Traditional Indigenous terms[edit]
With over 500 surviving Native American cultures, attitudes about sex and gender can be diverse.
[4] Even with the modern adoption of pan-Indian terms like two-spirit, and the creation of a modern pan-Indian community around this naming, not all cultures will perceive two-spirits the same way, or welcome a pan-Indian term to replace the terms already in use by their cultures.
[8][4] Additionally, not all contemporary Indigenous communities are supportive of their gender-variant and non-heterosexual people now. In these communities, those looking for two-spirit community have sometimes faced oppression and rejection.
[11][8] While existing terminology in many nations shows historical acknowledgement of differing sexual orientations and gender expressions, members of some of these nations have also said that while variance was accepted, they never had separate or defined roles for these members of the community.
[11][8] Among the Indigenous communities that traditionally have roles for two-spirit people, specific terms in their own languages are used for the social and spiritual roles these individuals fulfill.
[8][4][18] The following list is not
comprehensive.
- Aleut: ayagigux', "Man transformed into a woman"[19]
- Aleut: tayagigux', "Woman transformed into a man"[19]
- Blackfoot: a'yai-kik-ahsi, "Acts like a woman." There are historical accounts of individuals who engaged in homosexual relationships, or who were born as men but lived their lives as women, possibly for religious or social reasons. These individuals were viewed in a wide variety of ways, from being revered spiritual leaders, brave warriors and artisans, to targets of ridicule.[20]
- Blackfoot: ááwowáakii, "A male homosexual."[21]
- Blackfoot: ninauh-oskitsi-pahpyaki, "Manly-hearted-woman." This term has a wide variety of meanings ranging from women who performed the roles of men, dressed as men, took female partners, or who participated in activities such as war.[22]
- Cree: napêw iskwêwisêhot, ᓇᐯᐤ ᐃᐢᑵᐏᓭᐦᐅᐟ, "A man who dresses as a woman".[11]
- Cree: iskwêw ka-napêwayat, ᐃᐢᑵᐤ ᑲ ᓇᐯᐘᔭᐟ, "A woman who dresses as a man".[11]
- Cree: ayahkwêw, ᐊᔭᐦᑵᐤ, "A man dressed/living/accepted as a woman"; possibly not a respectful term; others have suggested it is a third gender designation, applied to both women and men.[11]
- Cree: înahpîkasoht, ᐄᓇᐦᐲᑲᓱᐦᐟ, "A woman dressed/living/accepted as a man"; also given as "someone who fights everyone to prove they are the toughest".[11]
- Cree: iskwêhkân, ᐃᐢᑵᐦᑳᐣ, "One who acts/lives as a woman".[11]
- Cree: napêhkân, ᓈᐯᐦᑳᐣ, "One who acts/lives as a man".[11]
- Crow: batée. A word that describes both trans women and homosexual males.[23]
- Lakota: wíŋkte is the contraction of an older Lakota word, Winyanktehca, meaning "wants to be like a woman".[24] Winkte are a social category in historical Lakota culture, of male-bodied people who in some cases have adopted the clothing, work, and mannerisms that Lakota culture usually consider feminine. In contemporary Lakota culture, the term is most commonly associated with simply being gay. Both historically and in modern culture, usually winkte are homosexual, though they may or may not consider themselves part of the more mainstream LGBT communities. Some winkte participate in the pan-Indian Two Spirit community.[24] While historical accounts of their status vary widely, most accounts, notably those by other Lakota, see the winkte as regular members of the community, and neither marginalized for their status, nor seen as exceptional. Other writings, usually historical accounts by anthropologists, hold the winkte as sacred, occupying a liminal, third gender role in the culture and born to fulfill ceremonial roles that can not be filled by either men or women.[24] In contemporary Lakota communities, attitudes towards the winkte vary from accepting to homophobic.[24][25]
- Navajo: nádleeh (also given as nádleehi), "One who is transformed" or "one who changes".[26][27][28] In traditional Navajo culture, nádleeh are male-bodied individuals described by those in their communities as "effeminate male", or as "half woman, half man".[1] A 2009 documentary about the tragic murder of nádleeh Fred Martinez, entitled, Two Spirits, contributed to awareness of these terms and cultures.[1] A Navajo gender spectrum that has been described is that of four genders: feminine woman, masculine woman, feminine man, masculine man.[1]
- Ojibwe: ikwekaazo, "Men who chose to function as women" / "one who endeavors to be like a woman".[29]
- Ojibwe: ininiikaazo, "Women who functioned as men" / "one who endeavors to be like a man".[29] Academic Anton Treuer wrote that in Ojibwe culture
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