PBS Independent Lens
August 12, 2015 Updated Oct, 2023

Throughout recorded history and since time immemorial, thriving cultures have recognized, revered, and integrated more than two genders. Terms such as transgender, gay, or bisexual are Western constructs that often assume three things: that there are only two sexes (male/female), as many as three sexualities (gay/straight/bisexual), and only two genders (man/woman).

PBS FATE & FABLED
Season 1 Episode 8 | 8m 50s

Creation, transformation, and the quest for self-knowledge – these are universal themes that appear across world mythology. But there’s another common thread within these tales: gender fluidity. It’s not only commonplace in many mythologies, but an essential aspect of some important mythical figures: from androgynous creators and fertility deities to warriors and prophets that defy the binary.

The Guardian
Irene Baqué and Freddy McConnell Jul 2017

Five non-binary people discuss their experience of life outside the simple gender binary of male and female. They tell us about the difficulty that society has with their resistance to its attempts to compartmentalise and define people.