Chanith

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Chanith or Khanith ( Arabic خنيث, DMG ḫanīṯ ), English also Xanit , is the slang Arabic word for people in Oman and parts of the Arabian Peninsula who - although they were born with male gender characteristics - largely reject the male gender role ( transgender persons). The designation also applies to people who belong to the intersexual category in the western-speaking area , for whom the physical gender characteristics are therefore not clear.

While Chanith are treated as if they were women, they are not assigned to the woman category. Their intermediate status becomes clear in their external appearance: They wear both men's and women's clothing, with women's clothing, for example, being differentiated from normal women's clothing by the color scheme. Chanith, unlike men and women, do not cover their heads, have a half-length haircut that is neither worn by men nor women. In their behavior, Chanith are more like women. They are heavily perfumed and imitate their gait and high pitched voice. In addition, it is possible for them to be in the two normally separate spatial worlds of men and women. So they can move in the domestic area of ​​women, as well as in the public area of ​​men. The Chanith play an important role in certain events such as weddings.

Because of their intermediate status, they have long been considered a kind of third gender in ethnology . But this assumption does not match the local understanding. Chanith are viewed like a eunuch . Although they have male sexual organs, these are inactive and therefore they are considered impotent. The option to become a man is given when impotence changes to potency. Then the status changes, and Chanith can be considered men. Thus the image of masculinity is composed of the possession and use of a penis. Men are seen as active agents, women and Xanit as passive beings. This gender model is therefore binary, since it differentiates between people with and without a penis at birth. The first differentiation process at birth is followed by a second at puberty, in which "men are once again divided into two categories: those who penetrate and those who are penetrated."

The model solves the problem that men are assigned the necessity of sexual activity, whereas women should not engage in sexual activity before and outside of marriage. But since men without wives depend on women as sexual partners, either men or women would have to deviate from assigned behavioral patterns. Chanith replace women and thus solve this problem. From this it can be concluded that there is no third gender in Oman, but a binary gender order .

See also

literature

  • Stephen O. Murray : The Sohari Khanith. In: Hasan Mujtaba u. a. (Ed.): Islamic Homosexualities: Culture, History, and Literature. NYU Press, New York / London 1997, ISBN 0-8147-7468-7 , pp. 244-255 (English; limited excerpt in the Google book search).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Susanne Schröter : FeMale: About boundaries between the sexes. Fischer, Frankfurt / M. 2002, ISBN 3-596-15716-1 , p. 113.