Title: Third Genders: New Concept? Or Old? | The Evolution of Human Sexuality
Headings: Third Genders: New Concept? Or Old?
Third Genders: New Concept? Or Old?
Content: This is often described as the “spirit of a man in a woman’s body” and vice versa.) In layman’s terms, this means that individuals included in this third gender either have no gender affiliation, have the ability to cross or swap between genders, or are a gender category all together independent of the traditional male and female roles. It doesn’t always stop at third. Third genders are widely accepted as being understood as an “other” gender, but fourth, fifth, and sixth genders have been documented by anthropologists as well. In contemporary societies, people have started to draw a line between sex (biological and anatomical nature) and gender (social and psychological nature). Many modern societies continue to be conservative with their idea of gender and only recognize a two-gender system, which they, ethnocentrically, believe to be the social norm. This is known as “heteronormativity”: female genitalia = female identity = feminine behavior = desire male partner
male genitalia = male identity = masculine behavior = desire female partner
Third genders are still documented in contemporary society today. The most well known of these cases are recorded in the Indian subcontinent in the roles of the “hijras”. Hijras are born intersex or male, but dress in feminine clothing, retaining a gender that is neither male nor female.