Gender fluidity

{{Main articles|Transgender history}}

Transgender people (including non-binary and third gender people) have existed in cultures worldwide since the pre-colonial era. One example is the existence of gender fluidity in many Indigenous communities. Although the earliest records of gender fluidity in Indigenous communities was written by those who colonized them,{{Cite journal |last=Kamassah |first=Vashti E. |date=2024-07-02 |title=Sankofa: Embracing Gender Fluidity Through Decolonizing and Reclaiming Identities |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00131725.2024.2345652 |journal=The Educational Forum |language=en |volume=88 |issue=3 |pages=257–264 |doi=10.1080/00131725.2024.2345652 |issn=0013-1725|url-access=subscription }} current research shows that over 150 pre-colonial groups are known to recognize or have historically recognized more than two genders.Wick, Kate (2022-04-01). [https://cedar.wwu.edu/wwu_honors/566/ "Gender Through Time and Culture"]. WWU Honors College Senior Projects.

The Navajo people are one group who historically recognized between four and five gender identities, one of them being nàdleehi ('changing one' in English). In more recent history, two-spirit has been an identity adopted by Indigenous gender and sexual minorities.{{Cite journal |last=Robinson |first=Margaret |date=2020-10-14 |title=Two-Spirit Identity in a Time of Gender Fluidity |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00918369.2019.1613853 |journal=Journal of Homosexuality |language=en |volume=67 |issue=12 |pages=1675–1690 |doi=10.1080/00918369.2019.1613853 |pmid=31125297 |issn=0091-8369|url-access=subscription }} The term challenges binary categories of sex and gender and enables some Indigenous people to reclaim traditional roles within their societies. According to the 2012 Risk and Resilience study of Bisexual Mental Health, "the most common identities reported by transgender Aboriginal participants were two-spirit, genderqueer, and bigender."

The term Hijras is a historically recognized third gender within South Asian countries: Bangladesh, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. The term Hijras can date back to holy Hindu texts such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, where a Hindu character named Arjuna transforms into the third gender.{{Cite web |title=The Third Gender and Hijras |url=https://rpl.hds.harvard.edu/religion-context/case-studies/gender/third-gender-and-hijras#:~:text=While%20the%20third%20gender%20includes,to%20Hindu%20goddess%20Bahuchara%20Mata. |access-date=2025-04-15 |website=rpl.hds.harvard.edu |language=en}} In South Asia, many Muslim rulers from the 15th to 19th century Mughal Empire were considered third-gender Indians. Hijras are often assigned male at birth, and adopt feminine characters, like clothing, grooming, and even use feminine names.{{Cite web |title=(Anh) Hijras of South Asia – Discoverpsych |url=https://discoverpsych.utm.utoronto.ca/focus-on-research/gender-diversity-across-cultures/hijras-of-south-asia/#:~:text=Hijras%20are%20feminine%20individuals%20(assigned,themselves%20as%20similar%20to%20women. |access-date=2025-04-15 |language=en-CA}}

Another example of historical recognition of gender fluidity is the Philippines. In the Philippines, they use the umbrella term baklâ to refer to "those born male who currently exist with a feminine gender expression." Although this definition of the term is most common, there are a variety of identities that exist within the baklâ umbrella.

European colonization strictly enforced the binary gender concept onto many groups, including those mentioned above. In the 1500s, Europeans landed in North America and enforced binary gender conformity onto the Indigenous communities occupying the land. They criminalized different gender and sexual expressions. It is believed{{Who|date=February 2025}} that they did this in an attempt to "eradicate the two-spirit identity before allowing it to be documented." As a result of this, the cultural legacy of many Indigenous groups was nearly erased following colonization. Going back to the Philippines example, enforcement of a binary gender concept began with the arrival of the Spanish in 1520. The Spanish began to use the word baklâ as a slur in order to pressure Filipino people into adopting European ideals of gender expression. By forcing colonized groups to adopt European ideals of gender expression and identity, it erased key aspects of each group's history, culture and traditions.{{Better cite|reason=Source is moderately reliable, would be better to have more sources so this section doesn't rely on a single source|date=February 2025}}

