The Third Sex/Gender: The Hijra
All societies throughout time have divided their population by sex. The roles, norms, and expectations for those sexes comprise gender. However, not all societies today recognize only two genders. Watch the following videos that explore three different societies where more than two sexes/genders are recognized.
Albianian Sworn Virgins
(Links to an external site.)
Five Genders?
(Links to an external site.)
India Matters: The Third Gender
(Links to an external site.)
After reviewing these videos, please address the questions below.
The video highlights the Hijras, or third sex, in India. How would a Hijra person be categorized here in the United States – as male or female? Explain your answer by describing the criteria you used to select either male or female and not the other.
Even though Indian society recognizes the Hijras as a third sex, they are marginalized and discriminated against in society. In some modern Indonesian villages, on the other hand, five genders are recognized and those that transcend traditional sexes are celebrate, and even worshiped. Explain how you could use these two examples as evidence that gender is socially constructed? Use evidence from the video to back up your answer.
Using the Albanian “sworn virgins" as an example, describe how social context (the historical period and/or cultural norms) can lead to the creation of more than two genders.
https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=RIIJ990jUfU
https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=K9VmLJ3niVo
https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=GYZE2bcHkAU
The Third Sex/Gender
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The video highlights the Hijras, or third sex, in India. How would a Hijra person be categorized here in the United States – as male or female? Explain your answer by describing the criteria you used to select either male or female and not the other.
Hijra, India’s third gender, is an androgynous group, mainly transgender people but can be intersex, eunuchs, or asexual. The Hijras are mainly born male and would be considered male in the United States. An individual’s sex gets assigned at birth, but the gender identity and expression may differ based on how they choose to identify, as is the case with the Hijras in India. When a person in the US is born with male reproductive organs, they are considered male at birth in official documents.
Even though Indian society recognizes the Hijras as a third sex, they are marginalized and discriminated against in society. In some modern Indonesian villages, on the other hand, five genders are recognized, and those that transcend traditional sexes are celebrating and even worshiped. Explain how you could use these two examples as evidence that gender is socially constructed? Then, use evidence from the video to back up your answer.
Gender identity is closely linked with social norms, while sex is biological and contains physical and anatomical qualities that distinguish biological men and women. On the other hand, gender is closely linked to the social environment attributes and context. According to NDTV (2013), the Hijras show a feminine gender identity and tend to hide their identitie...
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