The omnipresent gender fluid spectrum
You are born into a religion, but you can also choose not to follow it and opt for another school of faith. Members of one family may even choose to follow different faiths just as it happens in politics, where family members can belong to different political parties. Gender, too, is a fluid concept, and is not just man or woman. It has variations. Human beings are not black or white, male or female; there are many shades, what with so many ethnic inter-relationships and acknowledgement of the gender spectrum.
Several are opting to choose their preferred gender. Archaic classifications are no longer relevant in a global, multicultural, multiethnic, multifaith, multigender world. New York City has made it illegal to discriminate against anyone on account of their sex, and in its official records, it lists 31 genders as per guidelines of the NYC Commission on Human Rights, to ensure that all are treated with dignity and respect.
In India, we are familiar with transgenders; in Tamil Nadu the respectful reference to transwoman is Thirunangai and transmen are referred to as Thirunambi. In world mythologies, gender variations have always been a normal part of storytelling. In Hindu legend, we have the male-female merger in Shiv and Parvati depicted as Ardhnarishwar, half-male, half-female, subsuming the powers of both genders. Also, there are several stories of how same sex seduction happens with gender transformation for a specific purpose as happened when Vishnu took the form of Mohini to seduce Shiv who was in meditation. Their union created Ayyappan, the deity propitiated in Sabarimala, Kerala . Mohini also enchanted the asuras during Samudra manthan, churning of the ocean, distracting them while she distributed amrit, nectar, only to devas.
In many world cultures, gender fluidity and permutation-combination in gender spectrum is pretty common and an accepted part of life. In Indonesia, ‘bissus’ are revered by the Bugis people, the most populous ethnic group in South Sulawesi Province. Bissus are considered spiritual leaders and a bridge between the earthly and celestial because they are thought to embody both male and female traits, considered a perfect combination. The Indonesia Dispatch reports that the Bugis, renowned seafarers, hold many beliefs that predate the arrival of Islam in Indonesia, which is now the world’s largest Muslim-majority country. The Bugis believe in five genders: Cisgender men and women (cisgender people have gender identities that match their sex assigned at birth); men who exhibit feminine traits; women who exhibit masculine traits and Bissu.
Japanese mythology is replete with stories of those who practised cross dressing –female dressed as male and male dressed as female – in the belief that doing so empowered them with both male and female energies . Creator-god Mwari of the Shona people of Zimbabwe, is androgynous, sometimes depicted as splitting into separate male and female aspects as the situation demanded.
Androgynous and transgender deities are found in African and other tribal lore, and a bit in Greek mythology as well. Mesopotamian civilisations, too, had no issues with androgynous persons or hybrid interpretations of gender and these were depicted among their gods as well.
Biological attributes are not cast in stone, they can change – whether in a natural way or through intervention – and to obsess over these fluid identities and orientations only distract us from more vital issues like the need to practice compassion and live in harmony.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
