Two-Spirit People: Beyond A Binary Gender Society

There seems to be a prevailing sentiment regarding queerness: any type of behavior which is not strictly heterosexual or gender-conforming is an abnormal, modern phenomena. One need only to look at the staggering amount of legislation or hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community to understand that progress is a long road nowhere close to the end. However, these sentiments of hatred are strongly rooted ignorance and lack of historical knowledge. Queerness has, and always will be around: it is colonization and the imposition of rigid European social norms which has warped human perception of what is “acceptable.” There are so many examples of pre-colonial gender variances in cultures all over the world, whether that’s Zapotec Muxes, Bakla culture in the Philippines, or Hijra in South Asia. In a pre-colonial America specifically, indigenous tribes recognized and celebrated two-spirit people, a group which was considered a different, or third gender. This history only exemplifies the ways in which Euro-centrism has derided indigenous groups and their customs only to end up on the wrong side of history.

Before colonization, two-spirit people were tribal members who were not considered man or woman, occupying a distinct gender status. Records show that more than 150 tribes recognized two-spirit people. In a traditional setting it was, as stated by Indian Health Service, a gender analysis as opposed to sexual orientation. They were called two-spirit because they were seen as a balance of masculinity and femininity, doing work in roles opposite what was prescribed to their sex. For example, two-spirit Navajo males were weavers while two-spirit women would hunt and fight. The language used to describe two-spirit people also reflected this gender status: in the Aleut language, the word ayagigux', referring to male-bodied two-spirit people, literally translates into “man transformed into a woman,” and similarly the term tayagigux' means “woman transformed into a man.” They were also celebrated by their societies as the result of “supernatural intervention” and thus occupied many important roles as healers, shamans, and ceremonial leaders. Unique in every aspect from lifestyle, dress, and social roles, they were also considered to be “lucky in love,” forming same-sex relationships with others. Centuries before any kind of modern movement arrived to define this kind of behavior, indigenous people (along with many other cultures) had always not only accepted these gender differences, but integrated it as a clear part of their society. 

An example of this concept can be seen in Ojibwe society, which viewed gender as animate and inanimate as opposed to our system of male and female. This meant that peoples’ roles were based on their own choice as opposed to a prescribed job based on sex. In a current world where non-gender conforming people are often viewed with scorn and othered, the indigenous tribes in North America attached no such stigma to their own. One such person was Ozaawindib of the Ojibwe, who was described by an interpreter as a man “who make themselves women, and are called women by the Indians.” A skilled warrior, Ozaawindib also had many husbands and became the third wife of Chief Wenji-Dotaagan. Other notable two-spirit people include We’wha of the Zuni tribe who was Llamana, which refers to people that were assigned male at birth but lived as women wearing women’s clothing. An important cultural leader and skilled artist, We’wha acted as an important representative to Washington DC in an attempt to dismantle the ongoing forced assimilation and encroachment onto Zuni land. Often mistaken for a cisgender woman, We’wha’s efforts helped to raise the visibility of the Zuni to white America. Osh-Tish, a baté of the Crow nation was another prominent leader, warrior, and artisan, seen as a “bridge between the two genders” who took on both traditionally female and male roles.

This way of life changed as European expansion and colonization began in North America. Two-spirit people became heavily targeted and subject to condemnation and violence, which combined with missionaries, government agents, boarding schools, and white settlers led to the loss of indigenous traditions. This meant that over time, the two-spirit role either disappeared or had to go underground to survive. In boarding schools, two-spirit children were forced to dress in clothing according to sex, repressing their identity. In the 1990s, a native LGBTQ movement looking to find a term to describe their community, ended up reclaiming the two-spirit term. Slightly different from the traditional definition, it now comes to be used as an overarching term for both sexual orientation and gender variance. Many indigenous people claim this term as a way to resist against Western definition of who they are and also use it to honor their languages and customs.

It is ironic that as society and culture has evolved, the more the general population aligns with traditional teachings and ways of life from indigenous cultures. For example, sage burning, a long-held indigenous custom, was looked down upon by white people as something barbaric or dirty and even banned by the Canadian government in 1876. Now, smudging is a practice which is scientifically proven to have health benefits and has even become “trendy” on social media platforms from non-indigenous creators. It is a grim fact that the traditions which were scorned and brutally taken away by white people and governments are now seeing a revival by the very same people whose parents or grandparents might have taken part in that widespread oppression. Similarly, when cultures from all over the world have accepted gender variance before European colonization, it nulls the idea that their ways of life were “inferior.” If anything, they showed an understanding and humanity more than their colonizers. The imposition of limited European standards through colonialism has completely altered the way people look at difference. When we think of the LGBTQ community, we may think of it as a modern movement, but that is far from the truth. Queerness has, and always will be, around. Indigenous teachings from all over the world accepted and celebrated those differences: it was an undeniable part of their culture. Similarly, it is crucial to realize the true extent of marginalized history as it reveals more truths and offers more wisdom about society than what the dominant group gives.

Sources

The Catalyst