Editing Third gender (section)

=== Transgender people and third gender ===
Gender may be recognized and organized differently in different cultures. In some non-Western cultures, gender may not be seen as binary, or people may be seen as being able to cross freely between male and female, or to exist in a state that is in-between, or neither. In some cultures, being third gender may be associated with the gift of being able to mediate between the world of the spirits and the world of humans. For cultures with these spiritual beliefs, it is generally seen as a positive thing, though some third gender people have also been accused of [[witchcraft]] and persecuted. In most western cultures, people who did not conform to [[heteronormative]] ideals were often seen as sick, disordered, or insufficiently formed. However, as of 2013, individuals who live in countries where the [[Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders]] is used, being labeled as disordered for being transgender would no longer occur due to the manual's update. Instead, a new diagnosis was announced called [[gender dysphoria]]. This new diagnosis highlights the distress a transgender person may experience rather than labels individuals who identify with a third gender as sick or disordered.

The Indigenous {{lang|haw|[[māhū]]}} of Hawaii are seen as embodying an intermediate state between man and woman, known as "gender [[liminality]]".<ref name="Besnier2014" /><ref name="Zanghellini2013" /> Some traditional [[Navajo|Dineh]] of the Southwestern US recognize a spectrum of four genders: feminine woman, masculine woman, feminine man, masculine man.<ref name=Estrada/> The term "third gender" has also been used to describe the ''[[Hijra (South Asia)|hijra]]s'' of South Asia<ref name="agrawal1997" /> who have gained legal identity, the ''[[fa'afafine]]'' of Polynesia, and the [[Albanian sworn virgins]].<ref name="Young" />{{Page needed|date=August 2021}}

In some indigenous communities in Africa{{Vague|date=August 2018}}, a woman can be recognized as a "female husband" who enjoys all the privileges of men and is recognized as such, but whose femaleness, while not openly acknowledged, is not forgotten either.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Stern |first1=E Mark |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QtIJBAAAQBAJ |title=Saints and Rogues: Conflicts and Convergence in Psychotherapy |last2=Marchesani |first2=Robert B |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-317-71804-8 |page=135 |chapter=Third gender: A qualitative study of the experience of individuals who identify as being neither man nor woman |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QtIJBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA131}}</ref>

The hijras of South Asia are one of the most recognized groups of third gender people. Some western commentators (Hines and Sanger) have theorized that this could be a result of the Hindu belief in [[reincarnation]], in which gender, sex, and even species can change from lifetime to lifetime, perhaps allowing for a more fluid interpretation. There are other cultures in which the third gender is seen as an intermediate state of being rather than as a movement from one conventional sex to the other.<ref>Hines, Sally, and Tam Sanger. Transgender Identities: Towards a Social Analysis of Gender Diversity. New York: Routledge, 2010. Print. p.244</ref>

In a study of people in the United States who thought themselves to be members of a third gender, Ingrid M. Sell found that they typically felt different from the age of 5.<ref name="SellIngrid_a">Sell, Ingrid M. "Third gender: A qualitative study of the experience of individuals who identify as being neither man nor woman." The Psychotherapy Patient. 13.1/2 (2004): p.139</ref> Because of both peer and parental pressure, those growing up with the most ambiguous appearances had the most troubled childhoods and difficulties later in life. Sell also discovered similarities between the third genders of the East and those of the West. Nearly half of those interviewed were healers or in the medical profession. Many of them, again like their Eastern counterparts, were artistic, and several were able to make a living from their artistic abilities. The capacity to mediate between men and women was a common skill, and third genders were oftentimes thought to possess an unusually wide perspective and the ability to understand both sides.<ref name="SellIngrid_a" /> A notable result of Sell's study is that 93% of the third genders interviewed, again like their Eastern counterparts, reported "paranormal"-type abilities.<ref>Sell, Ingrid M. "Third gender: A qualitative study of the experience of individuals who identify as being neither man nor woman." The Psychotherapy Patient. 13.1/2 (2004): p.141</ref>

[[File:SamBrinton.jpg|thumb|180px|Identifying as gender-fluid, American nuclear engineer [[Sam Brinton]] uses they/them pronouns.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/outfront-lgbtq-activist-fights-end-conversion-therapy-n708816 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220211/https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/outfront-lgbtq-activist-fights-end-conversion-therapy-n708816 |archive-date=February 11, 2022 |url-status=live|title=OutFront: LGBTQ Activist Fights to End Conversion Therapy|date=January 19, 2017|first=Julie|last=Compton|publisher=[[NBC News]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>]] 
In recent years, some Western societies have begun to recognize [[Non-binary gender|non-binary]] or genderqueer identities. Some years after Alex MacFarlane, Australian [[Norrie May-Welby]] was recognized as having unspecified status.<ref name="Telegraph">[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/7446850/Briton-is-recognised-as-worlds-first-officially-genderless-person.html "Briton is recognised as world's first officially genderless person"], The Telegraph. 15 March 2010.</ref> In 2016, an [[Oregon]] circuit court ruled that a resident, [[Elisa Rae Shupe]], could legally change gender to non-binary.<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Hara |first=Mary Emily |date=10 June 2016 |title='Nonbinary' is now a legal gender, Oregon court rules |url=http://www.dailydot.com/lifestyle/oregon-court-rules-non-binary-gender-legal/ |access-date=10 June 2016 |website=[[The Daily Dot]]}}</ref>

The [[Open Society Foundations]] published a report, ''License to Be Yourself'' in May 2014, documenting "some of the world's most progressive and rights-based laws and policies that enable trans people to change their gender identity on official documents".<ref name="License">{{Cite book |last=Byrne |first=Jack |url=http://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/reports/license-be-yourself |title=License to Be Yourself |publisher=[[Open Society Foundations]] |year=2014 |isbn=9781940983103 |location=New York |access-date=28 December 2014}}</ref> The report comments on the recognition of third classifications, stating:
{{blockquote|
From a rights-based perspective, third sex/gender options should be voluntary, providing trans people with a third choice about how to define their gender identity. Those identifying as a third sex/gender should have the same rights as those identifying as male or female.}}

The document also quotes [[Mauro Cabral]] of [[GATE (organization)|GATE]]:
{{blockquote|
People tend to identify a third sex with freedom from the gender binary, but that is not necessarily the case. If only trans and/or intersex people can access that third category, or if they are compulsively assigned to a third sex, then the gender binary gets stronger, not weaker.}}

The report concludes that two or three options are insufficient: "A more inclusive approach would be to increase options for people to self-define their sex and gender identity."<ref name="License" />