False and Foggy
A comment made on youtube, with confidence, early 2018:
"in the vast majority of pre-contact indigenous tribes, transfolks were integrated as an essential reflection of the nature of Nature themselves (since the real world is one of multiple realities all intersecting at once). ive always hated the way the western world pathologizes transfolk based on this false binary gender dichotomy..."...to which another responded:
Yes, they are called "two spirit"...its such a beautiful term for the hybrid experience. Then there was other discussion, some against, some for, none substantiated.
Quotes put on a facebook post December 4, 2017:
In Native American societies, individuals were esteemed for their commitments to the tribe, as opposed to for manliness or gentility. Guardians did not dole out sexual orientation parts to youngsters either, and even kids’ attire had a tendency to be impartial. There were no thoughts or beliefs about how a man ought to love; it was basically a characteristic demonstration that happened without judgment or wavering.That second paragraph had quotation marks, but no name, no reference about it. And the link didn't work. It went to a 404/page gone. Native American Peoples seems to have removed it from their site.. . . .
“The Two Spirit individuals in pre-contact Native America were exceptionally adored and families that included them were viewed as fortunate. Indians trusted that a man who could see the world through the eyes of both sexes in the meantime was a blessing from The Creator.”
Google found the quotes in an article on The Daily Check.net. No author named, no reference link, but a mention of the site some of it had come from:
https://web.archive.org/web/20170406161119/http://thedailycheck.net/european-christians-forced-gender-roles-native-americans-acknowledged-5-genders/
The Daily Check mentioned nativepeoples, but not the other way around, so it's confusing; sorry. Neither site still exists.
http://nativeamericannpeoples.com/2017/11/18/before-european-christians-forced-gender-roles-native-americans-acknowledged-5-genders/Not knowing the article being paraphrased, I'm guessing that "local" was specific to one area or tribe, and that was missed by someone down the line.That article was only there for a short while. It was posted on November 24, 2017. The Wayback Machine picked it up first on November 24, and then December 1. On December 6, the article was gone. By the next November, the website had been taken over by a site offering to write essays for students (Here's what was there later.) Now, it's marked as a 403 site (forbidden, but that's because of the essay sales)
The article mentions another webpage. "As per Indian Country Today, all local groups recognized the accompanying sex parts: “Female, male, Two Spirit female, Two Spirit male and Transgendered.”
An overstated description:
from Families in TRANSition, a publication of Central Toronto Youth Services, 2nd edition, page 12 (undated)
Clearer, admitting recent implants of "history"
What was still at Native Peoples was a post admitting the current history, starting in 1990.
Two Spirit: The Story of a Movement Unfolds, by Zachary Pullin (Cheppewa Cree)
May 2014http://www.nativepeoples.com/Native-Peoples/May-June-2014/Two-Spirit-The-Story-of-a-Movement-Unfolds/ [NOPE! the site is gone, and what the wayback machine picked up is about vacation rentals.]
From 2016, another site:
‘Two Spirit’ Tradition Far From Ubiquitous Among Tribes
by Mary Annette Pember, Oct 13, 2016As a journalist and Ojibwe woman, I am troubled by the claims that Native peoples historically described LGBTQ folks as two-spirited and celebrated them as healers and shamans, because the claims are mostly unfounded or only partially true....https://rewire.news/article/2016/10/13/two-spirit-tradition-far-ubiquitous-among-tribes/
2013, on CulturallyBoundGender:
Toward an End to Appropriation of Indigenous "Two-Spirit" People in Trans Politics: The Relationship between Third Gender Roles and Patriarchy
My first pass, earlier, at showing the info to be false as claimed
This started when someone shared of a brief article from a travel site (noted below). The article has been gone from that site for over a year, but I've linked a WayBack machine capture of it.
From the Always Learning yahoogroups discussion, from January 2017:
The claims of native American gender acceptance are generalized and simplified to the point of embarrassment. I didn’t even bring that one yet. I suppose I should, to make this collection more complete.
Someone sent this to me following a discussion that touched peripherally on transgender thoughts in a nine-year-old girl:
BEFORE EUROPEAN CHRISTIANS FORCED GENDER ROLES, NATIVE AMERICANS ACKNOWLEDGED 5 GENDERSIt’s a short article from a travel site (so the purpose of the link is to get traffic there—it’s not scholarly).Before even a GLANCE at the article, the problem is that there is *nothing* that “native Americans” acknowledged, as a single group. The cultures and languages are so vastly different that no one can say anything was a general belief or practice of “the native Americans.”
The first paragraph is this:
BEFORE THE EUROPEANS infiltrated North America, Native Americans had no set gender norms that men and women had to adhere to. People were valued for how they contributed to the tribe, rather than for their masculinity or femininity. Parents didn’t assign gender roles to children — even children’s clothing was gender neutral.That can’t even begin to be true, because it cannot be, and could never be, generalized, or known, even in one tribe or language group. But it is stated with confidence and many people “liked” it and someone sent it to be evidence that it was natural for a nine year old to want to be a boy, and perhaps for older relatives to be expected to go along with it, in the midst of larger family upheaval.You can look for your own north-American language groups maps, but I brought a couple to facebook where it was being discussed a month ago.
Navajo is one language cited. It has relatives (other languages it’s related to) starting with Apache. There are many speakers of Navajo and Apache in New Mexico. The men don’t dress like the women (not in ceremonial dress nor everyday), but they are tolerant of men who are more feminine and don’t get married, as are the hispanic towns in Northern New Mexico where I grew up.
I know more Pueblo people but I don’t know of words or beliefs about that. Of all the families I’ve known [I went to school with kids from Santa Clara Pueblo and San Juan (now known as Ohkay-Owingeh)] and knew several of their extended families, but didn’t see that there. I don’t know enough to say, but I DO know that the culture is very different from Navajo or Apache, and languages aren’t related. There are Pueblo languages that aren’t even related to each other. Even San Juan and Santa Clara don’t speak the same language (though they’re in the same language family) and they’re only seven miles apart.
Here’s a link to a map of general groups, and then of languages. Then a link to the facebook post I’m taking these from, which is visible to anyone with a facebook account.
Native American Indian Culture Areas (clickable/interactive map with annotations and sectional details)
Even looking at that one map would give people the idea that there’s no one belief or practice possible. They didn’t even know about each other, outside neighbors or raiding enemies. It’s not like they had a map.
It might be interesting for someone to look at those languages and surviving speakers and see if they have any shared positivity (or neutrality) toward shade of gender, or special terms.
(Radical Unschooling Info discussion on critical thought), December 2016
2022, a Canadian nonprofit created a booklet about two-spirit. Some links: a video
Transgender index page
Links and commentary (originating in an unschooling forum)
Public facebook group
(if it's still there)
