NoctemAeternus wrote:This is an interesting topic and it would be cool to see some more discussion and knowledgeable contributions/opinions here.
Caiyros - seems like you might have some interesting insights on the subject.
Gender is unique in that it is largely a social construction. The Hopi Native Americans see 16 different forms of gender, the Western Culture sees only 2 different forms of gender. One researcher has made a case for 60-some-odd genders...and so it goes.
In 1979, I spent 6 months travelling and living in the Australian Outback with my then girlfriend who was a post-op transexual with a PhD is organizational psychology and had been born in the Outback. From this experience I became involved in gender studies and created a transgender organization called AXA that was social & educational.
To switch gears for a moment, one should know that there are 3 basic physical sexualities not 2. Note: a sexuality refers only to the form of the physical gentials - nothing more - nothing less.
These are:
Female - Vagina
Intersexual (aka Hermaphrodite) - a number of different combinations of aspects of Vagina & Penis
Male - Penis
So lets say conservatively, there are 3 categories. It used to be that babies when born in hospitals - if seen as intergenderal, would be surgically changed to what looked like "the dominant genitality" - approximately 1 out 30 babies are Intersexual = Hermaphrodite. It is not rare and ihas gone from being dealt with as an abnormality that is automatically altered - as legal cases and lawsuits have been successfully won.
Most Males are XY chromosomes and Most Females are XX chromosomes...but sometimes it is different, JAmie Lee Curtis has the chromosome makeup (XY) of a male.
The subtle levels of difference due to chromosomes leaves a lot unknown and may have an impect on sexual orientation. We all know thant Men can be straight, bisexual, gay, or celbate and that women can be straight, bisexual, lesbian, or celebate - and in all cases can lead successful lives if not harrassed or intimidated.
The same thing is true in "Gender-Land' .
First of all how many forms of transgender?
Draq Queen - Feminine presentation - gay or bisexual sexuality.
Transvestite - Feminine PResentation - gay, bisexual, or straight sexuality
SheMale - body transformation through hormones but remaining with a functioning penis - bisexual or gay sexuality
Transgender - living in the social presentauion and "dress code" opposite to the dress/presentation code that our society imposes on the "genital social rules".
Pre-Op Transexual - a male or female that has taken hormones and either grown breasts (male) or had their breasts surgically removed (female) but still have a vagina (women) or a penis (men).
Posr-Op Transgender - a male culturally presents as a woman, hormones used, penis split open and surgically a vagina is built - a female culturally presents as a man, hormones used, breasts removed, vagina reconfigured as a penis.
What about Desire (as in Non-Sexual Desires) , Attitude, Focus, and Sexual Preference (Sexual Desire)?
Well now we go into the Animus & Anima of Dr Carl Jung. But I suggest you read ONLY what Carl Jung wrote HIMSELF and Joe Campbell....It is a lot more complicated and mystical than "Male" or "Female" - they are the forces that control, balance, change, rebalance most of what are individuality is and this includes sexual prefence as well as all other aspects of the human personal makeup.
It is our culture that has wrecked havoc with all this....
Now my guess is that the Sumerian texts are not entirely perfectly translated....but we cannot really check this out as Dr. Samuel Noah Kramer is now dead...and no one has come along yet (that I know of, who could replace him).....anyway...I think the "Sumerian Transvestites" could easily have been Hermaphrodites with a specific balance of Animus and Anima and thus to learen about this go to the alchemical texts of the 16th-18th centuries where they mention the Divine Hermaphrodite and the Divine Androgeny (basically a celebate Hermaphrodite) and see the mention of the mystical poweres...Also reference THrice Greatest Hermes (3 vols) trans. by G.R.S. Mead.
Also, as a question to ponder: How many people who collect Immortals has some form of binding of and/or to the Greek Immortal Hermaphrodite - amazing experiences....I have a binding (also Cupid is badly overlook and considered a Baby w/Bow & Arrow on greeting crads....Cupid is something else!). The onlt person I know of that has written about Hermaphrodite is Aleister Crowley.
Also, remaining unanswered are the questions:
What is sexual energy?
What are the limits of Sexual Energy?
What can be done that awaits so far undiscovered with Sexual Energy?
What are the limits of power with sexual energy?
How is Shapeshifting a part of sexual energy?
Is Sexual Energy Itself - A Portal that we have yet to fully enter and understand.
Is Sexual Energy beyond Time Itself?
Does Opposite-Sex Sexual Energy create closure?
Does Same-Sex Sexual Energy create opening?
That's just a start,
Caiyros
PS Having talked and smoozed with Dr MArjorie Garber many times, I can endorse all her books, including:
Vested Interests: Cross Dressing and Cultural Anxiety
Vice Versa: Bisexuality and the Erotocism of Everyday Life
Coming of Age in Shakespeare