(כו) ויאמר אלקים נעשה אדם בצלמנו כדמותנו... (כז) ויברא אלקים אתהאדם בצלמו בצלם אלקים ברא אתו זכר ונקבה ברא אתם
(26) And God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness ... (27) And God created the human in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
... אמר רבי ירמיה בן אלעזר: בשעה שברא הקדוש ברוך הוא את אדם הראשון, אנדרוגינוס בראו, הדא הוא דכתיב: זכר ונקבה בראם...
R. Yirmiyah ben Elazar said, when Hashem created Adam HaRishon [the first human], he was created [as an] androgynos [אנדרוגינוס]; thus is it written, "male and female did He create them." R. Shmuel bar Nachman said, when Hashem created Adam HaRishon, He created him with two faces, one on each side, and [when He made Chavah,] He split him along the middle, forming two backs. [The other rabbis] challenged him: but it is written, "And He took one of his ribs!" [R. Nachman] said to them: "mitzalotav doesn't mean rib, it means one of his sides..."
Plato's Symposium
...original human nature was not like the present, but different. The sexes were not two as they are now, but originally three in number; there was man, woman, and the union of the two, having a name corresponding to this double nature, which had once a real existence... "Androgynous"... the primeval [hu]man was round, his back and sides forming a circle; and he had four hands and four feet, one head with two faces, looking opposite ways, set on a round neck and precisely alike; also four ears, two privy members, and the remainder to correspond. He could walk upright as men now do, backwards or forwards as he pleased, and he could also roll over and over at a great pace, turning on his four hands and four feet, eight in all, like tumblers going over and over with their legs in the air; this was when he wanted to run fast. Now the sexes were three, and such as I have described them; because the sun, moon, and earth are three;-and the man was originally the child of the sun, the woman of the earth, and the man-woman of the moon, which is made up of sun and earth, and they were all round and moved round and round: like their parents.
... Zeus ... said: "... I will cut them in two ... They shall walk upright on two legs, and if they continue insolent and will not be quiet, I will split them again and they shall hop about on a single leg." ... After the division the two parts ... each desiring his other half, came together ... when one of the halves died ... the survivor sought another mate, man or woman as we call them, being the sections of entire men or women, and clung to that. ... and they sowed the seed no longer as hitherto like grasshoppers in the ground, but in one another; and after the transposition the male generated in the female in order that by the mutual embraces of man and woman they might breed, and the race might continue; or if man came to man they might be satisfied, and rest ... so ancient is the desire of one another which is implanted in us, reuniting our original nature, making one of two, and healing the state of man.
Each of us when separated, having one side only, like a flat fish, is but the indenture of a man, and he is always looking for his other half. Men who are a section of that double nature which was once called Androgynous are lovers of women ... women who are a section of the woman do not care for men, but have female attachments; ... they who are a section of the male follow the male ... they have the most manly nature...
http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/symposium.html
If we look in our sared texts, we see that a simple male/female binary is not only cumbersome, it's wholly inaccurate.
- Zachar/זָכָר: This term is derived from the word for a pointy sword and refers to a phallus. It is usually translated as “male” in English.
- Nekeivah/נְקֵבָה: This term is derived from the word for a crevice and probably refers to a vaginal opening. It is usually translated as “female” in English.
- Androgynos/אַנְדְּרוֹגִינוֹס: A person who has both “male” and “female” sexual characteristics. 149 references in Mishna and Talmud (1st-8th Centuries CE); 350 in classical midrash and Jewish law codes (2nd -16th Centuries CE).
- Tumtum/ טֻומְטוּם A person whose sexual characteristics are indeterminate or obscured. 181 references in Mishna and Talmud; 335 in classical midrash and Jewish law codes.
- Ay’lonit/איילונית: A person who is identified as “female” at birth but develops “male” characteristics at puberty and is infertile. 80 references in Mishna and Talmud; 40 in classical midrash and Jewish law codes.
- Saris/סריס: A person who is identified as “male” at birth but develops “female” characteristics as puberty and/or is lacking a penis. A saris can be “naturally” a saris (saris hamah), or become one through human intervention (saris adam). 156 references in mishna and Talmud; 379 in classical midrash and Jewish law codes.
Medwed, Robbie, (June 1, 2015), More Than Just Male and Female: The Six Genders in Classical Judaism, http://www.sojourngsd.org/blog/sixgenders.
(א) אדדוגינוס יש בו דרכים שוה לאנשים ויש בו דרכים שוה לנשים ויש בו דרכים שוה לאנשים ונשים ויש בו דרכים אינו שוה לא לאנישם ולא לנשים:
(1) An Androginus (a hermaphrodite, who has both male and female reproductive organs) is similar to men in some ways and to women in other ways, in some ways to both and in some ways to neither.
