Gender variance in spirituality: Difference between revisions
this reference list is a mess
(→Gender variant figures in Greco-Roman religions: Consistency in the labeling scheme) |
imported>TXJ (this reference list is a mess) |
||
| Line 122: | Line 122: | ||
==== Views about gender variance in Islam ==== | ==== Views about gender variance in Islam ==== | ||
''See main article: [[Wikipedia:Islam and transgender people]]'' | ''See main article: [[Wikipedia:Islam and transgender people]]'' | ||
In Islamic literature, the word ''[[mukhannathun]]'' is used to describe "effeminate men". The term has sometimes been equated to transgender women,<ref>{{cite book|title=Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People|last1=Roughgarden|first1=Joan|page=362|year=2013|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520957978}}</ref> gay men, members of a third gender, or intersex individuals,<ref name="Alipour" >{{Cite journal|last=Alipour|first=M|date=2016|title=Islamic shari'a law, neotraditionalist Muslim scholars and transgender sex-reassignment surgery: A case study of Ayatollah Khomeini's and Sheikh al-Tantawi's fatwas|journal=International Journal of Transgenderism|volume=17:1|pages=91–103|doi=10.1080/15532739.2016.1250239|doi-access=free}}</ref> though it does not neatly fit into any of those categories.<ref name="TEOEM">{{cite journal|last=Rowson|first=Everett K.|date=October 1991|title=The Effeminates of Early Medina|url=http://www.williamapercy.com/wiki/images/The_effeminates_of_early_medina.pdf|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=111|issue=4|pages=671–693|doi=10.2307/603399|jstor=603399|citeseerx=10.1.1.693.1504}}</ref><ref>{{cite | In Islamic literature, the word ''[[mukhannathun]]'' is used to describe "effeminate men". The term has sometimes been equated to transgender women,<ref>{{cite book|title=Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People|last1=Roughgarden|first1=Joan|page=362|year=2013|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=9780520957978}}</ref> gay men, members of a third gender, or intersex individuals,<ref name="Alipour" >{{Cite journal|last=Alipour|first=M|date=2016|title=Islamic shari'a law, neotraditionalist Muslim scholars and transgender sex-reassignment surgery: A case study of Ayatollah Khomeini's and Sheikh al-Tantawi's fatwas|journal=International Journal of Transgenderism|volume=17:1|pages=91–103|doi=10.1080/15532739.2016.1250239|doi-access=free}}</ref> though it does not neatly fit into any of those categories.<ref name="TEOEM">{{cite journal|last=Rowson|first=Everett K.|date=October 1991|title=The Effeminates of Early Medina|url=http://www.williamapercy.com/wiki/images/The_effeminates_of_early_medina.pdf|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=111|issue=4|pages=671–693|doi=10.2307/603399|jstor=603399|citeseerx=10.1.1.693.1504}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|first=Muhsin |last=Hendricks |title=Islam and Homosexuality |publisher=ILGA |date=July 2006 |location=ILGA's preconference on religions |url=http://doc.ilga.org/content/download/4522/27322/version/1/file/ILGA-July06-Religions.pdf |accessdate=2007-06-22 |format=PDF |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222247/http://doc.ilga.org/content/download/4522/27322/version/1/file/ILGA-July06-Religions.pdf |archivedate=2007-09-27 }}</ref> | ||
The treatment of ''mukhannathun'' varied throughout early Islamic history, and the meaning of the term took on new dimensions over time. In some eras, men deemed ''mukhannathun'' were persecuted and castrated, while in others they were celebrated as musicians and entertainers.<ref name="TEOEM" /><ref>{{cite book|title=The Music of the Arabs|last1=Touma|first1=Habib|year=1975|pages=135–136}}</ref> In later years, the term came to be associated with the receptive partner in gay sexual practices, as homosexuality was seen as an extension of effeminacy. In the late medieval era, several Islamic scholars held that ''mukhannathun'' who had innate feminine mannerisms were not blameworthy as long as they did not violate religious laws concerning sexual morality.