Dreger |first=Alice |title=Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex |year=2001 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=USA |isbn=978-0-674-00189-3 }}</ref><ref name="maranon">{{cite book |last=Marañón |first=Gregorio |title=Los estados intersexuales en la especie humana |year=1929 |publisher=Morata |location=Madrid }}</ref> A clinical review suggests that between 8.5–20% of people with intersex conditions may experience [[gender dysphoria]],<ref name="furtado">{{cite journal | author = Furtado P. S.| year = 2012 | title = Gender dysphoria associated with disorders of sex development | url = | journal = Nat. Rev. Urol. | volume = 9 | issue = 11| pages = 620–627 | doi = 10.1038/nrurol.2012.182 |display-authors=etal | pmid=23045263}}</ref> while sociological research in Australia, a country which offers a nonbinary legal sex classification ("X"), shows that 19% of people born with atypical sex characteristics selected an "X" or "other" option, while 52% are women, 23% men and 6% unsure.<ref name="jonesbk2016">{{Cite book|publisher=Open Book Publishers |isbn=978-1-78374-208-0 |last1=Jones |first1=Tiffany |last2=Hart |first2=Bonnie |last3=Carpenter |first3=Morgan |last4=Ansara |first4=Gavi |last5=Leonard |first5=William |last6=Lucke |first6=Jayne |title=Intersex: Stories and Statistics from Australia |location=Cambridge, UK |accessdate=2016-02-02 |date=February 2016 |url=http://oii.org.au/wp-content/uploads/key/Intersex-Stories-Statistics-Australia.pdf |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160914152729/http://oii.org.au/wp-content/uploads/key/Intersex-Stories-Statistics-Australia.pdf |archivedate=2016-09-14 |df= }}</ref><ref name="oiiaudemo">{{Citation| last = Organisation Intersex International Australia| title = Demographics| date = July 28, 2016| url = https://oii.org.au/demographics/ | accessdate = 2016-09-30}}</ref> [[Alex MacFarlane]] is believed to be the first person in Australia to obtain a birth certificate recording sex as indeterminate, and the first Australian passport with an 'X' sex marker in 2003.<ref name="West Australian">[http://www.bodieslikeours.org/pdf/xmarks.pdf "X marks the spot for intersex Alex"], West Australian, via bodieslikeours.org. 11 January 2003</ref>


The third International Intersex Forum, held in November/December 2013, made statements for the first time on sex and gender registration:<ref>[http://www.ilga-europe.org/home/news/latest/intersex_forum_2013 3rd International Intersex Forum concluded] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204073813/http://www.ilga-europe.org/home/news/latest/intersex_forum_2013 |date=2013-12-04 }}, ILGA-Europe (Creative Commons statement), 2 December 2013</ref><ref>[http://www.starobserver.com.au/news/global-intersex-community-affirms-shared-goals/113806 Global intersex community affirms shared goals], Star Observer, December 4, 2013</ref><ref>[http://aiclegal.org/public-statement-by-the-third-international-intersex-forum/ Public Statement by the Third International Intersex Forum], Advocates for Informed Choice, 12 December 2013</ref><ref>[http://oii.org.au/24241/public-statement-by-the-third-international-intersex-forum/ Public statement by the third international intersex forum], Organisation Intersex International Australia, 2 December 2013</ref><ref>[https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=471190186323466&id=144553798987108 Öffentliche Erklärung des Dritten Internationalen Intersex Forum], {{in lang|de}} Intersex Austria, 8 December 2013</ref><ref>[https://twitter.com/intersexuk/status/407790650084823040 IntersexUK consensus paper.3rd International IntersexForum concluded...], Intersex UK on Twitter, 3 December 2013</ref><ref>[http://nnid.nl/2013/12/03/derde-internationale-intersekse-forum/ {{in lang|nl}} Derde Internationale Intersekse Forum], Nederlandse Netwerk Intersekse/DSD (NNID), 3 December 2013</ref><ref>[http://www.intersexualite.de/index.php/public-statement-third-international-intersex-forum/ Public Statement by the Third International Intersex Forum] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131226074847/http://www.intersexualite.de/index.php/public-statement-third-international-intersex-forum/ |date=2013-12-26 }}, IVIM/OII-Germany, 1 December 2013 {{in lang|de}}</ref><ref>[http://www.oii.tw/Home/3rd-is-forum-statement (Chinese) 2013 第三屆世界陰陽人論壇宣言], Oii-Chinese, December 2013</ref>
