Nonbinary Genders

History and Culture

It is a common misunderstanding that the gender binary is a monolithic concept “taken for granted” since the beginning of recorded history regardless of context. Over the course of the 19th century, European ideas about sex became codified as scientific or medical, rather than the conventionally accepted responsibility of the church (this was prior [Page 573]to the conceptualization of “gender” outside of the context of grammar). The result of this was a gradual shift in how “deviance” tended to be understood, increasingly shifting away from “sin” and toward “medical disorder.” Sexuality and sex at this time were not conceptualized separately, such that “attraction to/sexual involvement with women” was a fundamental characteristic of “the male sex.” If a woman was understood to experience “same-sex” attraction (or have acted upon it), she may have been figuratively understood as “neither male nor female” or, in some contexts, subjected to medical examination for physiological differences (particularly those associated with “hermaphrodites,” an antiquated term associated with intersex individuals).

Nonbinary identity categories (that are explicitly understood as such) are a relatively recent phenomenon. For this reason, historical examples of gender diversity have largely been historically conceived as simply “nonconforming” (and, by extension, “deviant”) men or women. However, it is possible to look at particular groups of people who lived their lives in particular ways and usefully frame those experiences as outside the gender binary.

For example, eunuchs have appeared in various cultures and historical periods, including the Ottoman, Chinese, and Roman empires. Social stature and physical differences (removal of the testes or also of the penis) could vary between these contexts. It is debatable whether eunuchs were seen as “men” or not, but they certainly fulfilled social roles reserved for them that were not associated with men or women. These roles were not always low status—for example, eunuchs could serve as royal guards for high-status women or be trusted court advisers because their separate status from men rendered them nonthreatening. In Italy, the tradition of castrati singers continued until 1870, with the last castrato, Alessandro Moreschi, living long enough to produce recordings that survive to this day.

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