<ref name="TEOEM" /> | The treatment of ''mukhannathun'' varied throughout early Islamic history, and the meaning of the term took on new dimensions over time. In some eras, men deemed ''mukhannathun'' were persecuted and castrated, while in others they were celebrated as musicians and entertainers.<ref name="TEOEM" /><ref>{{cite book|title=The Music of the Arabs|last1=Touma|first1=Habib|year=1975|pages=135–136}}</ref> In later years, the term came to be associated with the receptive partner in gay sexual practices, as homosexuality was seen as an extension of effeminacy. In the late medieval era, several Islamic scholars held that ''mukhannathun'' who had innate feminine mannerisms were not blameworthy as long as they did not violate religious laws concerning sexual morality.<ref name="TEOEM" /> | ||
| Line 266: | Line 266: | ||
==== Views about gender variance in Hinduism ==== | ==== Views about gender variance in Hinduism ==== | ||
Hindu philosophy has the concept of a | Hindu philosophy has the concept of a third sex or [[third gender]] (''tritiya-prakriti'' – literally, "third nature"). Certain people in this category are called [[Hijra]]s in Hinduism.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Neither Man Nor Woman: The Hijras of India|last=Nanda|first=Serena|author-link=Serena Nanda|year=1990|isbn=978-0534509033|page=137}}</ref> | ||
==== Gender variant figures in Hinduism ==== | ==== Gender variant figures in Hinduism ==== | ||
| Line 272: | Line 272: | ||
* '''Purusha''', a primal androgynous deity. The word also refers to a complex concept within Hinduism. <ref> [https://kaulapedia.com/en/siddha-vastu/#Principle_of_Vastu_Purusha] </ref> | * '''Purusha''', a primal androgynous deity. The word also refers to a complex concept within Hinduism. <ref> [https://kaulapedia.com/en/siddha-vastu/#Principle_of_Vastu_Purusha] </ref> | ||
* '''Ardhanarisvara''' (aspect of male Shiva, with female consort Parvati, Deva, Shakti, or Uma), both male and female in one body.<ref>Raven Kaldera, Hermaphrodeities, p. 40.</ref> Patron of gay people, intersex people, and transgender people | * '''Ardhanarisvara''' (aspect of male Shiva, with female consort Parvati, Deva, Shakti, or Uma), both male and female in one body.<ref>Raven Kaldera, Hermaphrodeities, p. 40.</ref> Patron of gay people, intersex people, and transgender people | ||
* '''Bahuchara Mata''', goddess, patron of [[Hijra]], who are members of a trans feminine nonbinary gender role.<ref>Collected Information About the | * '''Bahuchara Mata''', goddess, patron of [[Hijra]], who are members of a trans feminine nonbinary gender role.<ref>{{cite web|title=Collected Information About the Eunuchs of India Known as Hijras|url=http://androgyne.0catch.com/hijrax.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200218220634/http://androgyne.0catch.com/hijrax.htm|archive-date=18 February 2020}}</ref> | ||
Eunuchs of India Known as Hijras. | * '''Indra''', who cursed a king to become a woman<ref name="Pattanaik">Devdutt Pattanaik, The Goddess in India: The Five Faces of the Eternal Feminine</ref>. The king was Bhangashvana in the ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata. The king ended up with "two sets of sons—those who called him ‘Father’ and those who called him ‘Mother.’ Indra caused the two sets of children to fight and kill each other. When Bhangashvana pleaded for mercy, Indra asked which set of sons he would like back. ‘Those who call me mother,’ said Bhangashvana. When asked whether he wanted a male body or a female one, he replied, ‘A female one, so that I can get more pleasure.’”<ref name="Pattanaik" /> | ||
</ref> | |||