The third International Intersex Forum, held in November/December 2013, made statements for the first time on sex and gender registration:<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.ilga-europe.org/home/news/latest/intersex_forum_2013|title= 3rd International Intersex Forum concluded|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131204073813/http://www.ilga-europe.org/home/news/latest/intersex_forum_2013 |archive-date=2013-12-04 }}, ILGA-Europe (Creative Commons statement), 2 December 2013</ref><ref>[http://www.starobserver.com.au/news/global-intersex-community-affirms-shared-goals/113806 Global intersex community affirms shared goals], Star Observer, December 4, 2013</ref><ref>[http://aiclegal.org/public-statement-by-the-third-international-intersex-forum/ Public Statement by the Third International Intersex Forum], Advocates for Informed Choice, 12 December 2013</ref><ref>[http://oii.org.au/24241/public-statement-by-the-third-international-intersex-forum/ Public statement by the third international intersex forum], Organisation Intersex International Australia, 2 December 2013</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=471190186323466&id=144553798987108 |title=Öffentliche Erklärung des Dritten Internationalen Intersex Forum|language=de|author= Intersex Austria|date= 8 December 2013}}</ref><ref>[https://twitter.com/intersexuk/status/407790650084823040 IntersexUK consensus paper.3rd International IntersexForum concluded...], Intersex UK on Twitter, 3 December 2013</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://nnid.nl/2013/12/03/derde-internationale-intersekse-forum/ |language=nl |title=Derde Internationale Intersekse Forum| author= Nederlandse Netwerk Intersekse/DSD (NNID)|date= 3 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.intersexualite.de/index.php/public-statement-third-international-intersex-forum/ |title=Public Statement by the Third International Intersex Forum |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131226074847/http://www.intersexualite.de/index.php/public-statement-third-international-intersex-forum/ |archive-date=26 December 2013|publisher= IVIM/OII-Germany|date= 1 December 2013|language=de}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.oii.tw/Home/3rd-is-forum-statement |language=zh|title= 2013 第三屆世界陰陽人論壇宣言 |author= Oii-Chinese |date=December 2013}}</ref>
{{quote|
{{quote|
* To register intersex children as females or males, with the awareness that, like all people, they may grow up to identify with a different sex or gender.
* To register intersex children as females or males, with the awareness that, like all people, they may grow up to identify with a different sex or gender.
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The Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions states that the legal recognition of intersex people is firstly about access to the same rights as other men and women, when assigned male or female; secondly it is about access to administrative corrections to legal documents when an original sex assignment is not appropriate; and thirdly it is not about the creation of a third sex or gender classification for intersex people as a population but it is, instead, about self-determination.<ref name="afp2016">{{Cite book| publisher = Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions| isbn = 978-0-9942513-7-4| last = Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions| title = Promoting and Protecting Human Rights in relation to Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Sex Characteristics| date = June 2016| url = http://www.asiapacificforum.net/resources/manual-sogi-and-sex-charactersitics/}}</ref>
The Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions states that the legal recognition of intersex people is firstly about access to the same rights as other men and women, when assigned male or female; secondly it is about access to administrative corrections to legal documents when an original sex assignment is not appropriate; and thirdly it is not about the creation of a third sex or gender classification for intersex people as a population but it is, instead, about self-determination.<ref name="afp2016">{{Cite book| publisher = Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions| isbn = 978-0-9942513-7-4| last = Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions| title = Promoting and Protecting Human Rights in relation to Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Sex Characteristics| date = June 2016| url = http://www.asiapacificforum.net/resources/manual-sogi-and-sex-charactersitics/}}</ref>


