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Bi-gender and FaithWhat we wear is one of the most immediate and easily changeable outside signals of gender. And hi-jacking the gender signals of the "opposite" sex is often, though not always seen as a cultural abuse by various religions. There are a number of faiths that are supportive of bi-genderism, however in the English speaking world, Orthodox Christianity and Orthodox Judaism, are not. In the Old Testament, Deuteronomy appears to be saying that cross-dressing is a sin against society (and god) that can be compared to masturbation. The idea being, one supposes that anything that interferes with procreation runs against god’s laws. There is some debate by scholars as to how the original text should properly be translated, and there is a school of thought that the words can be interpreted as "women’s business is women’s business – and men’s business is men’s business". This seems a little disingenuous to me, since so much of this section refers to codes of conduct relating to procreation. But scholars who argue the "business" interpretation are certainly correct when they say that procreation is only a part of the cultural argument against crossdressing. An equally significant part of the objection to cross-dressing was that external gender signals (in this case clothing) contain important power associations. And the concern expressed in the Old Testament is as also about how having genetic women hi-jacking male authority through clothing and genetic men abandoning such signals could disrupt the society of the time. The great irony is that (as was the custom at the time), the male author was wearing a dress when he wrote these words. This would suggest to me that, over time, our customs have changed. However, my point is not to make light of this or any other "good book of spirit". On the contrary, I believe that bi-genders who are of the Christian or Jewish faith have to learn to face and resolve this part of their cultural heritage if they are to become guilt-free human beings. Even those bi-genders who are not terribly orthodox and who do not believe in a literal interpretation of this excellent book still hold somewhere in their upbringing, the message that an outward expression of bi-genderism is a sin. One can rationalize that the words are a product of the time, place and culture in which they were written, but making peace with one’s faith is an important part of becoming a well-adjusted person. It is vital if one accepts the contention that bi-genderism is a spiritual state of being.
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