ana veronica 
we don't look at people in the historical record and say "well those weren't "men" or "women" in the sense that we use the word today in western cultures" do we. i mean, we certainly could, but we don't
yet if you try to call a historical figure "trans" people go "whoa now, that's not appropriate to apply that label outside of western culture"
i guess the assumption being that EVERYTHING about the categories "man" and "woman" is immutable and transcends culture, while EVERYTHING about the category "trans" is culturally defined and does not
and this is.. maybe not true?
nadja