In March 2017, an Australian and Aotearoa/New Zealand community statement called for an end to legal classification of sex, stating that legal third classifications, like binary classifications, were based on structural violence and failed to respect diversity and a "right to self-determination". It also called for the criminalization of deferrable intersex medical interventions.<ref name="darlington2017">{{Citation| last1 = Androgen Insensitivity Support Syndrome Support Group Australia | last2 = Intersex Trust Aotearoa New Zealand| last3 = Organisation Intersex International Australia| last4 = Black| first4 = Eve| last5 = Bond| first5 = Kylie| last6 = Briffa| first6 = Tony| author6-link = Tony Briffa | last7 = Carpenter| first7 = Morgan| author7-link = Morgan Carpenter | last8 = Cody| first8 = Candice| last9 = David| first9 = Alex| last10 = Driver| first10 = Betsy| last11 = Hannaford| first11 = Carolyn| last12 = Harlow| first12 = Eileen| last13 = Hart| first13 = Bonnie| author13-link = Bonnie Hart | last14 = Hart| first14 = Phoebe| author14-link = Phoebe Hart | last15 = Leckey| first15 = Delia| last16 = Lum| first16 = Steph| last17 = Mitchell| first17 = Mani Bruce| author17-link = Mani Mitchell | last18 = Nyhuis| first18 = Elise| last19 = O'Callaghan| first19 = Bronwyn| last20 = Perrin| first20 = Sandra| last21 = Smith| first21 = Cody| last22 = Williams| first22 = Trace| last23 = Yang| first23 = Imogen| last24 = Yovanovic| first24 = Georgie| title = Darlington Statement| date = March 2017 | url = https://oii.org.au/darlington-statement/| archive-url = https://eprints.qut.edu.au/104412/ | archive-date = 2017-03-21 | accessdate = March 21, 2017}}</ref><ref name="copland2017ds">{{Cite web| last = Copland| first = Simon| title = Intersex people have called for action. It's time to listen.| work = Special Broadcasting Service| accessdate = 2017-03-21| date = March 20, 2017| url = http://www.sbs.com.au/topics/sexuality/agenda/article/2017/03/20/intersex-people-have-called-action-its-time-listen}}</ref>
In March 2017, an Australian and Aotearoa/New Zealand community statement called for an end to legal classification of sex, stating that legal third classifications, like binary classifications, were based on structural violence and failed to respect diversity and a "right to self-determination". It also called for the criminalization of deferrable intersex medical interventions.<ref name="darlington2017">{{Citation| last1 = Androgen Insensitivity Support Syndrome Support Group Australia | last2 = Intersex Trust Aotearoa New Zealand| last3 = Organisation Intersex International Australia| last4 = Black| first4 = Eve| last5 = Bond| first5 = Kylie| last6 = Briffa| first6 = Tony| author6-link = Tony Briffa | last7 = Carpenter| first7 = Morgan| author7-link = Morgan Carpenter | last8 = Cody| first8 = Candice| last9 = David| first9 = Alex| last10 = Driver| first10 = Betsy| last11 = Hannaford| first11 = Carolyn| last12 = Harlow| first12 = Eileen| last13 = Hart| first13 = Bonnie| author13-link = Bonnie Hart | last14 = Hart| first14 = Phoebe| author14-link = Phoebe Hart | last15 = Leckey| first15 = Delia| last16 = Lum| first16 = Steph| last17 = Mitchell| first17 = Mani Bruce| author17-link = Mani Bruce Mitchell | last18 = Nyhuis| first18 = Elise| last19 = O'Callaghan| first19 = Bronwyn| last20 = Perrin| first20 = Sandra| last21 = Smith| first21 = Cody| last22 = Williams| first22 = Trace| last23 = Yang| first23 = Imogen| last24 = Yovanovic| first24 = Georgie| title = Darlington Statement| date = March 2017 | url = https://oii.org.au/darlington-statement/| archive-url = https://eprints.qut.edu.au/104412/ | archive-date = 2017-03-21 | accessdate = March 21, 2017}}</ref><ref name="copland2017ds">{{Cite web| last = Copland| first = Simon| title = Intersex people have called for action. It's time to listen.| work = Special Broadcasting Service| accessdate = 2017-03-21| date = March 20, 2017| url = http://www.sbs.com.au/topics/sexuality/agenda/article/2017/03/20/intersex-people-have-called-action-its-time-listen}}</ref>


== Indigenous peoples and third gender ==
== Indigenous peoples and third gender ==
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A Samoan fa'afafine said, "But I would like to pursue a master's degree with a paper on homosexuality from a Samoan perspective that would be written for educational purposes, because I believe some of the stuff that has been written about us is quite wrong."<ref>[http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue6/schmidt.html Redefining Fa'afafine: Western Discourses and the Construction of Transgenderism in Samoa Johanna Schmidt]; Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context; Issue 6, August 2001</ref>
A Samoan fa'afafine said, "But I would like to pursue a master's degree with a paper on homosexuality from a Samoan perspective that would be written for educational purposes, because I believe some of the stuff that has been written about us is quite wrong."<ref>[http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue6/schmidt.html Redefining Fa'afafine: Western Discourses and the Construction of Transgenderism in Samoa Johanna Schmidt]; Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context; Issue 6, August 2001</ref>


