Non-binary gender

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Non-binary gender is a term for any gender identity that does not fall into the category of male or female. It has nothing to do with one's anatomy, but rather with one's personal self-identification. This feeling of not being male or female may be due to neurology. A non-binary person is not necessarily a transsexual or an intersex person, and as most transsexuals and intersex people view themselves as being either men or women, they will often take umbrage at being placed into a third category without being asked.

There is a misconception that the concept of non-binary genders is relatively new -- a product of the Internet age, largely spurred by users of the social media website Tumblr as a means to appear unique or special. However, several cultures around the world have had more than two gender types for millennia. Anthropologists who have documented these roles tend to use the term Cogender^[wp].

Why do some people identify as non-binary?

Nobody really knows yet, but as science recognizes that a binary-identified transsexual is neurologically the gender that they identify as (see Causes_of_transsexualism^[wp]), and science recognizes that the physical body can naturally manifest physical ambiguity of sex (see Intersex), one can speculate that non-binary people might be neurologically intersex, despite the majority not being physically intersex.

Examples of non-binary gender identities

The Americas

Detail of Dance to the Berdashe, painted by George Catlin

• Muxes^[wp] (also spelled "muxhes") are amab (assigned male at birth) people in Zapotec cultures in Oaxaca (southern Mexico) who dress and behave in ways otherwise associated with the female gender; they may be seen as a third gender. Some marry women and have children while others choose men as sexual or romantic partners. According to anthropologist Lynn Stephen, muxe "may do certain kinds of women’s work such as embroidery or decorating home altars, but others do the male work of making jewelry."
• Travestis^[wp] is a term used in some South American cultures to refer to amab people who have a feminine gender identity and are local socio-political identity. Travestis have been described as a third gender, but not all see themselves this way. By the mid-2010s, a majority of South American trans social movements and activism tend to acknowledge travesti as both a possible gender identity, and a possible socio-political identifier for trans women. Those who acknowledge non-binary genders also tend to see travesti as a possible all-encompassing label for all feminine amab people whose gender identity is not male dominant.
• Two-Spirits^[wp] (also referred to by the term berdaches in historical literature, which is considered both obsolete and offensive) is a modern umbrella term used by some indigenous North American tribes for gender-variant people in their communities. The presence of amab two-spirits "was a fundamental institution among most tribal peoples." According to Will Roscoe, amab and afab (assigned female at birth) two-spirits have been "documented in over 130 North America tribes, in every region of the continent." Two-spirit individuals are viewed in some tribes as having two identities occupying one body. Their dress is usually a mixture of traditionally male and traditionally female articles, or they may dress as a man one day, and a woman on another. According to Sabine Lang many tribes have distinct gender and social roles. Amab two-spirit people, regardless of gender identification, can go to war and have access to male activities such as male-only sweat lodge ceremonies. However, they may also take on "feminine" activities such as cooking and other domestic responsibilities. Two-spirits might have relationships with people of either sex. According to Lang, afab two-spirits usually have sexual relations or marriages with only females. Specific tribal identities include the Lakota Winkte^[wp] and the Zuni Lhamana^[wp].

Asia

A bissu

• Baklas^[wp] are amab people in the Philippines, who generally (but not always) behave like women and usually exclusively attracted to men. Some self-identify as women rather than a third gender.

• The Bugis people^[wp] of Indonesia have five genders. These genders, aside from cisgender men and cisgender women, are the calabai (pronounced "cha-lah-bye" literally "false woman"), who are amab people who take the role of heterosexual women, the calalai (pronounced "cha-lah-lye", literally "false man", who are afab people who take on the role of heterosexual men, and the bissu, who can be described as "gender transcendent", in that they are a combination of the other four and are considered necessary for all genders to harmoniously coexist. The closest equivalent to a bissu in the English speaking world would be a pangender person.

• Hijiras^[wp] are amab people in south Asia who behave like women. They have legal recognition in India and Bangladesh as a third gender.

• Kathoeys^[wp] (pronounced "kah-toy" are amab people in Thailand who behave like women. Some identify as women, others as men, and others identify as a third gender. They are often referred to as "ladyboys" in English.

• Yinyang ren^[wp] are people in Chinese society whose personalities and behaviors appear to be intermediate between more ordinary masculine and feminine cases. Involved characteristics may include elements such as assertiveness, esthetic sensitivity, etc., as well as lack of strong discrimination between preferred sexual partners on the basis of their sex.

