In our society, we are used to/trained to think in binaries: good/bad, hot/not, right/wrong, right/ left, straight/gay‌ A particularly stubborn binary lies at the heart of our identity and how we are perceived by the world: the man/woman binary and all the connected features that ensure a straight path in life. In this zine we want to cross these borders and look beyond what’s considered normative. We cross this imaginary line and acknowledge all the wonderfully wonky identities that do so too.
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GENDERs differenttnereffid CULTURES
Third gender is a concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves or by society, as neither man nor woman, or as a combination of both. It also describes a social category present in those societies that recognize three or more genders. The term third is usually understood to mean ‘other’, different from the Western gender binary idea of masculine men and feminine women.
Although biology determines whether a human’s chromosomal and anatomical sex is male, female, or less often and in various ways, intersex, the state of personally identifying as, or being identified by society as, belonging to neither the male nor female gender is defined by the individual’s gender identity and gender role in society.
While some Western scholars have sought to understand the term third gender in terms of sexual orientation, several other scholars, especially native non-Western scholars, consider this as a misrepresentation of third gender. To different cultures or individuals, a third gender may represent an intermediate state between man and woman, a state of being both (such as ‘the spirit of a man in the body of a woman’), the state of being neither (neuter), the ability to cross or swap genders, or another category altogether independent of men and women.
The Navajo recognize Nadleehi, who are assigned-male-at-birth and feminine, and Dilbaa, who are assigned-female-at-birth and masculine. In South Asian countries including India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, the Hijra are assigned-male-at-birth people with a feminine gender expression. This is a very ancient tradition. Today, Hijra are legally recognized as a gender other than female or male. The Hijra of India alone may number as many as 2,000,000. In Samoa, the Fa’afafine are assignedmale-at-birth people with a feminine gender expression, who don’t think of themselves as female or male. In China, Yinyang Ren are people who have an equal amount of both feminine (yin) and masculine (yang) qualities.
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From ancient history to the present, many cultures around the world have established gender-variant identities, some of which are accepted as an essential part of their societies.
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At birth, the genitals of the infant are assessed and a sex is assigned. For a girl, a medically acceptable clitoris can be no bigger than one centimeter. For a boy, an acceptable penis size must be between 2.5 centimeters and 4.5 centimeters. The range between one and 2.5 is unacceptable in either sex.
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ntersex is the word given to bodies that don’t conform to standard definitions of male and female. That’s the kind of broadest, simplest definition I can think of. It’s also something that people get very confused about, because intersex is not a sexuality, so I never say intersexUAL. I think there is a lot of different ways in which bodies are intersex, rather than strictly male or female. It can be chromosomal, it can be hormonal, it can be anatomical. Some intersex bodies are diagnosed at birth because of what are called ambiguous genitalia, and other intersex bodies don’t develop their intersex-iness until puberty. Or maybe afterwards. Some intersex people are queer, some are bisexual, some are lesbian, some are straight. My own intersex is chromosomal, hormonal, and anatomical. You know, my identity, my gender identity is intersex AND intergender. I really feel myself to be both, male and female, and I’ve also said things like: I’m intersex by intention and design, which I think are misleading. And I know it’s a huge contentious issue about trans people appropriating intersex as a category. And yet, because I grew up being perceived as female and am now perceived as male, and because I feel myself to be part of a trans masculine spectrum, I believe I genuinely inhabit both worlds. However, my narrative is an intersex narrative. There are many people who discover themselves to be intersex after they’ve decided to adjust their gender or transition, because it’s so unknown.” Del LaGrace Volcano, Intersex 101
‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘‘ Borderlands To live in the Borderlands means you are neither hispana india negra española ni gabacha, eres mestiza, mulata, half-breed caught in the crossfire between camps while carrying all five races on your back not knowing which side to turn to, run from; To live in the Borderlands means knowing that the india in you, betrayed for 500 years, is no longer speaking to you, that mexicanas call you rajetas, that denying the Anglo inside you is as bad as having denied the Indian or Black; Cuando vives en la frontera people walk through you, the wind steals your voice, you’re a burra, buey, scapegoat, forerunner of a new race, half and half - both woman and man, neither a new gender; To live in the Borderlands means to put chile in the borscht, eat whole wheat tortillas, speak tex-mex with a brooklyn accent; be stopped by la migra at the border checkpoints; Living in the Borderlands means you fight hard to resist the gold elixir beckoning from the bottle, the pull of the gun barrel, the rope crushing the hollow of your throat;
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La Frontera In the Borderlands you are the battleground where enemies are kin to each other; you are at home, a stranger, the border disputes have been settled the volley of shots have shattered the truce you are wounded, lost in action dead, fighting back;
To live in the Borderlands means the mill with the razor white teeth wants to shred off your olive-red skin, crush out the kernel, your heart pound you pinch you roll you out smelling like white bread but dead; To survive the Borderlands you must live sin fronteras be a crossroads. Gloria Anzaldúa