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Three Genders

Gender isn't static, though our culture tries to fix us into our appointed, biological gender roles - we are either a girl or a boy, a woman or a man.

Entire university programs and libraries are filled with the study of gender.

I want to introduce you to the way Xtasia experiences gender,

to encourage fluidity, curiosity and permission.

The Xtasia-culture considers every person to be one of three genders: woman, man or mah-nushay (mah-noo-shay).

Mah-nushay are people who are both (or neither) woman and man; thus, Mah-nushay bridge female and male.

According to the work of Maria Gielen (www.mayflower.com), every person has three internal selves:

- a body-self,

- a soul-self (feeling)

- a mind-self (thinking)

Each of these three selves has a gender. Thus, a male-body can have a female-soul and a female-mind, or a female-body can have a female-soul and a male-mind, or any other variation. This explains why, for instance, a ‘woman’ with a male thinking can seem ‘masculine’ or a ‘man’ can appear ‘feminine’ because of his female feeling-self.

Personally, it's hard for me to imagine that 'soul' has a gender, nor do I define 'soul' to the feeling self. But this may be a matter of definions - after all, 'soul' is defined in a variety of ways.

I'm presenting Maria's paradigm here, as food for thought, because the gender restrictions our culture puts upon us is so devastating to many.

Euro-American culture puts thelabel ‘gay,’ or ‘lesbian,’ or ‘trannie,’ or simply ‘queer’ on the people whose thinking or feeling doesn’t seem to match the genitals they have. But many “hetero-sexual” people also find themselves dangerously confined in one role or the other.
Adding mah-nushay to woman&man model allows us to be more than only female or only male. It also recognizes that “queer” is more complex than ‘who goes to bed with whom.’