The Russian researcher of Siberia and Kamchatka, Stepan Krasheninnikov, in his "Description of the Land of Kamchatka" (Описании земли Камчатки) describes Koekchuch as "people of the transformed sex" (людей превращённого пола) - a special category of men who "go in women's dresses, do all the women's work and don't socialize with men" (в женском платье ходят, всю женскую работу отправляют, и с мужчинами не имеют никакого обхождения). According to Krasheninnikov's description, the Koekchuch also served as concubines. Krasheninnikov notes similar phenomena not only among the Itelmens, but also among the Koryaks, however, the latter kept koekchuch, unlike Itelmens, "not in honor, but in contempt".[3]
