Gender variance in spirituality: Difference between revisions

Shinto kami associated with gender variance include: shirabyōshi, female or transgender kami represented as half-human, half-snake. They are linked to Shinto priests of the same name, who are usually female (or occasionally transgender) and perform ceremonial dances in traditional men's clothing;<ref>{{cite book |last1=Conner |first1=Randy P. |last2=Sparks |first2=David Hatfield |last3=Sparks |first3=Mariya |year=1998 |title=Cassell's Encyclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol and Spirit |isbn=978-0-304-70423-1 |page=305 |chapter=Shirabyoshi}}</ref> Ōyamakui no kami, a transgender Yama-no-Kami mountain spirit that protects industry and childbearing (notably enshrined in Hie Shrine);<ref>Conner & Sparks (1998), p. 259, "Oyamakui"</ref> and Inari Ōkami, the kami of agriculture and rice, who is depicted as various genders, the most common representations being a young female food goddess, an old man carrying rice, and an androgynous bodhisattva.<ref name=smyers8>{{cite book|last=Smyers|first=Karen Ann|title=The fox and the jewel : shared and private meanings in contemporary Japanese inari worship|year=1999|publisher=Univ. of Hawaií Press|location=Honolulu|isbn=9780824820589|page=8}}</ref> Inari is further associated with foxes and shapeshifting fox trickster spirits. Kitsune sometimes disguise themselves as women, independent of their true gender, in order to trick human men into sexual relations with them.<ref>Conner & Sparks (1998), p. 203, "Kitsune"</ref> Common belief in medieval Japan was that any woman encountered alone, especially at dusk or night, could be a fox.<ref name="Tyler xlix">Tyler (1987), xlix.{{Full citation needed|date=May 2014}}</ref>

===Levant spiritualities===