Nonbinary genders beyond 'male' and 'female' would have been no surprise to ancient rabbis, who acknowledged tumtums, androgynos and aylonot
Nonbinary genders beyond 'male' and 'female' would have been no surprise to ancient rabbis, who acknowledged tumtums, androgynos and aylonot
People sometimes assume religious traditions’ ideas about gender have always been conservative and unchanging.
People sometimes assume religious traditions’ ideas about gender have always been conservative and unchanging.
In many cases, "conservative" views are actually new! Conservatisms always claim to stand for the values of the past, but they quite often make up a past that didn't actually occur.
164“The past” - you know, back when they were much younger and didn’t know how the world worked, so they made up a bunch of assumptions in their head and got mad whenever anyone told them they were wrong because it was obvious they were right since they’re brilliant and they came up with it.
99But muh white Jesus
20With blue eyes or else...
2
case in point : wahhabism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabism#Criticism_by_other_Muslims
6
Besides being 'surprised' or not I wonder how many ancient people would care much about atypical gender expressions even if they were 'surprised'.
A small tribe might recognize someone was different but unless there was some cultural taboo against certain behaviors the tribe would probably be very utilitarian and recognize another healthy human is an asset to the tribe and nothing matters more than that.
Kind of ironic that the comforts afforded us by modern society give us so much free time and energy that we can waste human resources by being bigoted assholes about shit that our most primitive ancestors knew to be irrelevant to their survival.
89A lot of "new" religions like Christianity were all about maximizing reproduction because it's easiest to indoctrinate children.
Which leads to those religions calling anything that didn't result in children a sin.
According to the same religious laws against LGBT, masterbation and oral/anal are just as bad.
But they can't even give up blowjobs and expect everyone else to follow just some parts of someone else religious rules.
47You're right, and both Aboriginal and Indigenous American (many) cultures are testament to that. In some case they weren't simply accepted but seen as gifted, too.
And there are so many more examples of this from cultures all over the globe (Indian Hijra's come to mind).23I think it was the greeks or romans that had hermaphroditeis, it was a story about two lovers so joined they become one person
5This is a pearl in the ocean of debate on gender and sexuality. A lot of people can't fathom the fact non-binary genders exist and are accepted in other cultures because they have been socialised by their own heteronormative culture. It's understandable why a lot of people can't make heads or tails about the lgbt community for said reason, but if people get out of their information bubble and read expansively (or even better travel) outside of their worldview, then they will gain better understanding just how complex the world is, and that people of non-binary genders are actually just normal people who deserves respect like everyone else.
3
I first read this as "ancient rabbits" and was really confused for a moment.
40Lmaooo I'm glad I'm not the only one.
2I had no idea furries had been around that long
1The Easter bunny has some backlore!
1
I think it would add some much needed levity to the public conversation if we started referring to people as "Tumtums"
35“Honey what’s wrong, you’ve barely touched your Androgyn-Os.”
27
Hermaphroditus is literally older than Jesus. Of course the ancients knew about them. We still use their words to describe Hermaphrodites.
18You're not wrong, however it's worth mentioning that the intersex community in general would prefer that term not be used
14
I always say if it's in nature it's totally fine. And we see this in nature, Godzilla also swapped his gender mid-movie so what is the freaking problem with some people to acknowledge this?
12lmfao
2
In shinto tradition there are male, female, and deities with no gender as well. They believe they were venerated before the common era.
10I always interpreted the “don’t be gay” Bible thing to mean “if you’re not gay, don’t pretend to be” kinda thing. So I’ve always thought what the Bible says is wrong is to not accept your sexuality & try to change it.
7I don't think the bible says "don't be gay", I think it says something like "thou shalt not lay with a man as with a woman - that is an abomination".
9That just means not to have PIV sex. No biggy - gay men have a tendency to avoid that.
10Probably says something else too, I’ve been seeing interpretations based on the Hebrew texts, and, unsurprisingly, the versions people know tend to get it wrong & just use the text to reinforce preexisting beliefs.
2I grew up an Orthodox Jew (I’m not as an adult). The way I learned it was that existing as a gay person, as in, that’s simply who you are, isn’t problematic. The issue is the act of gay sex itself, which is what the verse in the Torah refers to.
That is to say, your understanding is correct.
Disclaimer: I don’t care about it myself. Just explaining it how I was taught in Orthodox schools.
2
Ah yes, we know of the TumTum gender as well https://imgur.com/gallery/CKLmGQF
7Ro-cky LOVES Em-il-y!
4
you say that until you see their Tumblr posts, then you would've lost the ancient rabbis
-2