Europe

A sworn virgin in Rapsha, Albania

• Balkan sworn virgins^[wp] are afab people who behave as men. This practice is mostly found in northern Albania, but it has been recorded as existing, to a lesser extent, in Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, and Montenegro. A afab person becomes a sworn virgin by swearing an irrevocable oath, in front of 12 village or tribal elders, to practice celibacy. Then they are allowed to live as a man. They will then be able to dress in male clothes, use a male name, carry a gun, smoke, drink alcohol, take on male work, act as the head of a household (for example, living with a sister or mother), play music and sing, and sit and talk socially with men. An afab person can become a sworn virgin at any age. Breaking the vow is punishable by death, but it is dubious if this is still enforced. Sworn virgins who are alive today refuse to break the vow for fear of losing the respect of their communities. There are many reasons why an afab person would have wanted to take this vow, and observers have recorded a variety of motivations. One said they became a sworn virgin in order to not be separated from their father, and another in order to live and work with her sister. Several were recorded as saying they always felt more male than female. Some hoped to avoid a specific unwanted marriage, and others hoped to avoid marriage in general. This practice has died out in many places, but still continues in some areas.
• Femminielli^[wp], or femmenielli (singular femminiello), a term that derives from the singular Italian femmina, "a female," and -ello, masculine diminutive suffix, are androphilic amab people with feminine gender expression in traditional Neapolitan culture.It may be hard to define this term within modern Western notions of "gay men" versus "trans women" since both these categories overlap to a degree in the case of femminielli It has been noted that this term is not derogatory and does not carry stigma, instead femminielli are traditionally believed to bring luck. Ironically Achille della Ragione suggests that recent surveys have shown that Neapolitans have a generally negative view of what he calls "the politically correct model of homosexuality of a hypocritical do-gooder society" (implying the mainstream Western gay culture), yet he contrasts femminielli as enjoying a favorable attitude from the part of Neapolitan society. Achille della Ragione has written of social aspects of femminielli. "[The femminiello] is usually the youngest male child, 'mother's little darling,' (..) he is useful, he does chores, runs errands and watches the kids." A certain incompatibility between the notions of femminiello and (often foreign-born) transsexuals can be observed, e.g., a news headline reading Rivolta ai quartieri Spagnoli: i femminielli cacciano le trans ("Revolt in the Spanish Quarter: femminielli drive out the transsexuals.") They may have a historical connection to the Galli of ancient Rome.

Oceania

• Akava'ines^[wp] are amab people who behave as women among the Cook Islands Māori. While the usage of "'Akava'ine" for a binary transgender female is recent, it is known that pre-Christian Cook Islands Māori societies held the presence of a third gender. A amab of effeminate nature who dressed like a woman was considered neither exclusively female nor male, but was treated as an equal among women, and regarded with respect by the rest of the community, as s/he excelled in the domestic duties of both women and men.

• Fa'afafines^[wp] are third-gender people of Samoa and the Samoan diaspora. A recognized identity/role since at least the early 20th century in Samoan society, and some theorize an integral part of traditional Samoan culture, fa'afafine are (generally) amab, and explicitly embody both masculine and feminine gender traits, fashioned in a way unique to this part of the world. Their behavior typically ranges from extravagantly feminine to mundanely masculine.

• Fakaleitis^[wp] (or leitis or fakafefines or ladies) are Tongan amab people who behave in a relatively effeminate manner. Although fakaleiti in Tonga do not necessarily associate with transgender or gay and lesbian identities in the Western world, those who grow up in Tongan migrant communities in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States may find a greater level of community and affinity to similar identities than fakaleiti in the island kingdom.

• Māhūs^[wp] in traditional Hawaiian culture are third gender persons similar to the Tongan fakaleiti and Samoan fa'afafine. In modern day Hawaii it is a commonly used slang word for transvestite and transgender persons.

In Islamic texts

• Mukhannathun^[wp] ("effeminate ones", "men who resemble women", singular mukhannath) is classical Arabic for people who might now now be called transgender women, perhaps poorly distinguished from eunuchs. Various "mukhannathun" appear in several hadith. In one hadith the Islamic prophet Muhammad banishes a mukhannath to a region near Medina, but prohibits people from killing them. They could be said to be Muslim trans women accepted as they are "within the boundaries of Medina and Mecca". Outside of the religious text they are strongly associated with music and entertainment.

In Jewish texts

In Jewish texts, the androgynos^[wp] is a "hermaphrodite" or someone displaying both male and female characteristics. The androgynos is one of the four non-binary genders in the Talmud, Mishnah and other rabbinic texts. There is also the tumtum^[wp], (from Hebrew טומטום, meaning "hidden") a person whose sexual characteristics are intermediate or obscured. There is also the ay'lonit, which is an afab person who develops male characteristics at puberty and is infertile. There is also the saris, which is a person who is amab but develops female characteristics as puberty and/or is lacking a penis. A saris can be “naturally” a saris (saris hamah), or become one through human intervention (saris adam).

