Gender-variant identities worldwide: Difference between revisions

In Peru, the pre-colonial Incas recognized Quariwarmi, a mixed-gender role.{{Citation needed}}

[[File:Puang Matoa 2004.JPG|thumb|120px|<translate> <!--T:58--> In Bugis society, androgynous ''bissu'' are priests, shamans, sorcerers, or mediums. </translate>]]

* '''Name of identity:''' Bissu

* '''Description of sex/gender:''' a combination of all aspects of gender, not considered men or women, not necessarily intersex, can be AMAB or AFAB

* '''Role in society:''' priesthood

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> There are divergent theories regarding the definitive origins and meaning of "gender transcendent", as the bissu are commonly called.<ref name=Prezi>{{cite web |url=http://www.iias.nl/iiasn/29/IIASNL29_27.pdf |title=Sex, Gender, and Priests in South Sulawesi, Indonesia |publisher=[[International Institute for Asian Studies]] |accessdate=2011-07-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721074825/http://www.iias.nl/iiasn/29/IIASNL29_27.pdf |archive-date=21 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

For one to be considered ''bissu'', all aspects of gender must be combined to form a whole. It is believed that you are born with the propensity to become a ''bissu'', revealed in a baby whose genitalia are ambiguous. These ambiguous genitalia need not be visible; a normative male who becomes a ''bissu'' is believed to be female on the inside. This combination of sexes enables a 'meta-gender' identity to emerge. However, ambiguous genitalia alone do not confer the state of being a ''bissu''.<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.insideindonesia.org/edition-66/sulawesi-s-fifth-gender-3007484 |title=Sulawesi's fifth gender |journal=[[Inside Indonesia]] |accessdate=2011-07-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728104208/http://www.insideindonesia.org/edition-66-apr-jun-2001/sulawesi-s-fifth-gender-3007484 |archive-date=28 July 2012 }}</ref> The person must also learn the language, songs and incantations, and have a gift for bestowing blessings in order to become ''bissu''. They must remain celibate and wear conservative clothes.<ref name=ABC/> In daily social life, the ''bissu'', the ''calabai'', and the ''calalai'' may enter the dwelling places and the villages of both men and women.<ref name=Prezi1>{{cite web|website=Prezi|url=https://prezi.com/yhh0sdzysou5/the-bugis-five-genders-and-belief-in-a-harmonious-world/|title=The Bugis Five Genders and Belief in a Harmonious World|first=Karlana|last=June|date=23 February 2015|accessdate=27 February 2019}}</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 coronations of kings and queens.<ref name=ABC/>

 

Bugis society has a cultural belief that all five genders must co-exist harmoniously;<ref name=Prezi1/> but by 2019 the numbers of ''bissu'' had declined dramatically, after years of increasing persecution and the tradition of revering ''bissu'' as traditional community priests. ''Bissu'' have mostly survived by participating in weddings as maids of honour and working as farmers as well as performing their cultural roles as priests. Hardline Islamic groups, police and politicians have all played their part in Indonesia's increased harassment and discrimination of the LGBTI community. After independence in 1949, the ancient Bugis kingdoms were incorporated into the new republic and ''bissus''' roles became increasingly sidelined. A regional Islamic rebellion in South Sulawesi led to further persecution. As the atmosphere became increasingly homophobic, fewer people were willing to take on the role of ''bissu''.<ref name=ABC/>

In Turkey, in the 17th century Ottoman Empire, 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.<ref name="Dancing fear & desire"/><ref>{{cite book|author=Tazz Richards|year=2000|title=The Belly Dance Book: Rediscovering the Oldest Dance|url=https://archive.org/details/bellydancebookre00rich|url-access=registration|pages= [https://archive.org/details/bellydancebookre00rich/page/11 11], 27, 28, 29–37, 32}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|author=Anthony Shay|date=2014|title=The Dangerous Lives of Public Performers: Dancing, Sex, and Entertainment in the Islamic World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BO1CBAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage|publisher=Palgrave MacMillan|ISBN=978-1-349-49268-8|page=25}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book|author=Danielle J. van Dobben|year=2008|title=Dancing Modernity: Gender, sexuality and the state in the late Ottoman Empire and early Turkish Republic|url=http://arizona.openrepository.com/arizona/bitstream/10150/193284/1/azu_etd_2907_sip1_m.pdf|publisher=The University of Arizona, Near Eastern Studies|isbn=978-1-243-41693-3|pages=43–44, 47–51}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Joseph A. Boone|year=2014|title=The Homoerotics of Orientalism: Mappings of Male Desire in Narratives of the Near and Middle East|publisher=Columbia University Press|ISBN=978-0-231-15110-8|page=102}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Dancing fear & desire">{{cite book|author=Stavros Stavrou Karayanni|year=2006|url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=088920926X|title=Dancing Fear & Desire: Race, Sexuality and Imperial Politics in Middle Eastern Dance|publisher=WLU Press|isbn=088920926X|pages=78, 82–83}}</ref>  

* '''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.<ref>{{cite book|editor=George Haggerty|date=2000|title=Encyclopedia of Gay Histories and Cultures|publisher=Garland Publishing Inc.|isbn=0-8153-1880-4|pages=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofga00ghag/page/515 515–516]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofga00ghag/page/515}}</ref>

* '''Description of sex/gender:'''  

* '''Role in society:''' Each of the six genders has its own roles and prohibitions.