Bakla is a word that combines babae (woman) and lalaki (men), thus it didn't refer to a sexual preference, but to an identity that merged masculine and feminine traits.

Nowadays, this word is mostly used to describe the homosexual identity and community in the Phillippines, because of the influence of globalization and colonization and the binary view of gender they reproduce.

Even though the word Bakla now has a different and wider meaning, the traditional Bakla community is still present in the Philippines and is trying to regain the traditional significance of the word.

Baklas are accepted in the society only if they reproduce a feminine ideals, through the emplyoment in traditional feminine jobs. On the contrary, they are victim of violence and discirmination and they are excluded from society if they present themselves in feminine attires, but choose masculine behaviours and occupation. This situation highlights the embeddnenss of the Western gender binary logic within the Philipino society, since Baklas are accepted only if they totally choose a feminine identity, while they are ostracised if they perform a more fluid gender.

In fact, gender roles in Brazil are strict and controlled, because of the colonial caste system introduced by Portuguese colonizers in order to control the population.

However, a strong and diffused community of gender non-conforming people arose and is still thriving in contemporary Brazil. They are called Travestis, and are assigned men at birth who present themselves as women. The travesti community is different from the Western conception of transgendersim, because it merges feminine and masculine traditional features of Brazilian identity. In fact, the majority of travesti doesn't undergo surgical procedures, they are satisfied with their genitals, and they may also display heterosexual behaviour in romantic and sexual relationships.

In this community appearance is the most important thing, hence travestis work hard on their feminine looks, clothes and makeup. This is also why a part of the community started to undergo gender-related surgery, to fit the beauty standards, even though this is still a less practised solution.

The social condition in which Travestis live is defined by a contradiction. In fact, on one hand, they undergo high levels of violence, and police brutality and they are murdered because of the stigma associated with the community and the intolerance of Brazilian people towards them. On the other hand, though, during some festivities such as carnivals and beauty competitions, they are highly celebrated.

Rosa Luz proposed, a travesti this self-portrait to express a form of resistance expressed by dissident bodies and identities.

Even though our culture and tradition, mostly because of the Christian religion, are deeply tied to this binaristic understanding of gender, this is not the case for other parts of the world. In fact, in many cultures and traditions around the world, it's possible to find third-gender and gender-deviant communities. These are communities that go beyond the binaristic view of gender, based on male and female features, allowing for different gendered identities and experiences. These cultures are often tied to religious beliefs and spirituality and challenge our idea of a natural gender binary.

With this digital portfolio, through the use of art, videos and news, I will analyse and portray some of the biggest third-gender cultural traditions around the world, underlying their commonalities and differences to try and reframe our transnormative view of gender-deviant people and underline how these people have always existed as normalised and equal parts of the society in many different traditions, up until Christian colonization.

The different cultures that I will explore are the following:

• Mahu of Hawai'i and Polynesia

• Hijras of India

• Muxes of Mexico

• Two-Spirit of Native American Tribes

• Bakla of Philippines

• Travesti of Brazil

• Bakla of Philippines

After the colonization, the Mahu of Hawai'i and Polynesia were forced to hide and are now discriminated against and medicalized through the Western framing of transgenderism.

Nowadays, in Hawai'i the Christian church is still one of the most powerful institutions, and its condemnation of third gender people has negative consequences on the lives and freedom of Mahu people, who are victims of discrimination and violence.

Hijra is seen as a third gender in the Indian region, the community is made by assigned males at birth that present themselves as females, using female clothing. A part of the community still undergoes the Nirwaan ritual in order to become a Hijra, this ritual is done to castrate men through the removal of their genitalia, to help their spiritual connection to the divine. Hijras have to renounce their sexuality in order to fully become part of the community and transcend gender.

As of now, Hijras live in closed and illegal communities spread in different cities and countries. These communities become their houses and families. Through the spiritual leaders of the communities, they find jobs, which are mostly connected to sex work and blessings. This isolation is due to the fact that in 1871 the Hijra community was categorized as a criminal tribe and seen as non-human, because of the British and Christian colonization that brought a different, binary conception of gender with it.

In recent years Hijras have been considered to fall under categories such as transgender and MSM (Men who have sex with men), but they refuse these categorizations, because of the cultural and spiritual uniqueness of their identity.

Socially, they are accepted in the Oaxaca region, in which the tradition is stronger. In their Indigenous community, their role is mostly connected to the transmission of culture. Even though in other parts of Mexico they are discriminated against, the Muxe community is generally more accepted than other gender-variant communities both in Mexico and in the general globalized landscape.

Each Native tribe in North America, or as they called it, Turtle Island, has different traditions, cultures and languages when it comes to gender-deviant communities. It is estimated that in 168 different indigenous languages exist terms to define people who are neither male nor female.

Some of these tribes had up to six different genders, before the British colonization.

In general, Indigenous people traditionally highly valued concepts of fluidity and self-definition. Children were left free to choose the clothes and occupations they wanted, enabling them to become active and productive members of the community through their self-accomplishment. In this sense, being gender-deviant was more connected to occupations and activities than to clothing and homosexual behaviours.

Some tribes connected gender variation to spiritual power and for this reason, had sacred positions for third-gender people. In most tribes, gender variance was seen and treated as normal up until the arrival of colonisers, who imposed the gender binary on Indigenous tribes through violence and boarding schools.

The colonization was successful, because a lot of native tribes lost their traditional third gender populations and the language tied to it, becoming more and more embedded in the binary and patriarchal system.

Nowadays, some young native are trying to reclaim their third-gender traditions and underline the difference with transgenderism. This process is what led to the introduction of the term Two-Spirit, to differentiate from queer Americans, and underling the merging of two different spirits, one feminine and one masculine, within an individual.

As seen, many of these cultures and communities reject the definition of transgender, because they are less interested in passing as a "real" woman and more interested in following one's true spirit and combining features of both genders.

Even though the majority of these communities are made by assigned males at birth, who either dress or work as women in their societies, they are very different in their beliefs and traditions. Some of the cultures here presented, in fact, connect gender variance and gender ambiguity to spirituality and religious power. Other cultures are not spiritually related and thus come closer to the Western understanding of gender performativity and transgenderism.

Each community and third gender identity presented in this portfolio is unique, but unfortunately, they are all affected by violence and erasure. Colonization played a huge role in defining the present living conditions of these communities. British colonisers and Spanish ones, in fact, tried to eradicate third-gender communities from every territory they occupied, because they challenged the Christian binary understanding of gender relations, and subsequently, they were seen as a threat to the hegemonic, patriarchal order.

Because of the influence of colonization these communities, which were seen as natural and equal parts of the society in Indigenous cultures, started to be discriminated against and were partially exterminated. Nowadays, third-gender communities around the world are trying to regain their traditional role in their societies, through a process of decolonisation. However, gender-variant people are still victims of violence and discrimination even in these societies that were once naturally queer.

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