From inside one's own culture, gender and sexual orientation usually seem like rather straightforward phenomenon. In cross-cultural and historical perspective, however, there is nothing straightforward about it. This talk is a shallow but broad overview of a range of ways that different groups have organized gender and sexuality. It's an extraordinary tour that will make audiences take another look at their own cultural assumptions.

1. Lisa Wade, PhD
Professor of Sociology
Occidental College
lisa-wade.com
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t:@lisawade

2. Roughgarden, Joan. 2013 (10th ed). Evolution’s Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and
Sexuality in Nature and People. Los Angeles: University of California Press.

3. Roughgarden, Joan. 2013 (10th ed). Evolution’s Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and
Sexuality in Nature and People. Los Angeles: University of California Press.

4. Roughgarden, Joan. 2013 (10th ed). Evolution’s Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and
Sexuality in Nature and People. Los Angeles: University of California Press.

5. Roughgarden, Joan. 2013 (10th ed). Evolution’s Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and
Sexuality in Nature and People. Los Angeles: University of California Press.

6. Roughgarden, Joan. 2013 (10th ed). Evolution’s Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and
Sexuality in Nature and People. Los Angeles: University of California Press.

7. Roughgarden, Joan. 2013 (10th ed). Evolution’s Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and
Sexuality in Nature and People. Los Angeles: University of California Press.

8. Roughgarden, Joan. 2013 (10th ed). Evolution’s Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and
Sexuality in Nature and People. Los Angeles: University of California Press.

9. Roughgarden, Joan. 2013 (10th ed). Evolution’s Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and
Sexuality in Nature and People. Los Angeles: University of California Press.

10.  How many genders are there?
 Is gender static?
 How is gender proven?
 Is homosexuality eternal?
 Is object choice it?

11.  Biological sex: primary and secondary sexual characteristics
 Gender: masculinity, femininity, or other
 Identity: what you feel
 Appearance: how you look
 Performance: how you act
 Sexual orientation: the sex/gender of your sexual object
choice, if any
 Sexual role: your role in sexual activity

12.  16th century Europe

13.  16th century Europe

14.  Two-spirits, North America

15.  Māhū, akava’ine, fakaleiti, Fa'afafine, throughout Polynesia

16.  Hijra and Sadhin, India

17.  Muxe, Mexico

18.  Travesti, Brazil

20.  Guevedoces, Dominican Republic

21.  Kwolu-aatmwol, Papau New Guinea

22.  Bacha Posh, Afghanistan

23.  Bacha Posh, Afghanistan
“It’s a privilege for me, that she is in boys’ clothing… It’s a help for
me, with the shopping. And she can go in and out of the house without
a problem.”

24.  Bacha Posh, Afghanistan

25.  Virgjinesha, Albania

26.  Hau, New Guinea

27.  Lobedu, Zambia

28.  Nádleehé, North America

30.  Gerai, West Borneo
“Gerai people remained very uncertain about my gender for some time
after I arrived in the community…
This was despite the fact that people in the community knew from my
first few days with them both that I had breasts… and that I had a
vulva rather than a penis and testicles (this was obvious from my trips
to defecate or urinate in the small stream used for that purpose, when
literally dozens of people would line the banks to observe whether I
performed these functions differently from them).
As someone said to me at a later point, ‘Yes, I saw that you had a
vulva, but I thought that Western men might be different.’”
Helliwell, Christine. 2000. “It’s Only a Penis”: Rape, Feminism, and Difference. Signs 25, 3: 789-816.

31.  Two-spirits, North America

32.  Hijra, India

33.  Travesti, Brazil

34. Myth of the eternal homosexual:
`“…gay men and lesbians always were and always will
be. We are everywhere; not just now, but throughout
history, in all societies and all periods.”
D’Emilio, John. 1993. Capitalism and Gay Identity. In The Lesbian and Gay Studies
Reader, edited by Henry Abelove et al. New York: Routledge.

35. Myth of the eternal homosexual:
`“…gay men and lesbians always were and always will
be. We are everywhere; not just now, but throughout
history, in all societies and all periods.”
D’Emilio, John. 1993. Capitalism and Gay Identity. In The Lesbian and Gay Studies
Reader, edited by Henry Abelove et al. New York: Routledge.

36. • US, early colonial period

37. • US, 1940s

38. • US, 1940s

39.  US and abroad, World War II
“The war is a tragedy to my
mind and soul… but to my
physical being, it is a
memorable experience.”

40.  The Mattachine Society

41.  US, routinized non-homosexual homosexual behavior

43.  “Gay for Pay”

44.  Ancient Romans

45.  Travesti, Brazil

46.  Some trans men and women

47.  All of us, actually

48.  How many genders are there?
 Is gender static?
 How is gender proven?
 Is homosexuality eternal?
 Is object choice it?

49.  Our beliefs about gender and sexuality are specific
to this time and place.
 Deviations from the two sex/two
gender/heterosexual system are incredibly
common.
 Remember the diversity.
 Question categories, not people.

50. Lisa Wade, PhD
Professor of Sociology
Occidental College
lisa-wade.com
f:/lisawadephd
i:/lisawadephd
t:@lisawade