Gender-variant identities worldwide: Difference between revisions

[[Third gender]], or third sex, is not a satisfactory label for all the identities on this page, because it has meant many things. Third gender 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 The phrase "third gender" has been used for a wide variety of meanings: intersex people whose bodies do not fit outdated Western medical concepts of binary sex, hundreds of indigenous societal roles as described (and often misrepresented) by Western anthropologists (including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>

Writings from ancient Egypt (Middle Kingdom, 2000-1800 BCE) said there were three genders of humans: male, ''sekhet'', and female, in that order. Sekhet is usually translated as "eunuch," but that's probably an oversimplification of what this gender category means. Since it was given that level of importance, it could potentially be an entire category of gender/sex variance that doesn't fit into male or female. The hieroglyphs for ''sekhet'' include a sitting figure that usually mean a man, but the word doesn't include hieroglyphs that refer to genitals in any way. The word for male did include hieroglyphs depicting genitals. At the very least, ''sekhet'' is likely to mean cisgender gay men, in the sense of not having children, and not necessarily someone who was castrated. <ref name="Sekhet" />

"Berdache" was an old word used by European-American anthropologists. Berdache was an umbrella term for all traditional gender and sexual identities in all cultures throughout the Americas that were outside of Western ideas of binary gender and heterosexual roles.<ref name="Trans Bodies 611">Laura Erickson-Schroth, ed. ''Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community.'' Oxford University Press, 2014. P. 611.</ref> These identities included the ''nádleeh'' in Diné (Navajo),<ref>Franc Johnson Newcomb (1980-06). Hosteen Klah: Navaho Medicine Man and Sand Painter. University of Oklahoma Press. {{ISBN|0-8061-1008-2}}.</ref><ref>Lapahie, Harrison, Jr. Hosteen Klah (Sir Left Handed). Lapahie.com. 2001 (retrieved 19 Oct 2009)</ref><ref>Berlo, Janet C. and Ruth B.

Phillips. Native North American Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0-19-284218-3}} . pg. 34</ref> and the ''lhamana'' in Zuni,<ref name=Stevenson380>Matilda Coxe Stevenson, The Zuni Indians: Their Mythology, Esoteric Fraternities, and Ceremonies, (BiblioBazaar, 2010) p.&nbsp;380</ref> among many others. In 1990, an Indigenous lesbian and gay international gathering chose to internationally replace "berdache" with "[[Two-Spirit]]" as a preferable umbrella term for these identities.<ref name=NativeOut101>"[http://nativeout.com/twospirit-rc/two-spirit-101/ Two Spirit 101]" at ''NativeOut''. Accessed 23 Sep 2015</ref><ref>Eve Shapiro, ''Gender circuits: Bodies and identities in a technological age.'' Unpaged.</ref> Two-Spirit was chosen to distance these identities from non-Natives,<ref name="de Vries 2009">{{cite book|last1=de Vries|first1=Kylan Mattias|editor1-last=O'Brien|editor1-first=Jodi|title=Encyclopedia of gender and society|date=2009|publisher=SAGE|location=Los Angeles |isbn=9781412909167 |page=64 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_nyHS4WyUKEC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0|accessdate=6 March 2015|chapter=Berdache (Two-Spirit)}}</ref> and should only be used for people who are Native American, because it is for identities that must be contextualized in Native cultures.<ref name=NYT1>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/fashion/08SPIRIT.html?_r=0|title=A Spirit of Belonging, Inside and Out|work=The New York Times|date=8 Oct 2006|accessdate=28 July 2016}}</ref><ref name=Vowel-1>{{cite book|last1=Vowel|first1=Chelsea|editor1-last=|editor1-first=|title= Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis & Inuit Issues in Canada|date=2016|publisher=Highwater Press|location=Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada|isbn=978-1553796800|page=|accessdate=|chapter=All My Queer Relations - Language, Culture, and Two-Spirit Identity |ref=harv}}</ref> Because of the wide variety of identities under the Two-Spirit umbrella, a Two-Spirit person does not necessarily have an identity analogous to a non-Native nonbinary gender identity. Some do, but others are more analogous to non-Native gay male or lesbian woman identities. Notable people who identify specifically with the label "Two-Spirit" include Menominee poet Chrystos (b. 1946), who goes by they/them pronouns,<ref>{{cite web |title=Chrystos |url= http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/chrystos |website=PoetryFoundation.org |access-date=October 22, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Brehm|first=Victoria|date=1998|title=Urban Survivor Stories: The Poetry of Chrystos|journal=Studies in American Indian Literatures|volume=10|issue=1|pages=73–82|jstor=20739440|issn=0730-3238}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sorrel |first1=Lorraine |title=Review: Not Vanishing |journal=[[off our backs]] |date=March 31, 1989 |volume=19 |issue= 3}}</ref> and Ojibwe artist Raven Davis (b. 1975), who goes by neutral pronouns.<ref name="ednet">{{cite web|url=http://www.middleton.ednet.ns.ca/Newsletters/Newsletter.May2015.pdf|title=Newsletter.May2015.pdf|accessdate=2015-11-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151125220828/http://www.middleton.ednet.ns.ca/Newsletters/Newsletter.May2015.pdf|archive-date=2015-11-25|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>IT ALL STARTS WITH AWARENESS -LGBTQ DAY IN ESKASONI. http://kinu.ca/news {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151125225027/http://kinu.ca/news |date=2015-11-25 }}</ref> In the 2019 Worldwide Gender Census, 0.18% (20) of the responses called themselves Two-Spirit. Many more responses in that and earlier surveys called themselves by specific identities under the Two-Spirit umbrella.<ref name="2019 Gender Census" />

