Most people – including most transgender people – are either male or female. But some people don't neatly fit into the categories of "man" or "woman," or “male” or “female.” For example, some people have a gender that blends elements of being a man or a woman, or a gender that is different than either male or female. Some people don't identify with any gender. Some people's gender changes over time.
People whose gender is not male or female use many different terms to describe themselves, with nonbinary being one of the most common (sometimes spelled with a hyphen, as “non-binary”). Other terms include genderqueer, agender, bigender, genderfluid, and more. None of these terms mean exactly the same thing – but all speak to an experience of gender that is not simply male or female. If you’re not sure what a word means, you can usually just ask politely. Continue reading from National Center for Transgender Equality
Although contemporary culture likes to position gender non-conforming people as a new phenomenon, history shows otherwise. Anthropologists have long documented cultures around the world that acknowledge more than two genders. There are examples going back 3,000 years to the Iron Age, and even further back to the Copper Age. Continue reading from University of California
Although nonbinary and transgender rights may seem like a relatively recent issue in the United States and other Western countries, diverse gender expression has been an integral part of many non-Western cultures for centuries. For example, some Indigenous peoples of North America recognize a third gender, or combination of genders, known as two-spirit. Two-spirit individuals occupied special roles in their tribes. In Oaxaca, Mexico, the Zapotec people recognize third-gender individuals called muxes. Muxes are born as male but adopt feminine traits and characteristics and function in the world as women. These identities tend to differ from Western notions of gender-nonconformity, for they often hold religious and cultural significance in the greater community. Continue reading from Encyclopedia Britannica