In ''How to become a Berdache: Toward a unified analysis of gender diversity'', Will Roscoe writes that "this pattern can be traced from the earliest accounts of the Spaniards to present-day ethnographies. What has been written about berdaches reflects more the influence of existing Western discourses on gender, sexuality and the Other than what observers actually witnessed."<ref>[http://www.phenomenologycenter.org/course/berdache.htm How to become a Berdache: Toward a unified analysis of gender diversity] Will Roscoe  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226235121/http://www.phenomenologycenter.org/course/berdache.htm |date=February 26, 2009 }}</ref>
In ''How to become a Berdache: Toward a unified analysis of gender diversity'', Will Roscoe writes that "this pattern can be traced from the earliest accounts of the Spaniards to present-day ethnographies. What has been written about berdaches reflects more the influence of existing Western discourses on gender, sexuality and the Other than what observers actually witnessed."<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.phenomenologycenter.org/course/berdache.htm| title=How to become a Berdache: Toward a unified analysis of gender diversity|last=Roscoe| first=Will |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226235121/http://www.phenomenologycenter.org/course/berdache.htm|archive-date=26 February 2009}}</ref>


According to Towle and Morgan:
According to Towle and Morgan:


{{quote|Ethnographic examples [of ‘third genders’] can come from distinct societies located in Thailand, Polynesia, Melanesia, Native America, western Africa, and elsewhere and from any point in history, from Ancient Greece, to sixteenth century England to contemporary North America. Popular authors routinely simplify their descriptions, ignoring...or conflating dimensions that seem to them extraneous, incomprehensible, or ill suited to the images they want to convey (484).<ref>[http://feed.belowthebelt.org/2009/10/great-third-gender-debate.html The Great Third Gender Debate; BELOW THE BELT, theory-q] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110503222350/http://feed.belowthebelt.org/2009/10/great-third-gender-debate.html |date=May 3, 2011 }}</ref>}}
{{quote|Ethnographic examples [of 'third genders'] can come from distinct societies located in Thailand, Polynesia, Melanesia, Native America, western Africa, and elsewhere and from any point in history, from Ancient Greece, to sixteenth century England to contemporary North America. Popular authors routinely simplify their descriptions, ignoring...or conflating dimensions that seem to them extraneous, incomprehensible, or ill suited to the images they want to convey (484).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://feed.belowthebelt.org/2009/10/great-third-gender-debate.html |title=The Great Third Gender Debate; BELOW THE BELT, theory-q |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110503222350/http://feed.belowthebelt.org/2009/10/great-third-gender-debate.html |archive-date=3 May 2011 }}</ref>}}


Western scholars often do not make a distinction between people of the third gender and males; they are often lumped together. The scholars usually use gender roles as a way to explain sexual relations between the third gender and males. For example, when analyzing the non-normative sex gender categories in Theravada Buddhism, Peter A. Jackson says it appears that within early Buddhist communities, men who engaged in receptive anal sex were seen as feminized and were thought to be hermaphrodites. In contrast, men who engaged in oral sex were not seen as crossing sex/gender boundaries, but rather as engaging in abnormal sexual practices without threatening their masculine gendered existence.<ref>[http://rspas.anu.edu.au/papers/pah/theravada.html Non-normative Sex/Gender Categories in the Theravada Buddhist Scriptures]
Western scholars often do not make a distinction between people of the third gender and males; they are often lumped together. The scholars usually use gender roles as a way to explain sexual relations between the third gender and males. For example, when analyzing the non-normative sex gender categories in Theravada Buddhism, Peter A. Jackson says it appears that within early Buddhist communities, men who engaged in receptive anal sex were seen as feminized and were thought to be hermaphrodites. In contrast, men who engaged in oral sex were not seen as crossing sex/gender boundaries, but rather as engaging in abnormal sexual practices without threatening their masculine gendered existence.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://rspas.anu.edu.au/papers/pah/theravada.html |title=Non-normative Sex/Gender Categories in the Theravada Buddhist Scriptures|author=Compiled by Peter A. Jackson |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224134527/http://rspas.anu.edu.au/papers/pah/theravada.html |archive-date=February 24, 2012 }}</ref>
