Gender in Other Cultures
Non-Western cultures sometimes have social categories that fall outside the male-female binary: two-spirit, hijra, fa'afafine, muxe, kathoey. These categories are regularly cited in contemporary Western gender debates as evidence that 'third genders' are universal and that our binary model is artificial. This portrayal is problematic for several reasons. The categories mentioned are highly specific to their cultures, often marginalised, and generally do not fit neatly with the Western concepts of 'transgender' or 'non-binary'.
Two-spirit in Indigenous North American cultures
'Two-spirit' is not a traditional term but an umbrella concept proposed at a conference in Winnipeg in 1990. The original Indigenous categories — which varied by nation, language and period — generally referred to specific ceremonial or task-related roles, not to an inner gender identity as understood in modern Western discourse. Some Indigenous voices object to the incorporation of their traditions into Western LGBTQ+ vocabulary and regard this as a form of cultural appropriation.
Hijra in South Asia
In India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, hijra have traditionally been a stigmatised group, often associated with poverty, begging and sex work. Many are assigned male at birth and undergo ritual castration. Legal recognition as a 'third gender' (2014) has partially improved their position, but was criticised by Indian feminists, who pointed to the risk of legitimising coercion and bodily harm. Romanticising hijra as a cosmopolitan example of 'gender diversity' overlooks the harsh reality of their lives.
Fa'afafine in Samoa
Fa'afafine in Samoa are biologically male people who fulfil female roles within the family — often because a family has too few daughters and care responsibilities need to be met. The category can therefore be partly explained in economic and social terms, rather than primarily as an 'identity'. Research by Vasey and VanderLaan suggests an evolutionary background connected to kin selection. The fa'afafine role cannot simply be mapped onto a Western, individualised transgender identity.
Muxe in Mexico
Muxe among the Zapotec are likewise a distinct social category with their own roles within the community. Their acceptance has been partly exaggerated in Western media; in reality, they too face stigma, and the category is closely tied to specific economic and family roles. Ethnographic research (Lynn Stephen) describes the muxe role in far greater nuance than the prevailing Western portrayal.
Kathoey in Thailand
Kathoey are visible in Thailand but largely marginalised in the entertainment and sex industries. Thai society is tolerant on the surface, but legal rights — such as changing one's sex on official documents — largely do not exist. The Western portrayal of Thailand as a 'trans paradise' is a tourist cliché, not an accurate description.
Western interpretation and caution
Using non-Western gender phenomena worldwide as an argument in favour of modern Western gender identity theory is problematic on several levels. First, highly diverse, culturally embedded phenomena are artificially lumped together. Second, it overlooks the fact that all these categories generally involve stigma, poverty and violence. Third, the rhetoric often serves a specific Western purpose: the claim of universal validation for a conceptual framework that originated here.
Anthropologists such as Sahar Amer and David Valentine have pointed to these problems. Ironically, many non-Western gender phenomena suggest the opposite of what they are supposed to demonstrate: namely, that societies have always recognised biological sex and that atypical roles were generally not seen as a 'third sex', but as particular positions within a binary sex structure.