There is trans history that people DID learn in school?
haha, came here to say this - they didn’t even teach Stonewall in school, I learned nothing about gay or trans people.
In mexico there are also accepted transgender identities in indigenous societies. Like the muxe in Oaxaca.
Erasing history is a way for people to think that being trans is a “new thing”.
These are all transfeminine, but:
- Hijra in India have existed since the earliest records, going back at least 4,000 years, and references appear in ancient Hindu texts
- Kathoey in Thailand have been described in written records since the 13th century and likely existed before then
- Khanith in Oman & the UAE
- Nádleehi in Diné / Navajo country
- Lhamana in Zuni culture
It should be said that the idea that all these different cultural genders are the same as being trans is maybe not a perfect translation, but it is at least worth raising that gender diversity is a naturally occurring part of human biological variation, even if it manifests in different ways from culture to culture - the idea of a strict gender binary is not universal.
Likewise, the concept of “two-spirit” as an umbrella term can be a bit misleading, since there are many, many indigenous nations and their cultures can vary significantly - there is no single, over-arching, and traditional concept of two-spirit, instead it is a contemporary and political identity in many ways tied to the post-colonial influences of the West.
This article has many more examples from across time and place: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender_history
