Gender Remixed

This blog post is in reference to material that students enrolled in SS 3310 are learning this week.

An English nursery rhyme claims that boys are made out of snails and puppy-dogs’ tails, while girls are composed of sugar and spice (and everything nice).  These ideas are popular in American culture because in the US (and much of the Western world), there are two genders: man and woman.  The cultural ideas and meanings attached to the physical bodies (i.e. sexes) of males and females are referred to as one’s gender.  Men and women are associated with gendered roles that are specific to men and women (as demonstrated in the nursery rhyme).  But these ideas are not common in every culture around the world when it comes to males and females because just as each culture is unique in its values and beliefs, so are the gender ideals associated with each culture.  Today’s post will explore cross-cultural ideas of gender.

At least three countries in the world, Nepal, Australia, and India, legally allow their citizens to identify as a one of three genders: male, female, or a third gender that is considered neither female nor male.  The decision to acknowledge the third gender in Nepal is hailed positively as allowing gendered minorities rights after years of oppression (many discriminations of which-e.g. education, economics, and more-still continue in many public spheres today).  The Australian government has recognized intersexuals (those who cannot be defined biologically as either male or female) for many years, but only recently expanded their definition of intersexuals to those who do not identify their gender as man or woman.  India has a long history of third gendered individuals (known as hijra), so it was always expected among its citizens that the third gendered would be legally identified and recognized.

Traditionally, the Fa'afafine are boys who are raised as girls in Somoan cultures.  These boys are biologically males, but they are chosen to be raised as females in situations where a family has too many boys and the mother/female of the home requires assistance in the domestic sphere.  These boys would dress and act like girls throughout their childhood, and their roles would only alter slightly in adulthood.  They would continue to be “women” in gender, carrying womanly roles within society, but they would marry other women in recognition of their male sex and for reproductive purposes.  Today, Fa’afafine continue to exist, but they are no longer chosen by family members.  Today, the Fa’afafine chose to be Fa’afafine and they are often, but not always, homosexual.  These individuals are acknowledged and recognized in Somoan societies for their good works in the community, which includes raising awareness of GLBT rights and charitable works.

The third gender in the Balkans is known as the “sworn virgins”.  In Balkan cultures/societies, men and women have very strict gender roles, and only men were allowed to deal with financial matters that were the sole support of the family.  In cases where men died, abandoned the family, or were unable to fulfill their roles (e.g. too ill, disabled, etc.), the remaining women of the family were doomed to extreme poverty and eventual death.  The sworn virgin concept allowed women to take on the role of men and therefore provider for the family.  “Sworn virgins” were women who either were chosen or voluntarily elected to take on the role.  These sworn virgins would dress and act as men and would be acknowledged as men by men and women in the community, society, and culture.  In return for taking on this role, these women would swear to be virgins-never being allowed to marry or have sexual relations with either sex.  The number of sworn virgins in the Balkans is declining as the region has modernized, but several sworn virgins still exist and live as men within their communities today.

An alternative gender outside of the male/female binary found among Native American groups of North America is popularly known as the “berdache”, although the term is considered derogatory today and the term "two spirit" is preferred.  This term is actually a French word created European traders that was given to Native American individuals who were identified as transgendered, the third (or fourth) gender, or individuals who were designated as having special status because they held traits of both men and women.  Individuals were identified as being "two spirits" based on their personal preferences toward the opposite gender’s roles or dreams and visions that called them to becoming a "two spirit".  These individuals occupy special statuses within society, including but not limited to religious roles (e.g. shamans or healers).  The "two spirits" were sexually active and would often marry individuals as a means of increasing that individual’s social status and/or prestige in several cultures.  Because of the diversity in Native American cultures that exist in North America, the "two-spirits" concept is a complex one that is not universal among all North American Native American groups, so the aforementioned description is a general one and not all traits apply to all groups.     

These are only a few of the variety of gender categories around the world.  A comprehensive list, with descriptions, can be found at the following link: http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/two-spirits/map.html.  An exploration of all the complexities of genders around the world reaffirms the fact that gender and gender roles are cultural concepts, and that biologically males and females are quite similar.  Males and females can and often do occupy similar roles, although those roles do differ by culture.