Very few subjects get as much coverage in the modern media as the homosexual movement. Boy Scout Troops are now accepting homosexual scoutmasters, and schools address homosexuality in their sex education classes. However, there is constant discord amongst Americans regarding the gay rights movement. In fact, the current American tension over gay rights has been likened to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
Conservatives have termed homosexuality unnatural and immoral, while others try to chalk up the rising rate of gay preference to its trendy popularity in the media. However, a closer look at world history shows the presence of homosexuality, better known in other cultures as a third gender, is not a foreign concept.
The concept of a third gender has been in existence in regions such as South Asia and South America for centuries. Though at times morally ambiguous, homosexuality is more complex than flagrant cross-dressing. In other countries, individuals of the third gender are actually revered as distinctive persons with unique perspectives on sexuality.
Hijras, a community of third genders from South Asia, have more than 4,000 years of recorded history. They typically live in organized communities led by gurus.
Callie Paxton, junior communication major, has conducted extensive research on the community of the hijras. Her research states, “the government in Bangladesh just provided official government recognition of these people, meaning they now receive health services, education and housing options for the community.” Benefits such as these are currently available in all facets of the hijra communities, but only to homosexual Americans in certain states.
Not only are the hijras permitted to actively participate in the Bangladesh community, they are also believed to be good luck to newborn babies. Perhaps one of the reasons hijras are admired within their culture is the linguistic equality they give themselves; they identify themselves as the ‘alternate gender,’ as opposed to transsexual or homosexual. By identifying as a third gender, the hijras do not leave an open door for sexual confusion; the hijra gender is a fact of sexual identity.
An equally respected sexually ambiguous group is that of the Indian American spirit, an individual that considers him or herself to be inhabited by two spirits or genders. These spirits were viewed as counselors within their tribes because they were, in some way, “touched by spirits.” Because spirits were inhabited by two different genders, fellow Indian Americans believed they maintained a certain wisdom that single-gendered Indian Americans could never obtain. In the same way hijras avoided stereotype by identifying simply as “third gender,” spirits termed themselves “third” and “fourth” genders according to sex. Male spirits were considered to be of the third gender and females of the fourth.
Finally, Paxton conducted research regarding muxes, third gender males who dress and behave as females in Mexico. There is very little hostility towards muxes in Mexico than other homosexual practices because there is a level of prestige that accompanies it since the title of “muxe” is strictly reserved for boys who have identified as girls since childhood. There is also an amount of prestige surrounding muxes because of the ancient presence of cross-dressing priests in Aztec culture. Because such sacred figures participated in cross-dressing, it has since been acknowledged as an act of extreme spirituality. Muxes still thrive in Mexican culture today, especially during the month of November, in which the muxes hold a ball that attracts people outside of the muxe community.
A further investigation of these cultural archetypes shows homosexuality is not a media-driven trend. Although gay couples are portrayed in television more consistently than in the past and lyrical content of pop songs focus on homosexual attraction without apology, homoerotic tendency itself is not a new phenomenon. If homosexuality is more prevalent in modern American society, it is not simply as a result of more people “feeling gay.” Homosexuality itself is just as longstanding as the traditional roles of males and females. The belief that it is on the rise is centered on Western ideology. In order to make an informed opinion on the nature of homosexuality, we must analyze cultures separate from our own.
