TRANSMUSEPLANET : Best of Both Worlds

By Sabrina Samone,TMP

There’s so many ways to celebrate the duality that is being Trans and we should. So often we’re faced with the doom and gloom of living in a world that discriminates against us and may cause us to doubt at times our own self worth, but why should we? We as Trans-people are extremely special in so many ways. Unfortunately so many words or labels we’ve once accepted we now quickly discard, due to those who have exploited those terms in derogatory ways. We’ve given those that have distorted the meaning, the power. When I was a young trans-gal in the mid nineties, just starting HRT, how we loathed the word, shemale. There was nothing more humiliating. We were more satisfied at the time, with the term Tranny over shemale, but as time has proved, they’ve made that as ugly and as shameful. Now as a community we’ve discarded that from our vocabulary. One I will not let them take is; Best of Both Worlds, because we are just that. We’re a unique special two spirited people with a long history in the human race.

Two spirited people; long before the white Europeans stole the land of the Native Americans, two spirited people existed. In this land we call North America there is nothing more traditional than two spirited people. Two spirit people were considered a third gender of people and were a fundamental institution among mot tribal people. Male and Female two spirit people have been documented in over a 130 tribes in every region of North America. Two spirits usually indicates a person whose body simultaneously manifests both a masculine and feminine spirit. They were highly respected in their tribe and were considered healers, fortune tellers, matchmakers and to have a child named by a two spirit person was to have a lucky name in life.

In Ancient times we were considered dually-gifted and respected. What we understand as transgender today had often been understood quite differently at various periods in time. In the earliest ages, people who were seen to bridge the genders were often thought to possess wisdom that cis-gender people did not and were often exalted in society for this. Roman historian Plutarch depicts “the Great Mother” as an intersex deity from who the two sexes had not yet split. Transgender depictions of the Great Mother and her priestesses are found in ancient artifacts back to the earliest civilizations in Mesopotamia, Assyria, Babylonia and Akkad. In ancient times there were no words such as homosexuality or bisexuality, most just enjoyed sexuality.

Cybele, mother goddess, known to have trangender priesthood

Probably considered one of the greatest warriors and conquers of all time, Alexander the Great, enjoyed a well known and documented love affair with a Eunuch, Bagoas, depicted only briefly in the Hollywood film, Alexander the Great. Bogas became a eunuch at an early age which had lead to major hormonal changes. Such was the case with young eunuchs who were not castrated due to enslavement; this led to a decrease in testosterone before puberty, which gave them a feminine look pleasing to kings who’d use them as courtesans. Even, despite what most transgendered people of today have heard from religion, our holy bible does support and accept transgender people, or at the time what was known as eunuchs in Matthew 19:12 “For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb: (most likely referring to those being born intersex) and there are eunuch who were made eunuchs by men; (most likely referring to the practice of enslavement in ancient times) and there are also eunuchs who made themselves for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. HE, WHO IS ABLE TO ACCEPT THIS, LET HIM ACCEPT IT, (More than likely referring too many of us who choose to live without the genitalia born with. Even Kabbalah, believed to be the knowledge from the tree of life, pre dating the Torah states: Shekhinah is the female essence of God. God in the Kabbalah sense is both male and female.

Depiction of Bogas, known eunuch lover of Alexander the Great

Today eunuchs or Hijra, as they are commonly referred as in India and other parts of south Asia; perform blessings in the form of dances at birth ceremonies and weddings. Though now, modern bigotry plagues this group as it does transgender people everywhere.

Whether it is two-spirited or eunuchs’, today transgender people are highly sexualized and the classic terminology used in the growing industry of transgender porn is to market us as the best of both worlds. But discarding this term, due to its negative use, is denying the truth, that in fact we are the best of both worlds. It may seem shallow and only sexual when we hear most transgender admirer’s state that we as transgender people posses a rare inner beauty and are indeed the best of both worlds. But just by entertaining their reasoning’s is sometimes really intriguing, cis-gender women who admire trans-men may often say that their masculinity is much more real and unstained and are better at comforting women, many cis-gender men admire trans-women for their femininity and their tenderness to the male ego. Without stating anymore of the obvious in mental and physical changes, because of the great opposition we face in society, transgender people regardless how young or old are known to also have thick skin and become very wise, very fast. We are stronger than I think we give ourselves credit for at times. While society at large seems to continue the gender war between male and female, and sexual wars of heterosexual and homosexual, we have the wisdom to see all the sides, the negative and positive of both. Those of us that due to the drastic physical changes that we receive from testosterone and estrogen and can resist being servants of Narcissus; a fixation with oneself, many are wise beyond our years, make great loyal trustworthy friends and because of a duality in mental thinking make great artist, writers, politicians, business people, psychologist because we are all just a little better at seeing all sides of things that are usually missed by cis-gender people.

Of course, I’m not implying we are better or superior to cis-gender people, but given the facts of history, we are an equal contributor to the human race. Equality for third gender people should be the norm, and should not have to be fought for like crumbs in the streets from people who are as mortal as we are, with no more of a supreme right than we have to dictate the meaning of life. Society today is nothing more than left over debris from the dark ages. A time when people thought it best to punish themselves for any personal pleasure, happiness and believed in so many superstitions that made rational thinking of the time nearly equivalent to the cave man era. We are still living off the residue of that era, limiting the imagination of the human race because of medieval beliefs. We as third gender people, do have a lot to be proud of as a group of people. For those of us alone and felling there is nothing to live for, these are reasons to realize how special you are. We have a spiritual purpose, past and future for mankind. We have attributes that due to our misfortunate birth defects and the way society responds to it, makes us see things in not so rigid ways. A prime example is the bathroom debacle; cis-gender can’t get their minds beyond sexuality and sexual desire. While it is as plain to most of us like the paint on the wall, it baffles many of us why they can’t. I think personally this is part of our gift to the world, our purpose to help all of mankind to transcend to a higher level of consciousness, because we truly are, the best of both worlds.

More supportive scriptures from the Holy Bible supporting the inner beauty of third gender people:

1 Samuel 16:7 "But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.
Zechariah 12:1
"The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him."

John 7:24:
"Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment"

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