Gender Elasticity
In Terrae Occidentali [Western Lands], gender and sex are often thought of to be the same concept. If one is born male, XX, then the male is to be, both in gender and sex, male; if one is born female, XY, then the female is to be, both in gender and sex, female. Why did the West retain a non-distinction between sex and gender can be due to several considerations that will not be featured herein. However, the objective of this essay is to enlighten the reader to learn and understand how cultures may - and can - alter notions of what is to be of one gender and of a sex. Why do some cultures allow and retain multiple distinctions between sex and gender? What are these different genders like? To answer these questions, I will briefly summarize a few cultures that retain a non-binary gender and or sex manner of classification.
Firstly, one ought understand the definition of sex and gender. Sex can be defined in biological terms; genetically, sex is determined by chromosomes. Females have the double X chromosomes and males have both the X and Y chromosome. However, sex is often able to be distinguished by the primary or secondary sexual characteristics; the primary characteristics are composed of the female or male reproductive organs (i.e., vagina, ovaries, and uterus for females and the penis, testes, and scrotum for males) while secondary characteristics are composed of superficial differences between the sexes (i.e., breast development and hip broadening for women and facial hair and voice deepening for men) (Wienclaw, Ruth A.,). Gender, in biosocial terms, refers to the psychological, cultural, and behavioral characteristics associated with being sexually male or female—or even intersex (Wienclaw, Ruth A.,). Gender is often, as we will see, determined and influenced by culture. Genders and their roles are determined by the superstructural ideas and notions held by a culture, Furthermore, one basis as to why some cultures have distinguished three or more genders and or sexes are due to the existence of the intersex. Some people are born with reproductive organs, genitalia, and/or sex chromosomes that are not exclusively male or female. These individuals do not neatly fit neatly into a binary gender standard (Haviland, 2014). There may exist individuals with one X chromosome, Turner's Syndrome, in which one develops external female genitalia but do not produce ovaries and are thus infertile. Androgen insensitivity syndrome, occurs when an individual may have the XY sex chromosomes but some sort of abnormality on the X chromosome results in the body's increased sensitivity to androgens, male hormones. The XY individuals with androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) will appear to be female; an XY adult with complete AIS will have a normal clitoris, labia, and breasts but, internally, these individuals will have testes up in the abdomen and not the usual descended position in the scrotal sac (Haviland, 2014). They are born without a complete set of male or female internal genital organs as they also tend to have a short, blind-ended vagina (Haviland, 2014). There also exists other intersexual combinations like the ones described above with similar circumstances. These intersexual conditions can be seen as a third sex that are often overlooked by the Western society that often disregards and or are unaware of these conditions as Anne Fausto-Sterling notes.
That idealized story papers over [that] some women have facial hair, some men have none; some women speak with deep voices. some men veritably squeak. Less well known is the fact that on close inspection, absolute dimorphism disintegrates even at the level of basic biology. Chromosomes, hormones, the internal sex structures, the gonads and external genitalia all vary more than most people realize. Those born outside of the . . . dimorphic mold are called intersexuals. (Fausto-Sterling, 2003)
How often do these intersexuals occur within nature among the Homo sapiens? About 1 percent of all humans are intersexed—about 70 million people worldwide (Fausto-Sterling 2003; Fausto-Sterling et al., 2000) In the West, due to the level of medical knowledge, intersex individuals have the ability to perform hormonal treatment to combat intersexual conditions and may remove, say, a penis when the vagina and other female sexual organs are apparent and probably more developed. It is the cultural society that determines how the individual perceives the intersex and their attitude toward them. As we will see, some cultures view the intersex, male, female, and genders in a different perspective than that of the Western perception of what it is to be male or female, in regards to gender and sex.