ומתר להכנס בציצית לבית הכסא ולבית המרחץ. נפסקו לו חוטי לבן או תכלת זורקו באשפה מפני שהיא מצוה שאין בגופה קדשה. ואסור למכר טלית מציצת לכותי עד שיתיר ציציותיה. לא מפני שיש בגופה קדשה אלא שמא יתעטף בה ויתלוה עמו ישראל וידמה שהוא ישראל ויהרגנו. נשים ועבדים וקטנים פטורין מן הציצית מן התורה. ומדברי סופרים שכל קטן שיודע להתעטף חיב בציצית כדי לחנכו במצות. ונשים ועבדים שרצו להתעטף בציצית מתעטפים בלא ברכה. וכן שאר מצות עשה שהנשים פטורות מהן אם רצו לעשות אותן בלא ברכה אין ממחין בידן. טמטום ואנדרוגינוס חיבין בכלן מספק לפיכך אין מברכין אלא עושין בלא ברכה:
Women and slaves and children are exempt from fringes from the Torah. But it is from the words of the [rabbis] that every child who knows how to wrap himself is obligated [to wear] fringes, in order to educate him in the commandments. And women and slaves that want to wrap themselves with fringes, may wrap themselves without a blessing. And so [too] other positive commandments that women are exempted from; if they want to do them without a blessing, we do not protest against them. A tumtum (a person with recessed sexual organs) and an androginos (a person with both male and female sexual organs) are obligated in all [of these commandments] because of a doubt. Therefore, they should not recite a blessing, but rather do them without a blessing.
(ג) כיצד שוה לנשים מטמא באודם כנשים ואינו מתייחד עם האנשים כנשים ואינו עובר על בל תקיף ולא על בל תשחית ולא על בל תטמא למתים כנשים ופסול מן העדות כנשים ואינו נבעל בעבירה כנשים ונפסל מן הכהונה כנשים:
In what ways is s/he similar to women? Like a woman, s/he is considered unclean through menstrual flow; s/he must not be alone in the company of men; and does not share [the inheritance] with sons; and cannot eat most of the holy sacrifices, like a woman...
וּמֻתָּר לְהִכָּנֵס בְּצִיצִית לְבֵית הַכִּסֵּא וּלְבֵית הַמֶּרְחָץ. נִפְסְקוּ לוֹ חוּטֵי לָבָן אוֹ תְּכֵלֶת זוֹרְקוֹ בָּאַשְׁפָּה מִפְּנֵי שֶׁהִיא מִצְוָה שֶׁאֵין בְּגוּפָהּ קְדֻשָּׁה. וְאָסוּר לִמְכֹּר טַלִּית מְצֻיֶּצֶת לְכוּתִי עַד שֶׁיַּתִּיר צִיצִיּוֹתֶיהָ. לֹא מִפְּנֵי שֶׁיֵּשׁ בְּגוּפָהּ קְדֻשָּׁה אֶלָּא שֶׁמָּא יִתְעַטֵּף בָּהּ וְיִתְלַוֶּה עִמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל וִידַמֶּה שֶׁהוּא יִשְׂרָאֵל וְיַהַרְגֶּנּוּ. נָשִׁים וַעֲבָדִים וּקְטַנִּים פְּטוּרִין מִן הַצִּיצִית מִן הַתּוֹרָה. וּמִדִּבְרֵי סוֹפְרִים שֶׁכָּל קָטָן שֶׁיּוֹדֵעַ לְהִתְעַטֵּף חַיָּב בְּצִיצִית כְּדֵי לְחַנְּכוֹ בְּמִצְוֹת. וְנָשִׁים וַעֲבָדִים שֶׁרָצוּ לְהִתְעַטֵּף בְּצִיצִית מִתְעַטְּפִים בְּלֹא בְּרָכָה. וְכֵן שְׁאָר מִצְוֹת עֲשֵׂה שֶׁהַנָּשִׁים פְּטוּרוֹת מֵהֶן אִם רָצוּ לַעֲשׂוֹת אוֹתָן בְּלֹא בְּרָכָה אֵין מְמַחִין בְּיָדָן. טֻמְטוּם וְאַנְדְּרוֹגִינוּס חַיָּבִין בְּכֻלָּן מִסָּפֵק לְפִיכָךְ אֵין מְבָרְכִין אֶלָּא עוֹשִׂין בְּלֹא בְּרָכָה: