He concluded the letter with his amazement that the Christian god, who had destroyed "three cities of Sodom for the same sin," had not yet destroyed such "wanton people" who were "encircled by evil."The bissu tradition dates back to the 13th century. They are considered a “fifth gender” within the Bugis' gender system, which is comprised of male men (oroané); female women (makkunrai); male women (calabai); female men (calalai); and bissu, who are neither male nor female.This example of gender-bending ritualism wasn’t just unique to South Sulawesi, but was found throughout Southeast Asia. Such traditions were a function of age-old indigenous belief systems that portrayed the gods as androgynous, or comprised of male-female pairs. Given this view of divinity, people who embodied both masculinity and femininity in their gender and/or sexuality were believed to be closer to the divine and uniquely capable of mediating between the spirits and humans.“Your Lordship will know that the priests of these kings are generally called bissus. They grow no hair on their beards, dress in a womanly fashion, and grow their hair long and braided; they imitate [women’s] speech because they adopt all of the female gestures and inclinations. They marry and are received, according to the custom of the land, with other common men, and they live indoors, uniting carnally in their secret places with the men whom they have for husbands…”
“Ordinarily they dress as women, act like prudes, and are so effeminate that one does not know them would believe they are women… they marry other males and sleep with them as man and wife and have carnal knowledge.”