Transgender. History of human sexuality. The social construction of sexual behavior—its taboos, regulation, and social and political impact—has had a profound effect on the various cultures of the world since prehistoric times. The study of the history of human sexuality[edit] The work of Swiss jurist Johann Bachofen made a major impact on the study of the history of sexuality. Many authors, notably Lewis Henry Morgan and Friedrich Engels, were influenced by Bachofen, and criticized Bachofen's ideas on the subject, which were almost entirely drawn from a close reading of ancient mythology. In his 1861 book Mother Right: An Investigation of the Religious and Juridical Character of Matriarchy in the Ancient World Bachofen writes that in the beginning human sexuality was chaotic and promiscuous. This "aphroditic" stage was replaced by a matriarchal "demeteric" stage, which resulted from the mother being the only reliable way of establishing descendence. Sources[edit] Sex in various cultures[edit] India[edit] China[edit] Japan[edit]
Hijra (South Asia) Hijras, (Hindi: हिजड़ा, Urdu: ہِجڑا, Bengali: হিজড়া, Kannada: ಹಿಜಡಾ, Telugu: హిజ్ర Punjabi ਹਿਜੜਾ), also known as chhakka in Kannada and Bambaiya Hindi, khusra (ਖੁਸਰਾ) in Punjabi and kojja in Telugu, is used to refer to individuals in South Asia who are transexual or transgender.[1][2] Transgender people are also known as Aravani, Aruvani or Jagappa in other areas of India.[3] It is a common misconception among South Asians that hijras are "only men who have feminine gender identity, adopt feminine gender roles and wear women's clothing". In reality, the community is significantly more diverse.[4] In Pakistan, the hijras identify themselves as either female, male, or third gender. The term more commonly advocated by social workers and transgender community members themselves is 'khwaaja sira' (Urdu: خواجه سرا), and can identify the individual as a transexual person, transgender person (khusras), cross-dresser (zenanas) or eunuch (narnbans).[5][6] Hijras belong to a special caste.
Third gender. Anna P., who lived for many years as a man in Germany, was photographed for Magnus Hirschfeld's book Sexual Intermediates in 1922. The terms third gender and third sex describe individuals who are categorized (by their will or by social consensus) as neither man nor woman, as well as the social category present in those societies who recognize three or more genders. The term "third" is usually understood to mean "other"; some anthropologists and sociologists have described fourth,[1] fifth,[2] and even some[3] genders.
The concepts of "third", "fourth" and "some" genders can be somewhat difficult to understand within Western conceptual categories.[4] Like the hijra, the third gender is in many cultures made up of individuals considered male at the time of birth who take on a feminine gender role or sexual role. Biology[edit] Modern societies[edit] Anthropologist Michael G. International Intersex Forum[edit] Australia[edit] Germany[edit] India[edit] Nepal[edit] What is intersex? | Intersex Society of North America. “Intersex” is a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male. For example, a person might be born appearing to be female on the outside, but having mostly male-typical anatomy on the inside. Or a person may be born with genitals that seem to be in-between the usual male and female types—for example, a girl may be born with a noticeably large clitoris, or lacking a vaginal opening, or a boy may be born with a notably small penis, or with a scrotum that is divided so that it has formed more like labia.
Or a person may be born with mosaic genetics, so that some of her cells have XX chromosomes and some of them have XY. Though we speak of intersex as an inborn condition, intersex anatomy doesn’t always show up at birth. Which variations of sexual anatomy count as intersex? What does this mean? In the same way, nature presents us with sex anatomy spectrums. Maria's Story. Excerpted, with minor changes, from ‘Eve’s Rib - Searching for the Biological Roots of Sex Differences’ by Robert Peel (Crown Publishers, New York, 1994, ISBN 0-517-59298-3). ln l985, when she travelled to Kobe, Japan, to compete in the World University Games, Spanish hurdler Maria Patino [María José Martínez Patiño] got the shock of her life. Like other female competitors there, she had to take a sex test to prove she was not a man in disguise, but she wasn't worried.
She had passed a similar checkup once before, and anyway, she had no doubts that she was a woman. That faith was about to be tested. It was this test that Maria Patino took in 1985 to prove she had no unfair advantage over the other women hurdlers. Is Maria Patino the woman she appears to be or the man that the buccal smear says she is? A human embryo is neither male nor female for the first seven weeks after conception. During the eighth week the fetus chooses between two paths: masculine or feminine.