The modern terms and meanings of "transgender", "gender", "gender identity", and "gender role" only emerged in the 1950s and 1960s.{{Cite book |last=Oliven |first=John F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gw4-AQAAIAAJ |title=Sexual Hygiene and Pathology: A Manual for the Physician and the Professions |date=1965 |publisher=Lippincott |language=en}}{{Cite journal |last=Janssen |first=Diederik F. |date=April 21, 2020 |title=Transgenderism Before Gender: Nosology from the Sixteenth Through Mid-Twentieth Century |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |language=en |volume=49 |issue=5 |pages=1415–1425 |doi=10.1007/s10508-020-01715-w |issn=0004-0002 |pmid=32319033 |s2cid=216073926}}{{Cite book |last=Mesch|first=Rachel |title=Before trans : three gender stories from nineteenth-century France |date=May 12, 2020 |isbn=978-1-5036-1235-8 |publisher=Stanford University Press|location=Stanford, California |oclc=1119978342}} As a result, opinions vary on how to accurately categorize historical accounts of gender-variant people and identities, including genderfluid individuals.

The 1928 Virginia Woolf novel Orlando: A Biography features a main character who changes gender several times, and considers gender fluidity:

{{blockquote|In every human being, a vacillation from one sex to the other takes place, and often it is only the clothes that keep the male or female likeness, while underneath the sex is the very opposite of what it is above.{{Cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2024/01/01/1222380396/thousands-of-u-s-copyrighted-works-from-1928-are-entering-the-public-domain |title=Thousands of U.S. copyrighted works from 1928 are entering the public domain |website=NPR |access-date=2024-01-14 |archive-date=2024-01-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240113025643/https://www.npr.org/2024/01/01/1222380396/thousands-of-u-s-copyrighted-works-from-1928-are-entering-the-public-domain |url-status=live }}}}

The first known mention of the term gender fluidity was in gender theorist Kate Bornstein's 1994 book Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us.{{Cite book |last=Bornstein |first=Kate |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1155971422 |title=Gender Outlaw On Men, Women and the Rest of Us. |date=2016 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-101-97461-2 |oclc=1155971422 |access-date=2023-01-22 |archive-date=2022-01-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110092813/http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1155971422 |url-status=live }} It was later used again in the 1996 book The Second Coming: A Leatherdyke Reader.{{Cite book |last=Hernandez |first=Michael M. |title="Boundaries: Gender and Transgenderism". The Second Coming: A Leatherdyke Reader. |publisher=Alyson |year=1996 |oclc=757653724}}

{{See also|Non-binary flag|LGBTQ symbols}}

The genderfluid pride flag was designed by JJ Poole in 2012. The pink stripe of the flag represents femininity, the white represents lack of gender, purple represents androgyny, black represents all other genders, and blue represents masculinity.{{cite web |title=Flags and Symbols |url=https://www.amherst.edu/system/files/Flags%2520and%2520Symbols.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510154054/https://www.amherst.edu/system/files/Flags%2520and%2520Symbols.pdf |archive-date=10 May 2017 |access-date=20 December 2016 |publisher=Amherst College |location=Amherst, Massachusetts}}{{Cite news |title=Gender-fluid added to the Oxford English Dictionary |newspaper=LGBTQ Nation |url=http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2016/09/gender-fluid-added-oxford-english-dictionary/ |url-status=live |access-date=2016-12-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025023342/http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2016/09/gender-fluid-added-oxford-english-dictionary/ |archive-date=25 October 2016}}

The flag is a representation of the fluidity encompassed within the identity.

• Gender identity
• Gender questioning
• Non-binary gender
• Transgender

{{reflist}}

• {{Cite web |last=Booker |first=Lauren |date=2021-04-21 |title=What it means to be gender-fluid |url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/04/13/living/gender-fluid-feat/index.html |publisher=CNN}}

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