# Gender Identification

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-identification/240549>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [April 17, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-identification/240549 "2004-04-17T18:39:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-identification/240549/21 "2004-04-19T01:07:15Z")

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I have nothing to add to this discussion–everyone has said everything so much better than I could–but wanted to pop in to say how bucked up I am by such a civilized, polite and good-natured discussion of the issue!

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**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gender-identification/240549/22 "2004-04-19T01:07:32Z")

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> [@Zagadka](#):
>
> Actually, one of the more interesting parts about shamanic cultures is that you frequently find the shamans being reverse gender - from Native Americans to Central Asians to Africans, stretching back thousands of years. .

This also occurred among the vikings and Teutons. Male priests of Freya/Frau Hulda lived as women. In return for this, the goddess would grant them mystical abilities. As a shaman’s role is to straddle the divide between the visible and the invisible, flesh and spirit, divine and human, life and death, shamans often lived in a manner straddle male and female.

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