Among the Lakota of the northern Plains in North America, there exists those that are often identified as transgenders from the Western perspective. As noted by French explores and missionaries in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, there are those in some of the Native American tribes that identify as neither male or female. The French called these individuals berdache (Wishhart). Berdache is a term that is—or was—used to describe the younger male in a homosexual relationship within the French culture (Wishhart). The Native Americans', like the Lakota, male berdache did the work that was often culturally designated by the women, dressed like women, and formed relationships with non-berdache males (Wishhart). The Lakota term these third-gender individuals, winkte, applying the term to a male "who wants to be a woman." (Haviland, 2014). These winkte are often thought to have curing powers and enjoy a sort of special status in their communities (Haviland, 2014). Winkte is often translated as two-spirited. Similarly, a neighbor tribe of the Lakota are the Cheyenne have a similar classification to that of the winkte, hemanah, literally meaning "half-man, half-woman" (Haviland, 2014). As reported by Schützer, Wakon, a winkte and member of the Lakota tribe is told by the grandfathers to be different from the males and females.
I have my feet rooted in the earth of my ancestors and my spirit soars with them in the "land above the pines." The anthropologists call me 'Berdache,' but this is wrong. This word has come a long way from its beginnings in Arabia. It means "kept boy" . . . that, I am not. The Western medical community calls me 'transsexual', but this is not entirely true either. I am 'winkte,' I am a gender-crosser. My people see me as multidimensional and I do not have to fight for a place in my society to be accepted. I already have a place, a very special and sacred place. In my culture I represent a profound healing, a reconciliation of the most fundamental rift that divides us, human from human - gender. (Schützer)
The foundation for some of the Native Americans and their two-spirited people are most noticeably spiritual or related to a sort of religious aspect. In contrast, the West is largely influenced by Christianity and it seemingly rejects abnormalities like the intersex or anything from its perspective of the male-female binary as noted in Williamson's "The Blessed Curse". The person focused on in this article is a great-granddaughter of a Cherokee woman. She notes, the Native American view of the intersex "in a very positive and affirming light." While her immediate family (mother, father, and brothers) were affixed in a negative Euromerican point of view and, as a result, were repulsed by her intersexuality and referred her condition as "the work of Satan" (Haviland, 2014). Her grandmother, however, in the perspective of, probably, her traditional views, rejoiced in her intersexuality, stating that she was born in a life given by God, the Great Spirit and was given "a great strength that girls never have, yet a gentle tenderness that boys never know" and so on (Haviland, 2014). In short, this traditional Native American perspective differs much from the West and celebrates both intersexuality and the third-gender, winkte.
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| We-Wa, a Zuni two-spirit, weaving US national archives. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/oct/11/two-spirit-people-north-america |
Within Somoa, there exists something similar to that of the two-spirited people of the various Native American tribes in North America, the fa'afafine. These fa'afafine are males that are sexually attracted to males. By the West, they may be classified as androphillic males. The term fa'afafine can be translated literally as "in the manner of a woman." (Vasey). The fa'afafine seem to essentially be females in the body of males as they portray feminine appearances, mannerisms, and behaviors. Again, from the perspective of the West, these males can be seen as effeminate males or transgendered. To describe them as transsexual would be erroneous because these fa'afafine do not experience any dyspohira towards their male genitals—some of which state that they do not want to have female genitals (Vasey). Furthermore, it would again be erroneous to percieve these fa'afafine as being homosexual or gay as they do not identify as males or want to be masculine in appearance. The fa'afafine do not engage in sexual activities with other fa'afafine like the gays would engage in sexual activities with those like them but the fa'afafine tend to form relationships with, primarily, males and to a lesser extent with females. Noted by Radio Australia, one basis or foundation for the existence of the fa'afafine is the need—or want—of a society, population, or family to have a relative balance of people willing to work as a female and male (Charting the Pacific, 2005). Sometimes a family is composed primarily of males and the family would like to have a female(s) to assist in women's work. If need be, the family or mother would have one of the sons work as a female and were raised to be female (Charting the Pacific, 2005). As they grew older, they remained essentially woman even if they married another woman (Charting the Pacific, 2005). In modern times, it is up to the child to determine whether or not he wants to be male or a fa'afafine (Charting the Pacific, 2005).
