by Jamie Walker
people | rituals | gods | sources
(Note: MtF="male-to-female," FtM="female-to-male," 0="no gender," M/F="both genders.")
People:
acault cross-gendered males: sacred beings with special
powers and ceremonial roles; intercessor with
spirit gods
Myanmar (Burma) MtF
bayot cross-dressing homosexual
Philippines MtF
berdache gender-transformed; special ceremonial roles.
European malapropism encompassing many roles
in many Amerindian tribes. MtF
enaree dressed as women; prophetic, shamans
5th cent BCE, Scythia MtF
gink male prostitutes - younger men and boys
19th-cent Egypt MtF
hijra "eunuch" "transvestite"
castrated; "other"; performers,
spiritual community
ancient & modern India MtF
khal "dancers"
19th-century Egypt MtF
mahu special role in each district
Tahiti MtF
metamorph
present-day Western culture MtF, FtM, O
mohabbazin
performers
present-day Egypt MtF
mukhannathun "men who wish to resemble women"
9th-cent Islam MtF
mutarajjulat "women who wish to resemble men"
9th-cent Islam FtM
nadle "other"
Navajo O
ninauposkitzipspe "manly hearted women"
North Piegan FtM
other
present-day Western culture O
pangendered
present-day Western culture O
sekrata boys raised as girls
Hovas, Madagascar MtF
sererr "other"
Pokot, Kenya O
third "third-gendered"
present-day Western culture O
transgendered
present-day Western culture MtF, FtM, O
transsexual
present-day Western culture MtF, FtM, O
walyeh "female saint": in some sects of dervishes a protege
who realized perfection became a walyeh
Muslim MtF
xanith "effeminate"
not castrated; "other", regarded as neither/both male&female
islamic Oman MtF, O
No names: cross-gendered behavior documented in
Brazil, Guatemala, Peru, Phillipines, United States
MtF, FtM
Rituals:
Aroi society
boy novices are dressed as women
Tahiti MtF
African rate against evil spirits
man secretly leaves his house and puts on
women's clothes
Bangala, upper Congo MtF
African male puberty rites
boy initiates dressed as girls
Masai, nandi, Nuba MtF
African female puberty rites
girl intiates wear men's clothing
Sotho FtM
African rite against drought
men dress in female girdles, girls and unmarried
women dress in brothers' clothes and herd cattle
Zulu MtF
Australian male puberty rites
subincision of penis, representing vagina
indigenous Australian tribes MtF
Egyptian peasants
protect young boys from evil eye by dressing them
as girls
modern Egypt MtF
Greek and Roman cults
males dress as women at beginning of initiation
ceremony
ancient Greece and Rome MtF
Greek marriage ritual
bride had head shaved and dressed in male clothes
until she became pregnant
ancient Sparta FtM
Greek marriage ritual
bride wore a false beard on the wedding night
ancient Argos FtM
Greek marriage ritual
husband put on women's dress to receive bride
ancient Cos MtF
Greek mourning ritual
men wore women's clothing while in mourning
ancient Lycia FtM
India trance ritual
men put on women's jackets
Gond, Central India MtF
Indian hunting ritual
women dress as men before a hunt
Gond, Central India FtM
Java
change dress of ill child to remove disease
several tribes MtF, FtM
Java
men wear women's clothes when praying with
urgency for a particular goal
several tribes MtF
New Guinea
ritual transformation of men into women MtF
Shamans
dress as women
Araucan, Chile MtF
Shamans
dress as women, treated as women
Dyaks, Southeast Asia MtF
Shamans
throw away their rifle, lance, and lasso, and accept
a woman's needle and skin scraper
Chuckee, Siberia MtF
Shamans
wear women's clothes in everyday life
Yahutian, Siberia MtF
Torres Strait
ritual transformation of men into women
MtF
Legend and History:
Arjuna dressed as female, as eunuch
Hindu legend MtF
Hatshepsut
dressed as male to rule
15th cent BCE, Egypt FtM
Leucippus
girl dressed as boy by Galatea because Lampros
would not rear a girl; goddess Leto changed her
to male when petitioned
ancient Phaestos FtM
male/female beings
"In the beginning there were three sexes, one entirely
male, one entirely female, and also a third having
the characteristics of both men and women."
Ancient Greek tale, retold by Aristophanes M/F Highw 87
Sardanapalus (Ashurbanipal)
last of the Assyrian kings; dressed in women's
clothing and kept company with his concubines
Persia MtF
Sikhandin
female raised as male; as adult turns into male
Hindu legend FtM
Gods:
Ardhanarisvara
hermaphrodite: F on left, M on right
or fused halfway into form of his spouse Parvati
form of Siva
Hindu M/F
Avalokitesvara
The bodhisattva of compassion;
often portrayed as androgynous or male/female
Hindu O, M/F
Dionysius
Feminized male earth spirit;
male often depicted as androgynous or in women's clothes
Greece O, MtF Highw 83
Harihara
hermaphrodite, child of Siva and Vishnu-as-female
Hindu M/F
Jehovah
"Elohim created man in his image.
In the image of Elohim he created him.
Male and female he created them." (Gen. 1:27)
Judaism M/F Highw
Samba, Sambali
cross-dresser, eunuch
son of Krishna
Hindu MtF
Shiva "and his consort are sometimes represented as a
single androgynous human figure."
Hindu M/F, O Highw 46
Uroborus the primal earth, combining both male
and female attributes
Neolithic M/F Highw 37
Yin/Yang Synthesis of duality; dependent on each other
Chinese M/F Highw 15
Bullough and Bullough: Crossdressing, Sex, and Gender
Highwater: Myth and Sexuality
© 1995 Jamie Walker