Compiled by Peter A. Jackson {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224134527/http://rspas.anu.edu.au/papers/pah/theravada.html |date=February 24, 2012 }}</ref>


Some writers suggest that a third gender emerged around 1700 AD in England: the male sodomite.<ref name="Trumbach">Trumbach, Randolph. (1998) ''Sex and the Gender Revolution. Volume 1: Heterosexuality and the Third Gender in Enlightenment London''. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1998. (Chicago Series on Sexuality, History & Society)</ref> According to these writers, this was marked by the emergence of a subculture of effeminate males and their meeting places (molly houses), as well as a marked increase in hostility towards effeminate or homosexual males. People described themselves as members of a third sex in Europe from at least the 1860s with the writings of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1300/J082v06n01_10 | title=The "Third Sex" Theory of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs | year=1981 | last1=Kennedy | first1=Hubert | journal=Journal of Homosexuality | volume=6 | pages=103–111 | pmid=7042820 | issue=1–2  }}</ref> and continuing in the late nineteenth century with Magnus Hirschfeld,<ref name="Hirschfeld 1904">Magnus Hirschfeld, 1904. ''Berlins Drittes Geschlecht'' ("Berlin's Third Sex")</ref> John Addington Symonds,<ref name="Ellis 1897">Havelock Ellis and John Addington Symonds, 1897. ''Sexual Inversion''.</ref> Edward Carpenter,<ref name="fordham.edu">Edward Carpenter, 1908. ''[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/carpenter-is.html The Intermediate Sex: A Study of Some Transitional Types of Men and Women]''.</ref> Aimée Duc<ref name="Duc, Aimée 1901">Duc, Aimée, 1901. ''Sind es Frauen? Roman über das dritte Geschlecht'' ("Are These Women? Novel about the Third Sex")</ref> and others. These writers described themselves and those like them as being of an "inverted" or "intermediate" sex and experiencing homosexual desire, and their writing argued for social acceptance of such sexual intermediates.<ref>Jones, James W. (1990). ''"We of the third sex” : homo Representations of Homosexuality in Wilhelmine Germany.'' (German Life and Civilization v. 7) New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 1990. {{ISBN|0-8204-1209-0}}</ref> Many cited precedents from classical Greek and Sanskrit literature (see below).
Some writers suggest that a third gender emerged around 1700 AD in England: the male sodomite.<ref name="Trumbach">Trumbach, Randolph. (1998) ''Sex and the Gender Revolution. Volume 1: Heterosexuality and the Third Gender in Enlightenment London''. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1998. (Chicago Series on Sexuality, History & Society)</ref> According to these writers, this was marked by the emergence of a subculture of effeminate males and their meeting places (molly houses), as well as a marked increase in hostility towards effeminate or homosexual males. People described themselves as members of a third sex in Europe from at least the 1860s with the writings of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1300/J082v06n01_10 | title=The "Third Sex" Theory of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs | year=1981 | last1=Kennedy | first1=Hubert | journal=Journal of Homosexuality | volume=6 | pages=103–111 | pmid=7042820 | issue=1–2  }}</ref> and continuing in the late nineteenth century with Magnus Hirschfeld,<ref name="Hirschfeld 1904">Magnus Hirschfeld, 1904. ''Berlins Drittes Geschlecht'' ("Berlin's Third Sex")</ref> John Addington Symonds,<ref name="Ellis 1897">Havelock Ellis and John Addington Symonds, 1897. ''Sexual Inversion''.</ref> Edward Carpenter,<ref name="fordham.edu">Edward Carpenter, 1908. ''[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/carpenter-is.html The Intermediate Sex: A Study of Some Transitional Types of Men and Women]''.</ref> Aimée Duc<ref name="Duc, Aimée 1901">Duc, Aimée, 1901. ''Sind es Frauen? Roman über das dritte Geschlecht'' ("Are These Women? Novel about the Third Sex")</ref> and others. These writers described themselves and those like them as being of an "inverted" or "intermediate" sex and experiencing homosexual desire, and their writing argued for social acceptance of such sexual intermediates.<ref>Jones, James W. (1990). ''"We of the third sex” : homo Representations of Homosexuality in Wilhelmine Germany.'' (German Life and Civilization v. 7) New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 1990. {{ISBN|0-8204-1209-0}}</ref> Many cited precedents from classical Greek and Sanskrit literature (see below).
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