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Another example can be found among the Bugis, a Muslim ethnic group inhabiting Sulawesi Island in Indonesia and numbering more than six million (Haviland, 2014). The Bugis acknowledge five genders: oroane (masculine male), makunrai (feminine female), calabai (feminine male), calalai (masculine female), and bissu (neither male nor female) (Davies, 2007; Haviland, 2014). The bissu are traditionally high-ranking celibate intersexuals; their name derives from 'bessi', a term defined as 'clean' (Haviland, 2014). Why? Angkong Petta Rala states it is because the bissu "do not bleed, do not have breasts, and do menstruate, therefore they are clean or holy, therefore they are clean or holy" (Lathief, "Bissu: Imam-mam yang Menghibur," cited in Umar, 2008, pp7-8; Haviland, 2014). Because these bissu are 'clean', they are able to serve as mediators between the human and spirit world inhabited by dewata, genderless spirits or gods (Haviland, 2014; Graham, 2001). The calalai and calabai are defined as 'false man' and 'false woman' respectively (Graham, 2001). As noted by Inside Indonesia, Rani is anatomically female but is a calalai, married to a female, smokes cigarettes, works along with men as a blacksmith, and walks alone at night—things that are not to be done by feminine females (Graham, 2011). Again, though Rani is very much like a male, she does not wish to alter her—or his—sex and is thusly not transsexual but, rather, transgender from the Western perspective. A culture with five genders, naturally, has a lot of information to offer to learn from as they differ much from the gender and sex binary held by the West.
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In conclusion, but not in whole, three cultures and their perspective and notions of the intersex and or categories of gender have been examined above. Many of these cultures retain multiple genders in order to fulfill some sort of role a society or family. Whether it be religious or mundane, the genders—or sexes—fulfill a role in society that usually needs to be fulfilled and the superstructural notions held by a culture decides whether or not those genders are to be tolerated. This is most likely only one reason as to why these gender and sex categories exist and are tolerated. Naturally, there exists many more cultures, genders, and superstructural notions to observe and study. This being so, perhaps it would be beneficial for the West to reevaluate gender and sex classification.
In addition, worldwide there are people who are gender variants: permanent or incidental transvestites (cross-dressers) without being homosexuals. Clearly, the cross-cultural sex and gender scheme is complex; the late 19th-century "homosexuality" and "heterosexuality" labels are inadequate to cover the full range of sex and gender diversity (Schilt & Westbrook, 2009; Haviland, 2014).
Especially with the rise of the LGTBQ et al community, it would seem that quite a few people in the West would and are fighting for an emergence—or maybe reemergence—of a non-binary gender and or sex classification. As many cultures already have such a system, it would not be too farfetched to imagine the West adopting different classifications in the future. Perhaps the West could learn something from some that are thought to be more tribal.
So, as I see it, there are two gender categories: male and female (the lack of gender is, per se, not a gender category but a lack of gender). However, these are not determined by one's sex. Perhaps, this binary gender categorization is caused, in part, because of the English language. Perhaps, other languages and cultures do not base their gender categorizations as being male or female but, maybe, w, x, y, and z instead of, in English, y and z. This being so, I am convinced there is only two genders and a lack of gender that anyone of a sex can fit in.
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Resources used:
Charting the Pacific - Fa'afafine - Samoan boys brought up as girls. (2005). Retrieved December 19, 2015, from http://www.abc.net.au/ra/pacific/people/hazy.htm
Vasey, P. (n.d.). The Samoan Fa'afafine Research. Retrieved December 19, 2015, from http://people.uleth.ca/~paul.vasey/PLV/Samoan_Research.htm
Wienclaw, R. A. (2015). Gender Differences: Biology and Culture.Research Starters: Sociology (Online Edition),
Wishhart, D. (Ed.). (n.d.). Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. Retrieved December 19, 2015, from http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.gen.004
Schützer, A. (1994). GENDYS Conference Papers: Winyanktehca: Two-souls person. Retrieved December 19, 2015, from http://www.gender.org.uk/conf/trilogy/winkte.htm
Graham, S. (2001, June 1). Sulawesi's fifth gender - Inside Indonesia. Retrieved December 19, 2015, from http://www.insideindonesia.org/sulawesis-fifth-gender-2
Haviland, W., Prins, H., Walrath, D., & McBride, B. (2014).Anthropology: The Human Challenge (14th ed.). Belmont, CA: Yolanda Cossio.
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