Brotherboy and Sistergirl: Difference between revisions

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'''Sistergirl''' and '''Brotherboy''' are genders from Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.<ref>[https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/people's/lgbti-aboriginal-people-diversity-at-the-margins cultureLGBTI who.Aboriginal People: Diversity at the Margins]</ref> The terms are not analogous to [[Transfeminine|transfemtransfeminine]] and [[Transmasculine|transmasctransmasculine]] as understood in the non-Indigenous LGBTA community, and were coined directly by Indigenous peopleindividuals.

A personSomeone who describes themself as a sistergirl or brotherboy is understood to live their life through gendered experienceexperiences that isnaren't consistent with their [[Assigned Gender|assigned gender at birth]].<ref>[https://junkee.com/brotherboy-sistergirl-decolonise-gender/262222 What is a Brotherboy or Sistergirl?]</ref><ref>[https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2015/06/08/being-brotherboys-coming-out-transgender Being Brotherboys (NITV)]</ref> This includes gender identity but also cultural identity, social role, and other gendered aspects of the Indigenous cultural worldview. Because of this, the terms do not explicitly refer to peoplethose who may otherwise be described as [[transgender]].

A sistergirl may be a [[transgender]] [[woman]], a [[transfeminine]] [[Non-Binary|nonbinarynon-binary]] personindividual, a [[feminine]] [[Vincian|gay man]], a [[Drag Performers|drag queen]], or any other permutation.

A brotherboy may a [[transgender]] [[Man|man,]], a [[transmasculine]] [[Non-Binary|non-binary]] personindividual, a [[masculine]] [[lesbian]]/[[sapphic]] personindividual, a drag king, or an otherwise [[butch]] personindividual.

Sistergirls and brotherboys may not consider themselves to be identifiedidentify as the gender the word may imply; one may be a sistergirl but not a [[woman]].

Like many concepts of gender from Indigenous peoplesindividuals, the Indigenous Australian concepts of gender, including sistergirls and brotherboys, is not best understood in terms of western gender-descriptive language, and should not be misunderstood as being a term for transgender peopleindividuals. Indigenous culture surrounding gender in so-called Australia was affected by white invasion which attempted to enforce gender role based on physicality rather than spirituality - based on body parts instead of internal gender experience. Indigenous culture around Australia varies and many sistergirls and brotherboys are subject to homo-homophobia and transphobia in their communities, a significant deal of which is due to colonial enforcement of strict gender.

== NotesNote ==

''<nowiki/>"Indigenous" with a capital "I" is the correct way of referring to Indigenous Australians, as opposed to indigenous with no capitalisation, which refers to native peoplesindividuals in general.''