CarnalNation

News flash: The world's newest celebrity is – yes! - a hermaphrodite! It was announced that world-class South African athlete Caster Semenya has ambiguous gender characteristics.

OK, technically, she doesn't have genitalia for “both” sexes, which is the most accurate definition of the word that applies. And true, it's not a scientific term nor a politically correct term, nor is it preferred by those with DSD (disorders of sex development) or an intersex condition. Some prefer to be called Intersex and don't want to be called DSD. And others prefer DSD and don't like Intersex. And of course, some are proud to be hermaphrodites and have plastered their pictures all over the Internet.

It reminds one of the days of reclaiming queer versus gay, and wimmin—or was it womyn?—choosing dyke over lesbian. And yes, it's confusing. For all of us. While they're sorting it out, let me tell you how truly divine sexual ambiguity has been for lo, these many millennia.

Starting with Hermaphroditus himself, of course, we find the source of the questionable terminology. The son of Hermes and Aphrodite, the Greek pantheon's archetypal male and female, he was quite the handsome youth, as you might expect. Wandering in the forest, he found the pond of Salmaci, a water nymph. She tried to seduce him, and as is so often the case in Greek mythology when the female is doing the seducing, he refused her. When he thought she had left, he took off his clothes and went for a swim in the pond.

Salmaci, also in typical Greek mythology fashion – though usually the males are the perpetrators—decided to have her way with him anyway. Once she was wrapped around him, she called on the gods to keep them together always—OK, maybe she's starting to sound more like a female again—and they, those capricious gods, decided to grant her wish. The two were fused into one body containing the sexual characteristics of both male and female. The stories all continue speaking of the combined being as Hermaphroditus, and Salmaci's name disappears from the narratives. Hermaphroditus, at this point, becomes terribly embarrassed and curses the waters in which he swims, declaring that all who bathe there from then on would suffer the same fate. Clearly, those telling this tale consider the state of—gender dualism shall we call it?—to be dreadful.

Eastern religions have a different view of this, however, starting with Taoism. Taoism's Yin-Yang symbol portrays the embrace of all opposites—night and day, black and white, male and female. The primary goal of Taoism, to which adherents aspire, is to overcome the world of duality and embrace non-duality, that is, to integrate these opposites. If this sounds similar to Carl Jung's beliefs that integrating the anima (internal feminine) and animus (internal masculine) within us leads to mental and emotional health, you are right.

Between the historical appearances of Taoism and Carl Jung, however, have been scores of deities and religious principles espousing the value of being both female and male. Hinduism has Ardhanarishvara, the androgynous figure that combines Shiva and Shakti. Shakti, the female form, is usually depicted on the left side of the body, while Shiva's form is on the right. You may have seen icons or paintings of  Ardhanarishvara and wondered why s/he had only one breast. The other indicators are more discreet, but it's obvious there's some sort of personality split going on. In some cases, the female half is red indicating the female sexual energy, blood, and the male half is white for sperm. Ardhanarishvara represents the same concept as Taoism and Jung—that divinity integrates male and female into one whole.

Buddhism offers us the male boddhisattva, Avalokitesvara, who over time, evolved into the female Quan Yin in China. Some versions of Quan Yin, the goddess of compassion who hears the cries of the suffering, are mustached females who occasionally also sport a soul patch. So, instead of a single character embodying both genders, we have one who transitioned.