Gender-variant identities worldwide: Difference between revisions
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Updated links regarding AFAB and AMAB.
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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. This is part of why "third gender" is a problematic colonialist label. It can also be colonialist and problematic to call 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. | 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. It can also be colonialist and problematic to call 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. | ||
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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===Africa=== | ===Africa=== | ||
* 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>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. It may also mean cisgender gay men, in the sense of not having children, and not necessarily someone who was castrated.<ref>http://www.gendertree.com/Egyptian%20third%20gender.htm</ref> | ||
* In Egypt, during the Mamluk Sultanate of the 1200s to 1700s, masculine children who were assigned female at birth ( | * In Egypt, during the Mamluk Sultanate of the 1200s to 1700s, masculine children who were [[Sexes#Assigned female at birth|assigned female at birth (AFAB)]] could be raised as men. | ||
* In Benin, when it was the Kingdom of Dahomey, it had the Mino, warriors who were AFAB and considered masculine. | * In Benin, when it was the Kingdom of Dahomey, it had the Mino, warriors who were AFAB and considered masculine. | ||
* In Ethiopia, the Maale people had a gender role called Ashtime, for assigned-male-at-birth ( | * In Ethiopia, the Maale people had a gender role called Ashtime, for [[Sexes#Assigned male at birth|assigned-male-at-birth (AMAB)]] [[eunuch|eunuchs]] who live as [[women]], though later this became an umbrella term for all kinds of gender non-conforming AMAB people. | ||
* In Madagascar, the Sakalava people have the Sekrata, who are analogous to binary [[transgender women]]. | * In Madagascar, the Sakalava people have the Sekrata, who are analogous to binary [[transgender women]]. | ||
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[[File:Hermaphrodite Indian entertainers (c. 1865).jpg|thumb|A group of Hijra, circa 1865.]] | [[File:Hermaphrodite Indian entertainers (c. 1865).jpg|thumb|A group of Hijra, circa 1865.]] | ||
* In south Asian countries including India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, the [[Hijra]] are AMAB people with a feminine gender expression. This is a very ancient tradition. Today, Hijra are legally recognized as a gender other than female or male. The Hijra of India alone may number as many as 2,000,000.<ref>Reddy, Gayatri, With Respect to Sex: Negotiating Hijra Identity in South India, 310 pp., University of Chicago Press, 2005 ISBN 0-226-70755-5 (see p. 8)</ref> | * In south Asian countries including India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, the [[Hijra]] are AMAB people with a feminine gender expression. This is a very ancient tradition. Today, Hijra are legally recognized as a gender other than female or male. The Hijra of India alone may number as many as 2,000,000.<ref>Reddy, Gayatri, With Respect to Sex: Negotiating Hijra Identity in South India, 310 pp., University of Chicago Press, 2005 ISBN 0-226-70755-5 (see p. 8)</ref> | ||
* The Bugis people of Indonesia divide their society into five separate genders. These are ''oroané'' (cisgender men), ''makkunrai'' (cisgender women), ''calabai'' (analogous to transgender women), ''calalai'' (transgender men), and ''bissu''. To be considered bissu, all aspects of gender must be combined to form a whole. Bissu may or may not be intersex. It is a cultural belief that all five genders must harmoniously coexist.<ref>"Sulawesi's fifth gender" . Inside Indonesia. https://web.archive.org/web/20120728104208/http://www.insideindonesia.org/edition-66-apr-jun-2001/sulawesi-s-fifth-gender-3007484 Archived from the original on 28 July 2012. Retrieved 2011-07-25.</ref><ref><a href="http://www.iias.nl/iiasn/29/IIASNL29_27.pdf">"Sex, Gender, and Priests in South Sulawesi, Indonesia"</a> (PDF). International Institute for Asian Studies. Retrieved 2011-07-25. </ref> <ref>Davies, Sharyn Graham. Gender Diversity in Indonesia: Sexuality, Islam and Queer Selves (ASAA Women in Asia Series), Routledge, 2010.</ref><ref>Davies, Sharyn Graham. Challenging Gender Norms: Five Genders Among Bugis in Indonesia (Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology), Wadsworth Publishing, 2006.</ref><ref>Pelras, Christian. The Bugis (The Peoples of South-East Asia and the Pacific), Wiley-Blackwell, 1997.</ref> | * The Bugis people of Indonesia divide their society into five separate genders. These are ''oroané'' (cisgender men), ''makkunrai'' (cisgender women), ''calabai'' (analogous to transgender women), ''calalai'' (transgender men), and ''bissu''. To be considered bissu, all aspects of gender must be combined to form a whole. Bissu may or may not be [[intersex]]. It is a cultural belief that all five genders must harmoniously coexist.<ref>"Sulawesi's fifth gender" . Inside Indonesia. https://web.archive.org/web/20120728104208/http://www.insideindonesia.org/edition-66-apr-jun-2001/sulawesi-s-fifth-gender-3007484 Archived from the original on 28 July 2012. Retrieved 2011-07-25.</ref><ref><a href="http://www.iias.nl/iiasn/29/IIASNL29_27.pdf">"Sex, Gender, and Priests in South Sulawesi, Indonesia"</a> (PDF). International Institute for Asian Studies. Retrieved 2011-07-25. </ref> <ref>Davies, Sharyn Graham. Gender Diversity in Indonesia: Sexuality, Islam and Queer Selves (ASAA Women in Asia Series), Routledge, 2010.</ref><ref>Davies, Sharyn Graham. Challenging Gender Norms: Five Genders Among Bugis in Indonesia (Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology), Wadsworth Publishing, 2006.</ref><ref>Pelras, Christian. The Bugis (The Peoples of South-East Asia and the Pacific), Wiley-Blackwell, 1997.</ref> | ||
* Also in Indonesia, ''waria'' refers to a third gender.<ref>Oostvogels, Robert (1995). ''The Waria of Indonesia: A Traditional Third Gender Role'', in Herdt (ed.), op cit.</ref> Because the discrimination they face, most warias only have the option to work as sex workers. | * Also in Indonesia, ''waria'' refers to a third gender.<ref>Oostvogels, Robert (1995). ''The Waria of Indonesia: A Traditional Third Gender Role'', in Herdt (ed.), op cit.</ref> Because the discrimination they face, most warias only have the option to work as sex workers. | ||
* In Japan, [[X-gender]] (Xジェンダー) is a common transgender identity that isn't female or male.<ref>Marilyn Roxie. "Selected links on nonbinary gender in Japan." March 28, 2013. [http://genderqueerid.com/post/46526429887/selected-links-on-non-binary-gender-in-japan http://genderqueerid.com/post/46526429887/selected-links-on-non-binary-gender-in-japan]</ref> | * In Japan, [[X-gender]] (Xジェンダー) is a common transgender identity that isn't female or male.<ref>Marilyn Roxie. "Selected links on nonbinary gender in Japan." March 28, 2013. [http://genderqueerid.com/post/46526429887/selected-links-on-non-binary-gender-in-japan http://genderqueerid.com/post/46526429887/selected-links-on-non-binary-gender-in-japan]</ref> | ||