* '''Indra''', who cursed a king to become a woman<ref>Devdutt Pattanaik, The Goddess in India: The Five Faces of the Eternal Feminine</ref>. The king was Bhangashvana in the ancient Indian epic, the Mahabharata. The king ended up with "two sets of sons—those who called him ‘Father’ and those who called him ‘Mother.’ Indra caused the two sets of children to fight and kill each other. When Bhangashvana pleaded for mercy, Indra asked which set of sons he would like back. ‘Those who call me mother,’ said Bhangashvana. When asked whether he wanted a male body or a female one, he replied, ‘A female one, so that I can get more pleasure.’”<ref | |||
* '''Iravan''' (Iravat, Iravant, Aravan), patron of hijra. | * '''Iravan''' (Iravat, Iravant, Aravan), patron of hijra. | ||
* '''Samba''', who became a woman and gave birth | * '''Samba''', who became a woman and gave birth | ||
| Line 412: | Line 410: | ||
Transgender people are generally magickal people, according to Karla McLaren in her ''Energetic Boundaries'' study guide. Transgender people are almost always welcomed in individual communities, covens, study groups, and circles.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wicca-spirituality.com/gay-wicca.html |title=The Scoop on Gay Wicca |work=Wicca Spirituality: A New Wicca for a New World}}</ref> However, some Neopagan groups do not welcome transgender people, and specifically exclude people from participation who do not fit into [[cisgender]] [[male]] and [[female]] categories.<ref name="EncWitch"/> Some gender separatist groups exclude transgender people, often on the basis of their [[gender assigned at birth]].<ref name="EncWitch">{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism|first=Shelley|last=Rabinovitch|author2=James Lewis|publisher=Citadel Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0806524061 | Transgender people are generally magickal people, according to Karla McLaren in her ''Energetic Boundaries'' study guide. Transgender people are almost always welcomed in individual communities, covens, study groups, and circles.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wicca-spirituality.com/gay-wicca.html |title=The Scoop on Gay Wicca |work=Wicca Spirituality: A New Wicca for a New World}}</ref> However, some Neopagan groups do not welcome transgender people, and specifically exclude people from participation who do not fit into [[cisgender]] [[male]] and [[female]] categories.<ref name="EncWitch"/> Some gender separatist groups exclude transgender people, often on the basis of their [[gender assigned at birth]].<ref name="EncWitch">{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism|first=Shelley|last=Rabinovitch|author2=James Lewis|publisher=Citadel Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0806524061 | ||
}}</ref> Dianic Wicca is an example of such a separatist group.<ref name=Adler>{{cite book |last=Adler |first=Margaret |title=Drawing down the moon: witches, Druids, goddess-worshippers, and other pagans in America |year=2006 |publisher=Penguin Books |page=[https://archive.org/details/drawingdownmoonw00adle_2/page/126 126] |isbn=978-0-14-303819-1 | }}</ref> Dianic Wicca is an example of such a separatist group.<ref name=Adler>{{cite book |last=Adler |first=Margaret |title=Drawing down the moon: witches, Druids, goddess-worshippers, and other pagans in America |year=2006 |publisher=Penguin Books |page=[https://archive.org/details/drawingdownmoonw00adle_2/page/126 126] |isbn=978-0-14-303819-1 }}</ref> | ||
Wiccan traditions hold a wide range of differing beliefs about [[sexual orientation]] and [[gender identity]]. However, Wicca is regarded by many practitioners as a fertility religion. Starhawk wrote in her 1982 book ''Dreaming the Dark,'' "Sexuality was a sacrament in the Old Religion; it was (and is) viewed as a powerful force through which the healing, fructifying love of the immanent Goddess was directly known, and could be drawn down to nourish the world, <u>to quicken fertility</u> in human beings and in nature".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Dreaming the dark : magic, sex, & politics|last=Starhawk.