Transgender

Transgender is generally used as an overarching, general term for a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups centered around the full or partial reversal of gender roles; however, compare other definitions below.

Transgender in non-Western cultures

This article describes primarily Western modes of transgenderism. Many other cultures have or have had similar phenomena:

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• The so-called berdache in many Native American groups is recognized as a separate gender, a woman-living-man, not as a man who wants to be a woman. The term "berdache" is a misnomer, however, as no Native American group actually used the term; different ethnic groups had different names for the role, such as the winkte. The husband of such a person is not viewed as being gender-different themself, but as a normal male. In some societies there is a corresponding gender for man-living-women (amazons).
• In Thai culture, there is the kathoey, who is very similar to the English defintion of transgender, but is sometimes broader, including effeminate gay males more so than "transgender" does.
• South Asian cultures have hijra, usually genetic males who have been castrated and live as women.
• Chinese cultures have a wide variety of transgender modes of existence. See transgender in China.