Biology of Gender: Artifact 2

Before European influence was brought to North America, Native Americans had developed their own system of sexuality and gender roles. One prime example of this expression is in the Native American custom of recognizing individuals who identified as “two-spirt.” A two-spirt person could be a two-spirit male or a two-spirit female. In modern terms, two spirit for a male would be a male that identifies as a female and a two-spirit female would be a female that identifies as a male. In total, many Native American tribes would recognize up to five different gender roles. These roles were “Female, male, Two Spirit female, Two Spirit male, and transgendered” meaning that the Native Americans were the first to recognize the people who fell into the LGBT bracket. Although different Native American tribes had different names for those they referred to as “two-spirit,” the meaning remains consistent. This meaning of “two-spirit” is “half man, half women” or sometimes as “one who has been transformed.” Tribes that recognized “two-spirit” individuals include the Navajo, the Iroquois, and the Cherokee.

Until Europeans began influencing the social structure, “two-spirit” individuals were treated just like everyone else in the tribe and would perform tasks that came along with their specific gender roles. When Cabeza de Vaca (a Spanish explorer) visited Florida, he wrote in his diary that he observed “dressing and working as women” which indicates that these members of the tribe were accepted for who they were. It is said that they were able to “fully participate in tribal traditions” and were accepted in the “tribal social structure.” Furthermore, as far as peoples feeling go, it was said to be “highly offensive to approach a Two Spirit for the purpose of them performing the traditional role of their biological gender.”  However, after European influence, individuals who identified as “two-spirit” were discriminated against and labeled as “hunting women” and men who had “given to sin.”  This discrimination was not within the tribe; only from outsiders.

As in all things that are out of the norm, two spirit individuals (especially in today’s society) face discrimination and criticism for what they do. Although criticizing people for their life styles is wrong, it is completely normal. Human nature is to criticize and be skeptical of things that do not seem normal and there is nothing that will ever change that. For example, Christians do not recognize a third gender and criticize those who live a life style outside of their gender roles. Furthermore, Muslims have been known (recently) to throw people who identify as a third gender off building and even burn them alive. To date, there are only 7 counties (out of 195 total countries) that recognize a third gender. This recognition includes that the gender can be recorded on the individuals birth certificate, passport, and ID cards.

(Reflection) As was previously stated in my other paper, the topic of gender vs. sex is a hot topic that is still up for debate. Just like there are two sides to every coin, there are two sides to every argument. Sex could be different from gender or they could be the same. Personally, I really do not care. I have my opinions and other people have theirs. With that in mind, in writing papers on this subject, I try to remain as unbiased as possible. Dad always said that if you want to avoid conflict with people the three things you never talk about are politics, religion, and money. With that in mind, my reflection on the subject of sex vs. gender is it is not my place to say.

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