|date=1982|publisher=Beacon Press|isbn=0807010006|location=Boston|oclc=8281427}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web|url=https://www.spiralnature.com/spirituality/god-goddess-other/|title=God, Goddess, and Other: Fertility faiths and queer identities|last=Xenia|date=2014-11-26|website=Spiral Nature Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2019-09-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180203111149/http://www.spiralnature.com/spirituality/god-goddess-other/|archive-date=3 February 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> | Wiccan traditions hold a wide range of differing beliefs about [[sexual orientation]] and [[gender identity]]. However, Wicca is regarded by many practitioners as a fertility religion. Starhawk wrote in her 1982 book ''Dreaming the Dark,'' "Sexuality was a sacrament in the Old Religion; it was (and is) viewed as a powerful force through which the healing, fructifying love of the immanent Goddess was directly known, and could be drawn down to nourish the world, <u>to quicken fertility</u> in human beings and in nature".<ref>{{Cite book|title=Dreaming the dark : magic, sex, & politics|last=Starhawk.|date=1982|publisher=Beacon Press|isbn=0807010006|location=Boston|oclc=8281427}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web|url=https://www.spiralnature.com/spirituality/god-goddess-other/|title=God, Goddess, and Other: Fertility faiths and queer identities|last=Xenia|date=2014-11-26|website=Spiral Nature Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2019-09-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180203111149/http://www.spiralnature.com/spirituality/god-goddess-other/|archive-date=3 February 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> | ||
Most Wiccans worship two deities, the Goddess and God, representing a male-female polarity that Wiccans believe is in all things.{{r|group=|KraemerGS|page1=392|q1=Both rituals seek union between the divine masculine and the divine feminine as represented by a priest and priestess, but Gardner emphasized that the purpose of the Great Rite was physical and spiritual fertility...|page2=|q2=|3=}}<ref name=":2" /><ref name="Farrar1989">{{cite book|title=The Witches' God: Lord of the Dance|author=Farrar, Janet|author2=Farrar, Stewart|publisher=Hale|year=1989|isbn=0-7090-3319-2|location=London|pages=170–171|oclc=59693966}}</ref> This is a "predominantly heterosexual model".<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of psychology and religion|others=Leeming, David Adams, 1937-|isbn=978-1-4614-6086-2|edition=2nd|location=New York|pages=1638–1641|oclc=865090158|lay-url=https://www.academia.edu/25192164/Sexuality_and_Wicca|lay-source=Academia.edu - Harrington, Melissa|lay-date=2016}}</ref> A central part of Wiccan liturgy involves the Great Rite,{{r|ObolerGE}}<ref name=":4" /> | Most Wiccans worship two deities, the Goddess and God, representing a male-female polarity that Wiccans believe is in all things.{{r|group=|KraemerGS|page1=392|q1=Both rituals seek union between the divine masculine and the divine feminine as represented by a priest and priestess, but Gardner emphasized that the purpose of the Great Rite was physical and spiritual fertility...|page2=|q2=|3=}}<ref name=":2" /><ref name="Farrar1989">{{cite book|title=The Witches' God: Lord of the Dance|author=Farrar, Janet|author2=Farrar, Stewart|publisher=Hale|year=1989|isbn=0-7090-3319-2|location=London|pages=170–171|oclc=59693966}}</ref> This is a "predominantly heterosexual model".<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of psychology and religion|others=Leeming, David Adams, 1937-|isbn=978-1-4614-6086-2|edition=2nd|location=New York|pages=1638–1641|oclc=865090158|lay-url=https://www.academia.edu/25192164/Sexuality_and_Wicca|lay-source=Academia.edu - Harrington, Melissa|lay-date=2016}}</ref> A central part of Wiccan liturgy involves the Great Rite,{{r|ObolerGE}}<ref name=":4" />{{cite book|author=Farrar, Stewart|title=What Witches Do: A Modern Coven Revealed|year=1973|publisher= Sphere Books| page=85-94}}</ref> an act of actual or symbolic ritual sexual intercourse between the two deities, carried out by a priest and priestess who have had the deities invoked upon them.{{r|ObolerGE}}<ref name=":4" />{{cite book|author=Crowley, Vivianne|title=Wicca: The Old Religion in the New Age| year= 1989|publisher=The Aquarian Press|ISBN=0-85030-737-6|page=234}}</ref> | ||
