User:May.mach/Two-spirit

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The decision to adopt this new, pan-Indian term was deliberate, with a clear intention to distance themselves from non-Native gays and lesbians, as well as from non-Native terminology like berdache, "gay", "lesbian", and "trans". The primary purpose of coining a new term was to encourage the replacement of the outdated, and offensive, anthropological term berdache, which means "passive partner in sodomy, boy prostitute". Cameron writes, "The term two-spirit is thus an Aboriginal-specific term of resistance to colonization and non-transferable to other cultures. There are several underlying reasons for two spirited Aboriginals' desire to distance themselves from the mainstream queer community." Lang explains that for Aboriginal people, their sexual orientation or gender identity is secondary to their ethnic identity. She states, "at the core of contemporary two-spirit identities is ethnicity, an awareness of being Native American as opposed to being white or being a member of any other ethnic group". The term "two-spirit" was presented in 1990 during the third Native American/First nations gay and lesbian conference by Native American individuals in Winnipeg. The belief that more than two gender categories used and still are topics in some cultures in Native North America.

Some who enthusiastically took up the term and used it in the media said that this new, English-language term carried on the full meaning and implications of the Indigenous-language terms used in-community for the specific traditional, ceremonial roles that the anthropologists had referred to – emphasizing the role of the Elders in recognizing a two-spirit person, stressing that "Two Spirit" is not interchangeable with "LGBT Native American" or "Gay Indian", and that the title differs from most Western, mainstream definitions of sexuality and gender identity in that it is not a modern, self-chosen term of personal sexual or gender "identity", but is a sacred, spiritual and ceremonial role that is recognized and confirmed by the Elders of the Two Spirit's ceremonial community. Talking to The New York Times in 2006, Joey Criddle said, "The elders will tell you the difference between a gay Indian and a Two-Spirit ... underscoring the idea that simply being gay and Indian does not make someone a Two-Spirit." The word "two-spirit" is not meant to be translated into Native American language but helps to emphasize the spiritual aspect of the word. For example, if the word were to be translated into the languages of the Navajo or Apache, it could be understood as someone who identifies as possessing a living and dead spirit.

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The term berdache has always been repugnant to Indigenous people. De Vries writes, "Berdache is a derogatory term created by Europeans and perpetuated by anthropologists and others to define Native American/First Nations people who varied from Western norms that perceive gender, sex, and sexuality as binaries and inseparable." The term has now fallen out of favor with anthropologists as well. It derives from the French bardache (English equivalent: "bardash") meaning "passive homosexual", "catamite" or even "boy prostitute". Bardache, in turn, derived from the Persian برده barda meaning "captive", "prisoner of war", "slave". Spanish explorers who encountered these individuals among the Chumash people called them "joyas", the Spanish for "jewels".

People were gathered together for two invitational conferences on "Revisiting the 'North American Berdache' Empirically and Theoretically." The aim of this was to bring together indigenous/Native people and academics who had written about them to create a dialogue among them. During this conference it was made clear by the Native participants that the term "berdache" was insulting because it was a part of the colonial discourse and it continues to be used by scholars who appropriate indigenous people's lives in various ways. By colonial discourse, it is meant that the term "berdache" was used to describe people who did not fit into European American gender and sex role categories. This term was borrowed from the Arabic language and its use was to describe an "effeminate" or "morphological male who does not fill a society's standard man's role, who has a non-masculine character." This issue has been talked about among Native people long before non-Native academics noticed. This debate about the term "berdache" also led to changes of the name of the Third Annual Native American Gay and Lesbian Gathering to The International Two-Spirit Gathering.

Use of berdache has now been replaced in most mainstream and anthropological literature by two spirit, with mixed results. However, the term two spirit itself, in English or any other language, was not in use before 1990.

Two-spirit identity gives a term to the interrelatedness of all aspects of idenitity, including sexuality, gender, culture, community, and spirituality. In other words, the sexuality of two-spirit people is not considered separate from the rest of an individual's identity. In a lot of Indigenous American cultures, two-spirit people had (have) specific roles and responsibilities within their own communities. Male-bodied two-spirit people, regardless of gender identification, can go to war and have access to male activities such as male-only sweat lodge ceremonies. However, they may also take on "feminine" activities such as cooking and other domestic responsibilities. According to Lang, female-bodied two-spirit people usually have sexual relations or marriages with only females. There were often seen as "bridge makers" between females and males, the spiritual and material, and between Indigenous American and non-Indigenous American. This term is used as an umbrella term that applies to sexuality and gender roles across Indigenous American cultures.

Explain the genders within these tribes:

Talk more about the term Indigiqueer:

The Two-Spirit phrase and the loss of indigenous culture meaning: In some cultures, the term two-spirit was thought to be born "in balance," which in English language could be translated as androgyny which means the balance of masculine and feminine qualities.

Explain more about how not all tribes accepy Two-Spirit People:

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