Wow!!! Over 1000 notes now! Heck, while we’re at it, let’s talk a little bit more about being nonbinary!
As many of you know, binary genders are a western construct. Here is a SUPER COOL INTERACTIVE EXPLORATION TOOL provided by the PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) that tells us about nonbinary cultures around the world! It’s an interactive map where you can click on pins and it’ll tell you information about the genders of the culture! It’s not super in depth, but it’s a great survey!
“On nearly every continent, and for all of recorded history, thriving cultures have recognized, revered, and integrated more than two genders. Terms such as “transgender” and “gay” are strictly new constructs that assume three things: that there are only two sexes (male/female), as many as two sexualities (gay/straight), and only two genders (man/woman).
Yet hundreds of distinct societies around the globe have their own long-established traditions for third, fourth, fifth, or more genders. The subject of Two Spirits, Fred Martinez, for example, was not a boy who wanted to be a girl, but both a boy and a girl — an identity his Navajo culture recognized and revered as nádleehí. Meanwhile, Hina of Kumu Hina is part of a a native Hawaiian culture that has traditionally revered and respected mahu, those who embody both male and female spirit.
Most Western societies have no direct correlation for this tradition, nor for the many other communities without strict either/or conceptions of sex, sexuality, and gender. Worldwide, the sheer variety of gender expression is almost limitless. Take a tour and learn how other cultures see gender diversity.“
So basically, it’s not that “other cultures have nonbinary genders”, but more like “other cultures don’t have a gender binary to begin with! Gender is a construct and is constantly evolving.
A real anthropologist will never shit on you for making up a name for your gender. It doesn’t matter if “it’s silly”, you’re subverting the western tradition of the binary and that’s super rad!
Here’s the wikipedia page for genders around the world! Now, I don’t have to tell you that wikipedia can be edited by anyone really easily (how do I know? Me and three classmates made a page about a local artist. It took us 3 hours), so not all of the information is going to be accurate, but think of it as another good starting point before hitting the books!
And of course, Teen Vogue has been totally on it lately so here’s an article about genders around the world!
Here are some key quotes:
“But the reality is that transgender people have been striving for their rights in America before the 1960s, when a black trans woman named Marsha P. Johnson is credited by many for throwing the first brick during the Stonewall Inn riots, ushering in the start of a movement. Just years earlier, transgender people protested police crackdowns on their very existence in San Francisco at the Compton’s Cafeteria riots. Other moments of defiance exist, of course, but remain untold.
Half a century of struggle for trans rights in the U.S. is only one thread of a larger global tapestry. Employing a variety of genders beyond man and woman across the world, people who don’t identify with the gender they were assigned at birth have been working for centuries to guarantee their liberties since ancient times. The recent explosion of visibility might make the fight for trans rights seem like a recent development in the United States, but it’s a fight that’s been happening here for decades and around the world for centuries. Understanding that history will only help to inform the ongoing struggle for the liberation of gender-variant people everywhere.”
And yes, those links in the first paragraph are clickable!
Summary of Vogue: trans people are NOT a contemporary phenomenon, but a historical one. They exist in cultures across the world and in our own culture dating back centuries and millennia.
I highly recommend taking a peek at the article, since there are TONS of links in there that you can take a look more trans history. JUST AS A WARNING: they are mostly articles written by blogs/newspapers/etc and therefore have singular author bias and I haven’t gotten my way through many of them yet to tell you which ones are good and which ones are bad, but it’s a great place to start digging for trans history! If you find anything really cool, please feel free to add it!
As per usual, trus.cum/ter.fs don’t interact. This is a place to spread knowledge, not a discussion board.
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