Gardnerian and Alexandrian groups typically form their covens from male-female pairs exclusively.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wicca.com/wicca/wicca-forms.html|title=Various Forms of Wicca and Wiccan Traditions|website=wicca.com|access-date=2020-06-25|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627042208/https://wicca.com/wicca/wicca-forms.html|archive-date=27 June 2020}}</ref> Kraemer writes, "The British Traditional Wicca of the 1950s and 1960s saw masculine and feminine energies as wholly distinct from each other, yet complementary. Although masculinity and femininity were to be valued equally, priestesses and priests were cast into rigidly gendered, heteronormative roles."{{r|KraemerGS}} | Gardnerian and Alexandrian groups typically form their covens from male-female pairs exclusively.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wicca.com/wicca/wicca-forms.html|title=Various Forms of Wicca and Wiccan Traditions|website=wicca.com|access-date=2020-06-25|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627042208/https://wicca.com/wicca/wicca-forms.html|archive-date=27 June 2020}}</ref> Kraemer writes, "The British Traditional Wicca of the 1950s and 1960s saw masculine and feminine energies as wholly distinct from each other, yet complementary. Although masculinity and femininity were to be valued equally, priestesses and priests were cast into rigidly gendered, heteronormative roles."{{r|KraemerGS}} | ||
Newer Wiccan traditions often avoid or disregard the historical aversion to [[LGBT]] individuals.{{r|FWQC|KraemerGS|ObolerGE}}<ref name="Gallagher2005">{{cite book|last=Gallagher|first=Ann-Marie|title=The Wicca Bible: the Definitive Guide to Magic and the Craft|publisher=Sterling Publishing|year=2005|isbn=978-1-4027-3008-5|location= | Newer Wiccan traditions often avoid or disregard the historical aversion to [[LGBT]] individuals.{{r|FWQC|KraemerGS|ObolerGE}}<ref name="Gallagher2005">{{cite book|last=Gallagher|first=Ann-Marie|title=The Wicca Bible: the Definitive Guide to Magic and the Craft|publisher=Sterling Publishing|year=2005|isbn=978-1-4027-3008-5|location=New York|oclc=61680143}}</ref> Oboler notes the change in neopagan culture thus, "Although the symbolic bedrock of Wicca and modern Paganism is strongly gender-essentialist, the Pagan community, like the culture as a whole, has been moving away from that position."{{r|ObolerGE}} These traditions sometimes cite the Wiccan ''Charge of the Goddess'' which says "All acts of Love and Pleasure are My rituals".<ref name=":7" /><ref name="Gardner 2004 p.70">{{cite book|author=Gardner, Gerald|title=Witchcraft and the Book of Shadows|year=2004|editor= A.R.Naylor|publisher= I-H-O Books|page=70|isbn=1-872189-52-0}}</ref> Professor Melissa Harrington wrote that despite traditional Wicca showing [[heterosexism]] "as Wicca has grown and attracted gay practitioners they have begun to work out ways in which Wiccan rites can become more meaningful to them".<ref name=":4" /> | ||
According to professor and Wicca author Ann-Marie Gallagher, "There is a moralistic doctrine or dogma other than the advice offered in the Wiccan Rede... The only 'law' here is love... It matters that we are gay, straight, bisexual or transgender– the physical world is sacred, and [we are] celebrating our physicality, sexuality, human nature and celebrating the Goddess, Giver of ALL life and soul of ALL nature."<ref name="Gallagher2005" /> | According to professor and Wicca author Ann-Marie Gallagher, "There is a moralistic doctrine or dogma other than the advice offered in the Wiccan Rede... The only 'law' here is love... It matters that we are gay, straight, bisexual or transgender– the physical world is sacred, and [we are] celebrating our physicality, sexuality, human nature and celebrating the Goddess, Giver of ALL life and soul of ALL nature."<ref name="Gallagher2005" /> | ||