Recorded extinct non-binary identities in history

Statue of a Gallus

• Enarees^[wp] (or enareis) were Scythian shamans recorded by Herodotus, and described as effeminate or androgynous. Scythian shamanism involved religious ecstasy through the use of entheogens; they had no temples and worshiped the forces of nature.
• Gala^[wp] (Akkadian: kalû) were mostly amab priests of the Sumerian goddess Inanna, significant numbers of the personnel of both temples and palaces, the central institutions of Mesopotamian city states, individuals with neither male nor female gender identities. Their hymns were sung in a Sumerian dialect known as eme-sal, normally used to render the speech of female gods, and some gala took female names. Androphilic proclivities are clearly implied by the Sumerian proverb that reads, "When the gala wiped off his anus [he said], ‘I must not arouse that which belongs to my mistress [i.e., Inanna]’ ". However, in spite of all their references of their effeminate character (especially in the Sumerian proverbs), many administrative texts mention gala priests who had children, wives, and large families. Furthermore, some gala priests were afab.
• Galli^[wp] (singular: Gallus) were amab eunuch priests of the of the Phrygian goddess Cybele and her consort Attis, whose worship was incorporated into the state religious practices of ancient Rome. The Galli castrated themselves during an ecstatic celebration called the Dies sanguinis, or "Day of Blood", which took place on March 24. At the same time they put on women's costume, mostly yellow in colour, and a sort of turban, together with pendants and ear-rings. They also wore their hair long, and bleached, and wore heavy make-up. They wandered around with followers, begging for charity, in return for which they were prepared to tell fortunes. On the day of mourning for Attis they ran around wildly and disheveled. They performed dances to the music of pipes and tambourines, and, in an ecstasy, flogged themselves until they bled.

Emerging non-binary gender identities in the West

Genderqueer pride flag, created by Marilyn Roxie.

• Genderqueer^[wp] is a catch-all term for any gender identity outside of the gender binary and cisnormativity.

• Bigender^[wp] describes a gender identity that shows a tendency to move between two distinct genders, most commonly feminine and masculine gender-typed behavior, depending on context. Some bi-gender individuals express a distinctly "female" persona and a distinctly "male" persona, feminine and masculine respectively; others have shades of grey between the two. One may also find that they are two genders at the same time. It is recognized by the American Psychological Association (APA) as a subset of the transgender group. A 1999 survey conducted by the San Francisco Department of Public Health observed that, among the transgender community, less than 3% of those who were assigned male at birth and less than 8% of those who were assigned female at birth identified as bigender.

• Pangender^[wp] is a gender identity in which a person identifies as being of all genders.

• Trigender^[wp] is a gender identity in which one shifts between or among the typical behaviors of male, female, and a third gender.

• Agender meaning "without", "a lack of", and 'gender') (also genderless, non-gendered, ungendered) is a person who identifies as 'having no gender' or 'without gender identity'. It may fall under the genderqueer or transgender (lit. being "beyond gender") umbrella. It is related to, and may overlap with the gender identity of neutrois, defined as either a neutral or neither gender, or sometimes no gender.

• Neutrois is a gender identity that is neutral or null. Neutrois people may also describe themselves variously as genderless, neither male nor female, or androgynous, or possibly agender, the lack of a gender, a term with which there is a degree of overlap, although neutrois tends to cover a neutral gender identity, whereas agender tends to cover the lack of a gender.

• Demigirl (or demiwoman, or demifemale) is a gender identity where an individual who only partially (not wholly) identifies as female. They can be any gender assigned at birth.

• Demiguy (or demiman, or demimale) is a is a gender identity where an individual who only partially (not wholly) identifies as a male. They can be any gender assigned at birth.

On the insults of "special snowflake" and "attention whore"

Ever notice that the mere act of asserting oneself as being non-binary and/or requesting the use of non-binary pronouns draws derision and the accusation of being that the individual in question is merely vying for attention on how unique they are?

Even if the non-binary person in question doesn't make a big deal out of it and has done nothing more than simply state that they are non-binary, they STILL get accused of being some sort of narcissist merely for being open about their gender identity? (The NERVE of them! Not being like everyone else!)

That's kind of fucked up, isn't it?

So could you please not do that to them? Thanks a bunch.

(P.S. - In those cases where it is being used as a means to get attention, giving them shit for it is a form of attention! Just shrug your shoulders, either use their preferred pronouns and name or just move along, and don't make a damn federal case out of it.)

(P.P.S - And it isn't like you'd be able to tell if they were sincere in their self-identification or not, because telepathy doesn't exist. Even if they did use it for attention-whoring, like Tila Tequila and her bisexuality, it doesn't automatically mean that they aren't genuinely what they claim to be. So cram it.)

See Also

• Pansexuality
• Polysexuality

Gallery

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  Two-spirit marchers at San Francisco Pride, 2014.

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  A hijra protest in Islamabad.

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  A group of hijras in Bangladesh.

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  Parinya Charoenphol^[wp], a famous kathoey.

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  Kathoeys performing at a stage show.

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  Kathoeys working at a go-go bar.

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  19th century picture of a femminello.

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  Relief of an Archigallus making sacrifices to Cybele and Attis, Museo Archeologico Ostiense, Ostia Antica.

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  Funerary relief of an Archigallus from Lavinium, mid-2nd century AD, Capitoline Museums, Rome.

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  Statue of an Archigallus, 2nd-3rd century CE (Archaeological Museum of Cherchell).

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  Gender fluidity pride flag.

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  Agender pride flag.

External Links

• Nonbinary.org
• Gender Wiki