Claudia Lang1, Ursula Kuhnle. 1. Department for Anthropology and African Studies, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: In the Western world, it is widely accepted as natural - and seen almost as a law of nature - that mankind is divided into two sexes or genders - males and females. In many cultures and societies, however, more than two sex and/or gender categories are recognized, which in some instances refer to the biological sex and in others to gender roles and social status. AIMS: To give an intercultural comparison of various ways of dealing with gender variance. METHODS: In the following paper, we review the anthropological literature during the last 100 years describing individuals who live neither as men nor women in various non-Western cultures. RESULTS: Only rarely, these individuals suffer from disorders of sex development in the modern medical or biological definition: in many if not all societies there have been individuals who are not covered by the gender category of male and female. CONCLUSION: There thus appears to be a cultural need for people with a special neither-male-nor-female status, which might be classified as 'gender variance'. (c) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel
BACKGROUND: In the Western world, it is widely accepted as natural - and seen almost as a law of nature - that mankind is divided into two sexes or genders - males and females. In many cultures and societies, however, more than two sex and/or gender categories are recognized, which in some instances refer to the biological sex and in others to gender roles and social status. AIMS: To give an intercultural comparison of various ways of dealing with gender variance. METHODS: In the following paper, we review the anthropological literature during the last 100 years describing individuals who live neither as men nor women in various non-Western cultures. RESULTS: Only rarely, these individuals suffer from disorders of sex development in the modern medical or biological definition: in many if not all societies there have been individuals who are not covered by the gender category of male and female. CONCLUSION: There thus appears to be a cultural need for people with a special neither-male-nor-female status, which might be classified as 'gender variance'. (c) 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel
Authors: William Byne; Dan H Karasic; Eli Coleman; A Evan Eyler; Jeremy D Kidd; Heino F L Meyer-Bahlburg; Richard R Pleak; Jack Pula Journal: Transgend Health Date: 2018-05-01