The Pagan Federation of Canada stated, "Over the last few decades, many people have thought that the emphasis on male/female polarity in Wicca excludes homosexuals." However, the Federation goes on to make the case for the validity of LGBT orientations even within traditional Wicca, suggesting that gay men and lesbians are likely to be particularly alive to the interplay of the masculine and feminine principles in the Universe.<ref>Huneault | The Pagan Federation of Canada stated, "Over the last few decades, many people have thought that the emphasis on male/female polarity in Wicca excludes homosexuals." However, the Federation goes on to make the case for the validity of LGBT orientations even within traditional Wicca, suggesting that gay men and lesbians are likely to be particularly alive to the interplay of the masculine and feminine principles in the Universe.<ref>{{cite web|last= Huneault|first= Robert|title=Homosexuality and Wicca'|work=Pagan Federation/Fédération Païenne Canada|accessdate= 11 May 2007|url http://www.pfpc.ca/info/wiccan/wicca/homo.html|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071229050605/http://www.pfpc.ca/info/wiccan/wicca/homo.html|archive-date=29 December 2007}}</ref> | ||
=====In Gardnerian Wicca===== | =====In Gardnerian Wicca===== | ||
Gerald Gardner, the founder of Gardnerian Wicca in the 1950s and 60s, emphasized heterosexual approaches to Wicca. As Jan Van Cleve, former practitioner of traditional Wicca, wrote, "Much of Gardnerian magic is based on this notion that physical interaction between male and female is not only desirable, but also necessary."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?id=12197|title=Gender and Paganism|last=Van Cleve|first=Janice|date=27 January 2008|website=WitchVox|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200124020359/http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?id=12197|archive-date=24 January 2020|access-date=11 September 2019}}{{Self-published source|date=June 2020}}</ref> Gardner said that a witch could only be initiated by one of the other gender, with exceptions for parents initiating children, and otherwise would be cursed by the Goddess.<ref name=":9">[[Gerald Gardner (Wiccan)|Gardner, Gerald]]. ''Witchcraft Today'' (1954) London: Rider. p. 69</ref> According to Lois Bourne, one of the High Priestesses of the Bricket Wood coven, Gardner said that all witches had to be heterosexual men and women.<ref>Bourne, Lois | Gerald Gardner, the founder of Gardnerian Wicca in the 1950s and 60s, emphasized heterosexual approaches to Wicca. As Jan Van Cleve, former practitioner of traditional Wicca, wrote, "Much of Gardnerian magic is based on this notion that physical interaction between male and female is not only desirable, but also necessary."<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?id=12197|title=Gender and Paganism|last=Van Cleve|first=Janice|date=27 January 2008|website=WitchVox|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200124020359/http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?id=12197|archive-date=24 January 2020|access-date=11 September 2019}}{{Self-published source|date=June 2020}}</ref> Gardner said that a witch could only be initiated by one of the other gender, with exceptions for parents initiating children, and otherwise would be cursed by the Goddess.<ref name=":9">[[Gerald Gardner (Wiccan)|Gardner, Gerald]]. ''Witchcraft Today'' (1954) London: Rider. p. 69</ref> According to Lois Bourne, one of the High Priestesses of the Bricket Wood coven, Gardner said that all witches had to be heterosexual men and women.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bourne, Lois|title=Dancing with Witches|year=2006|isbn=0-7090-8074-3|page=38}}(Hardback edition first published 1998).</ref> | ||
=====In Alexandrian Wicca===== | =====In Alexandrian Wicca===== | ||