The White gender binary has been imposed onto non-Western people via continuing processes of either direct or indirect colonisation. While many pre-colonial societies surely did not approve of gender variance, in many pre-colonial societies however, gender was not binary, and there are numerous documented examples of gender variance and gender nonconformity. In many pre-colonial societies, individuals who lived outside of the binary as a “third sex” or “third gender” were often considered sacred and revered by the community, such as the Hijras of India, the Mahu of Hawaii and Tahiti, or the Two Spirit people of the “Americas”. Hijras and Two Spirit people now face demonisation. Gender for the Dagaaba tribe of Ghana, Burkina Faso and the Ivory Coast was assigned based on “energy”, not anatomy. Some communities also continue to recognise the existence of five genders, such as the Bugis people of Indonesia.