In south Asian countries including India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, the [[hijra]] are people who were [[Sexes#Assigned male at birth|assigned male at birth]], who have a feminine gender expression. Traditionally and today, some hijras seek castration. Hijras live together communally. They have important roles in religious practice. They can be Hindu or Muslim. Hijra traditions are ancient. The earliest mention of hijras is in the ''Kama Sutra,'' from 400 BCE to 300 CE.<ref>{{cite book|title=Refractions of Desire, Feminist Perspectives in the Novels of Toni Morrison, Michèle Roberts, and Anita Desai|author=Sengupta, J.|date=2006|publisher=Atlantic Publishers & Distributors|isbn=9788126906291|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V9Y_tQfm_WgC|page=21|accessdate=7 December 2014}}</ref> In one of the earliest Western records of them, Franciscan travelers wrote about seeing hijras in the 1650s.<ref>Donald Lach. ''Asia in the Making of Europe, Volume III: A Century of Advance. Book 2, South Asia.'' University of Chicago, 1998.</ref> From the 1850s onward, the British Raj criminalized and tried to exterminate hijras.<ref>Laurence W. Preston. "A Right to Exist: Eunuchs and the State in Nineteenth-Century India." ''Modern Asian Studies'' (journal), April 1987, vol. 21, issue 2, pp. 371–387 doi=10.1017/S0026749X00013858 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/231903575</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Reddy, Gayatri.|title=With respect to sex : negotiating hijra identity in South India|date=2005|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-70754-9|location=Chicago|oclc=655225261}}</ref> Since the late 20th century, hijra activists and non-government organizations have lobbied for official recognition of the hijra as a legal sex other than male or female. This is important for them to be able to have passports, travel, hold jobs, and other rights. They have been successful at achieving legal recognition as another gender in Nepal, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.<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><ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/11/12/india.gender.voting/index.html, "India's third gender gets own identity in voter rolls", Harmeet Shah Singh, CNN.com], Nov. 2009 </ref><ref>Mitch Kellaway. "Trans Indian's Predicament at Border Shows the U.S. Lags Behind." May 9, 2015. Advocate. http://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2015/05/09/trans-indian-womans-predicament-border-shows-us-lags-behind</ref><ref>[http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/25/pakistan-recognizes-third-gender/ "Pakistan Recognizes Third Gender", Ria Misra, Politics Daily], Dec. 2009</ref><ref>[http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2013/nov/11/hijras-now-separate-gender, "Hijras now a separate gender", Mohosinul Karim, Dhaka Tribune], Nov. 2013 </ref><ref>http://www.attn.com/stories/868/transgender-passport-status</ref> The Hijra in India alone may number as many as 2,000,000 today.<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 pre-Islamic Bugis culture, ''bissu'' were seen as intermediaries between the people and the gods, according to Indonesian anthropologist Professor Halilintar Lathief. Up until the 1940s, the ''bissu'' were still central to keeping ancient palace rituals alive, including [[coronation]]s of kings and queens.<ref name=ABC/>

In Samoa, the [[Fa'afafine]] are AMAB people with a feminine gender expression, who don't think of themselves as female or male. It has been estimated that between the 1% and 5% of Samoans are fa'afafine.<ref>http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37227803</ref> Fa'afafines are accepted in the Samoan culture, although in some conservative sectors of the society they are still discriminated against.

 

The AFAB and masculine counterpart of fa'afafine in Samoa are known variously as faʻatane, faʻatama, and fafatama.{{Citation needed}}

In the Kanaka Maoli (Hawaiian) and Maohi (Tahitian) cultures, the māhū is a traditional gender role outside of the Western concept of gender roles. It is made of people who may have been [[Sexes#Assigned gender at birth|assigned either male or female at birth]]. This tradition existed before Western invaders.<ref name="tate">''[http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/men-women-pacific The men-women of the Pacific]'', tate.org.uk/Tate Britain, [http://www.webcitation.org/6WpIsllud archive URL] 6 March 2015.</ref> The first published description of māhū is from 1789.<ref>William Bligh.  Bounty Logbook.  Thursday, January 15, 1789.</ref> From 1820 onward, Westerners stigmatized and criminalized māhū.<ref>Aleardo Zanghellini. "Sodomy Laws and Gender Variance in Tahiti and Hawai'i." ''Laws'' Vol. 2, Issue 2 (2013), p. 51–68 doi: 10.3390/laws2020051</ref> Māhū still exist today,<ref name="tate" /> and play an important role in preserving and reviving Polynesian culture.<ref name=UHP95>Besnier, Niko, Alexeyeff, Kalissa. ''Gender on the edge : transgender, gay, and other Pacific islanders.'' Honolulu, 2014 isbn=9780824840198</ref><ref name=Robinson>Carol E. Robertson. 1989 "The Māhū of Hawai'i." ''Feminist Studies.'' volume 15, issue 2, pages=318. doi=10.2307/3177791 issn=0046-3663 jstor=3177791</ref>

Further details about how to practice divination in the above method are lost to history. However, some of the above description of the Enarees' divination method sounds similar to the process of I Ching divination in China by means of casting fifty yarrow stalks. The diviner picks up the stalks and puts them between certain fingers. This process generates random numbers, just as casting dice does. These numbers are then used to look up a divinatory meaning. The I Ching comes from between the 10th and 4th centuries BCE,<ref>{{cite book|last=Nylan|first=Michael|title=The Five "Confucian" Classics|date=2001|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|isbn=0-300-13033-3}}</ref> the same period the Enarees lived. The Scythians were connected to China via the Silk Road,<ref name="Beckwith58" /> so these similarities could have involved contact between these cultures.

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