When was third gender created?
Third gender has a history that dates back to as early as 385 B.C. when the Greek philosopher Plato wrote about a third sex that was both male and female in Symposium.
Historically, most societies have recognized only two distinct, broad classes of gender roles, a binary of masculine and feminine, largely corresponding to the biological sexes of male and female.
Most cultures use a gender binary, having two genders (boys/men and girls/women). In cultures with a third or fourth gender, these genders may represent very different things. To Native Hawaiians and Tahitians, Māhū is an intermediate state between man and woman, or a "person of indeterminate gender".
In 1955, the controversial and innovative sexologist John Money first used the term “gender” in a way that we all now take for granted: to describe a human characteristic. Money's work broke new ground, opening a new field of research in sexual science and giving currency to medical ideas about human sexuality.
(anthropology) A category (a gender), present in societies which recognize four or more genders, which is neither cis male nor cis female; often, such societies consider trans men to constitute a third gender and trans women to constitute a fourth gender, or vice versa.
Sumerian and Akkadian texts from 4,500 years ago document priests known as gala who may have been transgender. Likely depictions occur in art around the Mediterranean from 9,000 to 3,700 years ago. In Ancient Greece, Phrygia, and Rome, there were galli priests that some scholars believe to have been trans women.
The first sexual beings to emerge perhaps 2.5 billion years ago were what biologists call isogamous — which is a little like being gay, except everyone is somewhere between male and female.
Often called transgender by outsiders, Indian society and most hijras consider themselves to be third gender—neither male nor female, not transitioning. They are a different gender altogether.
- X – Roughly 1 in 2,000 to 1 in 5,000 people (Turner's )
- XX – Most common form of female.
- XXY – Roughly 1 in 500 to 1 in 1,000 people (Klinefelter)
- XY – Most common form of male.
- XYY – Roughly 1 out of 1,000 people.
The word cisgender is the antonym of transgender. The prefix cis- is Latin and means 'on this side of'. The term cisgender was coined in 1994 and entered into dictionaries starting in 2015 as a result of changes in social discourse about gender. The term has at times been controversial and subject to critique.
Who was the first person to change genders?
Lili Elbe, birth name Einar Wegener, Einar also spelled Ejner, (born December 28, 1882, Vejle, Denmark—died September 13, 1931, Dresden, Germany), Danish painter who was assigned male at birth, experienced what is now called gender dysphoria, and underwent the world's first documented sex reassignment surgery.
The earliest use of terms referring directly to non-binary seems to be around 2000, for example Haynes and McKenna's (2001) collection Unseen Genders: Beyond the Binaries.
The concept of not identifying with one's assigned gender wasn't officially documented until 1910, when German sexologist Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld coined the term “transvestite” in his book “Die Transvestitenin,” creating one of the first modern terms to describe transgender individuals.
Children who do continue to feel they are a different gender from the one assigned at birth could develop in different ways. Some may feel they do not belong to any gender and may identify as agender. Others will feel their gender is outside of male and female and may identify as non-binary.
Through these conversations with real people Benestad has observed seven unique genders: Female, Male, Intersex, Trans, Non-Conforming, Personal, and Eunuch.
In many cultures all over the world there are traditionally third gender or gender-fluid identities. "There are the Hijras in India, what are known as two-spirited people in Native American culture, Muxe in Mexico, and the Bakla in the Philippines.
While the third gender includes a few different groups in South Asia, the most common are the hijras. Hijras are often born male but look and dress in traditionally feminine ways. Many, but not all, choose to undergo a castration ceremony, removing their male genitalia as an offering to Hindu goddess Bahuchara Mata.
Gender identity as a concept was popularized by John Money in the 1960s. He founded the Gender Identity Clinic at Johns Hopkins University and formulated, defined, and coined the term “gender role” and later expanded it to gender-identity/role.
Hijrah, (Arabic: “Migration” or “Emigration”) also spelled Hejira or Hijra, Latin Hegira, the Prophet Muhammad's migration (622 ce) from Mecca to Yathrib (Medina) upon invitation in order to escape persecution.
Geneticists have discovered that all human embryos start life as females, as do all embryos of mammals. About the 2nd month the fetal tests elaborate enough androgens to offset the maternal estrogens and maleness develops.
Does the US recognize third gender?
In April 2022, the United States joined a growing list of countries that allow for a third gender option (“X”) in passports.
Ambiguous genitalia is a rare condition in which an infant's external genitals don't appear to be clearly either male or female. In a baby with ambiguous genitalia, the genitals may be incompletely developed or the baby may have characteristics of both sexes.
Some societies recognized people who embodied a gender identity beyond the binary, for example, hijra communities in South Asia, two-spirit people among some Native American cultures, waria in Southeast Asia and Fa'afafine in Pacific Islander communities.
Gender In Ancient Rome
There were three genders in ancient Rome: male, female, and slave. Male and female citizens were afforded different rights and privileges, and slaves were considered to be outside the pale of humanity altogether.
The concept of not identifying with one's assigned gender wasn't officially documented until 1910, when German sexologist Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld coined the term “transvestite” in his book “Die Transvestitenin,” creating one of the first modern terms to describe transgender individuals.