DSM 5: Transgender - Constructing the Myth (2)

The Origin Stories - Rewriting History

Cybele: The Magna Mater

The cult of Cybele, or 'Magna Mater', the Mother Goddess of Phrygia, was imported into Rome around 204-205 BCE. Whilst the head of this religion was always female, Cybele was also served by castrated and emasculated priests ... Prior to the reign of Claudius, Roman citizens could not become priests of Cybele, but during his stewardship worship of her and her lover Attis became a state religion. [1]

"One of the most distinguishing features of the cult of Cybele was the self-castration of her priests.  This ritual relates back to the myth concerning Cybele and Attis.  No man could enter the priesthood of Cybele before castrating himself.  Also, while in a religious frenzy that was caused by dancing to the processional drums of Cybele, these priests would cut their own arms and whirl around so that the blood spattered the statue of the goddess.  On top of this all, the priests were very foreign looking, with long hair and very, very elaborate dress.  For these reasons, the native Roman citizens were not allowed to become members of Cybele's priesthood, nor were they even allowed into her sanctuary..." [2]

And the dress was indeed very, very elaborate.  "The male priests were called galli and their emblem was the cock, a common sacrificial animal. The male priest of Cybele, the gallus, dressed as a woman, carried a stick or a shepherd's crook, and in dedication to the goddess and in replication of the goddess's lover Attis, was expected to emasculate himself with a sickle-shaped blade and offer up his ‘vires’ to the goddess”. [3]

"...To her do they assign
The Galli, the emasculate, since thus
They wish to show that men who violate
The majesty of the mother and have proved
Ingrate to parents are to be adjudged
Unfit to give unto the shores of light
A living progeny. The Galli come:
And hollow cymbals, tight-skinned tambourines
Resound around to bangings of their hands..."

Gallus: A Priest Of Cybel

Wrote Lucretius, in his epic poem, On the Nature of Things, in 50 BCE. [3]

But the Galli also adopted the female role in sex acts with males during ritual events and it is the accumulation of all these behaviours which has lead to the religious practices of the Galli being subsumed into origin stories of both modern-day transgenderism and, sometimes, queer theory and history.

"That the galli participated in homogenital acts is indisputable.  From the documentary evidence, the gala/kalu provide an example ... as well as descriptions of the galli from Roman and Greek texts."  [4]

"The Gallae were transgendered priestesses of the Cult of Great Mother. Much of what we know about them, and the cult itself, has been pieced together from fragments of contemporary accounts. The cult was a mystery religion, which meant that it's inner secrets and practices were revealed to initiates only." [5] [6]

Sisk adopted a more feminist perspective when she wrote...

"The juxtaposition between how men viewed the female deity and how they treated women in their communities is interesting and ironic. Examining the significance of Cybele and her cult following perhaps will allow today’s communities to better understand just why ancient Phrygian women were viewed as second-class citizens, and how gender roles were developed and practiced in the late 8th century BCE..."

"  See: Mother Goddess, Male World, Myriad Social Classes: The Cult of Cybele’s Impact on Phrygian Culture [7]

And in 1911, Franz Cumont, unencumbered by notions of gender, sexual orientation or second wave feminism, saw little more than the rites and expressions of an exotic religion:

"...We know that it was the celebration of the funeral of Attis, whose manes were appeased by means of libations of blood, as was done for any mortal. Mingling their piercing cries with the shrill sound of flutes, the Galli flagellated themselves and cut their flesh, and neophytes performed the supreme sacrifice with the aid of a sharp stone, being insensible to pain in their frenzy. Then followed a mysterious vigil during which the mystic was supposed to be united as a new Attis with the great goddess."

Franz Cumont,  The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism. (pp 48-49) [8]

The very existence of so many different perspectives illustrates the problems with transposing current, more recent concepts onto historical human behaviours.  Here, at the beginning of the second millennium there exists a set of beliefs and comprehensions that, at least to the best of our knowledge, were completely unknown in 250 BCE.  What then, would a Gallus, steeped in religiosity and living in accordance with the rules of Cybele's divine calling have made from current accusations of transvestism, transgenderism or homosexuality?

That they, the Galli, devout priests of Cybele, were thus engaged not because of their religious convictions, but merely because a twentieth century psychologist had decreed their 'gender identity' did not match their biological sex?

But imputing the baggage of current belief back in time, whether over two thousand years, or a mere two hundred years, into the past, is not intended to provide an accurate depiction of history.  It is merely political smoke and mirrors. Its intention is to legitimise and reify the current manifestation of whatever recent psychological fashion the origin story is advocating on behalf of.

Thus origin stories are necessary adjuncts to the establishment of new psychological disorders and, by implication, the creation of new kinds of people, precisely because they fill the vacuum left by unavailable scientific evidence.

The previous essay argued that transgenderism, as we know it today, is a new phenomenon giving rise to a wholly new kind of person - one that has never before existed in recorded history.

This essay has used the example of the Galli - the priests of Cybele - to demonstrate the way history has been reconstructed to provide legitimacy for newly created psychological disorders.  Other examples were used to illustrate that this process is consistent: the same formula is applied repeatedly when origin stories are presented in place of science.  In essence their purpose is not to present an objective history, but to reify the existence of those whom Ian Hacking refers to as a new kind of person. [9]