cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/21066079

  • kristina [she/her]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    this is super fucking common. theres so many cool people going back and re-translating "eunuchs" to be transgender people because they are described in the feminine and referred to themselves as women, it was a bunch of psycho english people that decided to call them eunuchs

    • iridaniotter [she/her, she/her]
      ·
      2 months ago

      porky-scared-flipped B-but that's applying modern standards to historical and non-European societies! Everyone knows the Western transgender was invented by Magnus Hirschfeld in 1923!

      • kristina [she/her]
        ·
        2 months ago

        uhh actually in 2014 by a tumblr user, thanks

        i referred to myself as a eunuch before then very-smart

        • Owl [he/him]
          ·
          2 months ago

          Actually eunuchs was invented at Bell Labs in 1969.

    • SadArtemis [she/her]
      ·
      2 months ago

      I wonder where else, and what time periods have this as the same ("eunuchs" in western or modern mistranslations/misrepresentation actually being trans people)? While there are also no doubt also cases of the term being accurate, it does make one wonder- and it's somewhat heartwarming to think that there was such acceptance on some level, not that it's so odd for pre-Christian (or even then, before trans identity started getting weaponized by the reactionary culture wars) cultures...

      • ComradeMonotreme [she/her, he/him]
        ·
        2 months ago

        There's eight genders in the Talmud

        1. Zachar, male.
        2. Nekevah, female.
        3. Androgynos, having both male and female characteristics.
        4. Tumtum, lacking sexual characteristics.
        5. Aylonit hamah, identified female at birth but later naturally developing male characteristics.
        6. Aylonit adam, identified female at birth but later developing male characteristics through human intervention.
        7. Saris hamah, identified male at birth but later naturally developing female characteristics.
        8. Saris adam, identified male at birth and later developing female characteristics through human intervention.

        1-2 are what we'd call cis. 3, 4, 5 and 7 are different presentations of being intersex. 6 and 8 are what we'd call trans and also include eunuchs etc.