Check out this map at pbs.org:
And this video is also informative:
https://www.pbs.org/video/independent-lens-gender-as-a-spectrum-not-a-divide/
The most interesting group I found on PBS’s gender-spectrum map are the Guevedoches of the Dominican Republic. These children have a genetic trait that causes them to be born with “undifferentiated genitalia.” Because they didn’t look like boys, many were raised as girls. When, during puberty, they began to show male traits, many chose to continue living within the feminine lifestyle in which they were raised. When faced with this genetic fact, the people constructed a third gender to include them in their society.
With very little exception, this map does not contain Christian or Muslim people whose cultures do not accept the gender spectrum. This can probably be explained by the influence that their religions—both Islam and Christianity are rooted in the Old Testament—have had on these people for thousands of years. The few exceptions found in the areas dominated by Christianity are found in Italy, Turkey, Greece, and Russia; and the Muslim exceptions come from Iran and Egypt. While both of these religions mention things like “love your neighbor as thyself,” the people belonging to these religions have had a very difficult time implementing the instructions. It is ironic that the people who consider themselves the most civilized are the ones who can’t accept anything but a gender binary system. Not a single place on the map shows a group of Western “Civilized” people practicing any form of acceptance or even tolerance of people who don’t fit within a gender-binary system.
Even sadder than this are the cultures who have been negatively impacted by their interaction with Western Civilization. The sistergirls and botherboys of Australia, the Fakalieti of Tonga, and the Mahu of Hawaii all were accepted by their people for who they were until Western Civilization disrupted their way of life, and through the use of force, nearly destroyed the acceptance these people had for one another.
I grew up not only in the Western-Civilization regime, but also in the United States, in Utah, and in the Salt Lake Valley. The way of the Christian white man was all I knew until I was thirty-five years old. Engrained in my mind was the absolute that God created man and woman to multiply and replenish the earth. It was gender binary to the very core: men should be men, and women should be women, and that was the end of the argument, to the point that I was grilled annually in church to see if I questioned this idea or if I sympathized with people who questioned this idea. To what end? Violence, hatred, intolerance, shame, guilt, and manipulation were all aimed at both the people who didn’t comply with the gender binary and anyone else who questioned Western Civilization’s way of life.
I share this because at no point in my growing up was any information shared with me in a classroom, at church, at home, or in a public setting that indicated that there was anything other than a gender binary. And yet, all this time, information about other cultures and their acceptance of a gender spectrum was available. (Thanks heavens for the internet!) Such information would cause people to question their beliefs. But instead of allowing people access to all the information, leaders of governments, religions, schools, and families chose to deprive people of this great learning opportunity.
I do believe that America (and all of Western Civilization) would benefit from integrating multiple gender categories. Currently, a system of force is held in place by people who believe that they belong to a majority. Majorities don’t always side with facts, and they seldom protect people’s individual, natural rights. Whether this majority is a national, state, church, regional, or family majority, people in larger groups have maintained their perception of the “correct” way of life through any use of force they have deemed necessary.
America was founded on the fact that “all men are created equal,” that the purpose of government is to defend everyone’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But history has shown that unless you’re a middle-aged, Christian, straight, white man, the rights that government should be protecting don’t really apply. Thankfully, we have come a long way. Slaves no longer work the fields, women have the right to vote, and yes, even in Utah, a two men can get married. We certainly have a long way to go though. I believe that education will do the most advance those freedoms faster. If Americans knew what the rest of the world learned hundreds and thousands years ago—this map being just one example–we could travel that road much faster.
Ethan's Journal 