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| - Khanith or Khaneeth (خنيث; khanīth) is a vernacular Arabic term used in Oman and the Arabian Peninsula and denotes the gender role ascribed to males who function sexually, and in some ways socially, as women. The word is closely related to the Arabic word mukhannath (مخنث "effeminate"), a Classical Arabic term referring to individuals with an effeminate nature.
- Khanith (Arabic: خنيث, variant transcription Xanith) is a vernacular Arabic term for both standard written Arabic mukhannath and khuntha. The Arabic word Mukhannath مخنث (literally "effeminate") refers to individuals with a gender identity that is discordant with their visible sexual organs. They are characterized as "effeminate", "not clearly male," and as people who were "born as a male" and who nevertheless feel, behave, and (in most cases) dress like a female. The Arabic word Khuntha خنثى (literally "hermaphrodite") refers to physically intersexed human beings.
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| abstract
| - Khanith (Arabic: خنيث, variant transcription Xanith) is a vernacular Arabic term for both standard written Arabic mukhannath and khuntha. The Arabic word Mukhannath مخنث (literally "effeminate") refers to individuals with a gender identity that is discordant with their visible sexual organs. They are characterized as "effeminate", "not clearly male," and as people who were "born as a male" and who nevertheless feel, behave, and (in most cases) dress like a female. The Arabic word Khuntha خنثى (literally "hermaphrodite") refers to physically intersexed human beings. John Money summarizes material presented by U. Wikan in an article entitled "Man becomes woman: Transsexualism in Oman as a key to gender roles." (Man (N.S.) 12:304-319, 1977.) According to that account, the khanith is the gynecomimetic partner in a homosexual relationship. A gynecomimetic individual may retain his public status as a man, despite his departure in dress and behavior from a socio-normal male role, providing that he also gives proof of a legal marriage to a woman and proof of having consummated that marriage. The clothing of these individuals must be intermediate between that of a male and a female. His social role includes the freedom to associate with women in the entire range of their social interactions, including singing with them at a wedding (instead of playing a musical instrument as would a male), but he can travel about unaccompanied as would a male, live unaccompanied, be hired as a domestic servant, and to be hired by men as a prostitute. There is no element of feminizing the body, either by surgical or pharmacological means. (See: John Money, Lovemaps, Prometheus Book, 1993. ISBN 0-87975-456-7.)
- Khanith or Khaneeth (خنيث; khanīth) is a vernacular Arabic term used in Oman and the Arabian Peninsula and denotes the gender role ascribed to males who function sexually, and in some ways socially, as women. The word is closely related to the Arabic word mukhannath (مخنث "effeminate"), a Classical Arabic term referring to individuals with an effeminate nature. John Money summarizes material presented by Unni Wikan in an article titled Man becomes woman: Transsexualism in Oman as a key to gender roles. According to this account, the mukhannath is the "bottom" in a male same-sex relationship. Because of this, khanith are considered men by Omani standards and are often considered an "alternative gender role" – and sometimes considered as being transgender or transvestites – even though the khanith are still referred to by masculine names and are treated as male by the law. Because of this confusion in terminology, many people refer to the khanith as khanith alone. The khanith are considered a specific third gender category in Oman. And although they behave like women and have same-sex relationships with other men, at some stage they may one day "become a man" and give up their lifestyle for marriage and children.
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