Imagine a world...

I am somewhat frequently asked to react to articles that other people have encountered somewhere. Today's instance of this is Before European Christians Forced Gender Roles, Native Americans Acknowledged 5 Genders, which was published in The Indigenous American.

When I was younger and closer to the time of my transition, I studied the limited history available about transgender people. The subject was new to me and the concept was new to most people.

But that was not universally true. I read Walter Williams Spirit and the Flesh. I have to say it was somewhat disappointing...but then Williams was really more interested in studying lesbian snd gay first nations people and had trouble grokking the difference between them and the transgender indigenous.

One concept that I did encounter which has lead me to mostly avoid this area in my writing is the concept of appropriation. I am not native American. My daughter is part Cherokee, we are given to understand, but has no interest in pursuing that. I'm of northern European background. What business do I have trying to interpret the reality of people who lived quite different lives than I.

But some things I know.

It wasn’t until Europeans took over North America that natives adopted the ideas of gender roles. For Native Americans, there was no set of rules that men and women had to abide by in order to be considered a “normal” member of their tribe.

In fact, people who had both female and male characteristics were viewed as gifted by nature, and therefore, able to see both sides of everything. According to Indian Country Today, all native communities acknowledged the following gender roles: “Female, male, Two Spirit female, Two Spirit male and Transgendered.”

I suspect that "all" might be a bit of a stretch. But we know the Navajo had the Nádleehí and the Lakota had the Winkté. The Ojibwa had the Niizh Manidoowag and the Cheyenne had the Hemaneh. And these were problems to the invading Europeans.

The “Two Spirit” culture of Native Americans was one of the first things that Europeans worked to destroy and cover up.

According to people like American artist George Catlin, the Two Spirit tradition had to be eradicated before it could go into history books. Catlin said the tradition:

..Must be extinguished before it can be more fully recorded.

Looks like things haven't changed much since Catlin's time.

Indeed, somewhere I have a copy of what is purported to be the first art work by a European made in the New World...depicting the slaughter of gender non-conforming indigenous people by Spanish Conquistadors. Ah! Here we are:

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Religious influences brought serious prejudice against “gender diversity,” and so this forced once openly alternative or androgynous people to one of two choices. They could either live in hiding, and in fear of being found out, or they could end their lives. Many of whom did just that.

Imagine a world where people allowed others to live freely as the people nature intended them to be..without harm..without persecution..without shame. Imagine a world where we are truly free.

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that a lot of us white folk just plain suck at being human. Not meaning to be flippant at all or disrespectful to anybody in any way. It's just how I see it throughout history. I mean really Look at the history that the victors wrote(should be italics) about conquering 'savages'. Look at the cutting you posted. Those fuckers were Proud of what they did. Gotta stop now, getting worked up.

peace

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Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .

Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march

importer's picture

I didn't know I was adopted until I was 55 years old. I didn't know my adoptive mother was Native American on her mother's side until a cousin made an off-hand remark. I wish I knew more about them, but no one spoke about it, by the time I came along, it was old news. Being from Minnesota, they were probably Sioux or Chippewa from what I can tell.

At any rate, there were three sisters and two brothers that were my mom, aunts & uncles. I remember small, quiet, very calm people with a good sense of humor and the ability to poke fun at one another. They were very patient with us kids and took the time to show us things all the time. They were all born between 1897 and 1910 so I don't think they were far removed from their roots. We got together every Sunday at someone's house and had a meal that lasted most of the afternoon along with card playing, etc. They all referred back to when their mom was alive and said Sunday dinners went on even longer. She was French Canadian and Native American and a great cook judging by my own mom and her sisters.

When I got a little older and started noticing that my brother and a couple of my cousins were somewhat "different" it was explained away as just another way of being. They were never pressured to "fit in" to some preconceived notion of gender. I grew up with that and never understood the anger and rage that people displayed later on. I guess it was a gift - toleration is always a gift.

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