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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 the label ‘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.’