#indigenous gender

[indigenous-gender]

can non Turtle Island Natives stop claiming their favorite characters are two spirit? 😃 it’s a CLOSED. CULTURAL. IDENTITY.

[luulapants]

Reminder that associating hair length with gender is not a culturally universal concept and that many indigenous folks in North America don’t cut their hair for cultural reasons that have nothing to do with gender.

Reminder that a native guy should be allowed to wear his hair in long braids without people calling it gender nonconformity or saying he’s breaking gender norms, because hair length has nothing to do with his gender norms.

Reminder that a queer native woman should be allowed to wear her hair long without being automatically read as femme presenting, that she can be butch with long hair, because long hair is not associated with femininity in her culture.

Reminder that many native folks cut their hair for solemn reasons, usually mourning, and remarking on it as a reflection of personal style or gender presentation can be deeply disrespectful. No, she didn’t just get a fierce butch haircut - she cut her hair because someone died. No, he didn’t cave to a gender conforming haircut - he cut his hair because someone died.

Reminder that this is not universally practiced by native folks and, like all cultural practices, some people are more strict in their adherence than others.

[indio-politics]

passages from my sociology textbook discussing colonial and Native American gender and sexuality as well as the terms Chicano/a Latino/a Latinx with regard to gender and grammar.

[lunaescribe]

The anti-colonial power of Jim! What a gift to have a non-binary Latine rebel.

[genderqueerdykes]

A passage from Reclaiming Two-Spirits: Sexuality, Spiritual Renewal & Sovereignty in Native America by Gregory D. Smithers.

[Image ID:

A photograph of a page from the book mentioned above, which reads:

"Language reclamation and renewal is key to understanding Two-Spirit storytelling. From Mesoamerica to sub-Arctic tribal communities, Native languages routinely avoided the use gender pronouns. Lakota speakers for example, tended to use the linguistically neuter "it" instead of gendered pronouns. Throughout Indian Country, distinctions of animate and inanimate, thing and person, human and more-than-human kinship, carried greater meaning than Western-style gender pronouns. The Hopi, who speak an Uto-Aztecan language, distinguish people and things not according to gender but according to the categories animate, inanimate and vegetable. Athabaskan speakers didn't historically use gender pronouns and as a consequence had what Europeans perceived as confusing gender distinctions. Among Dakota-speaking people, gender is understood in lots of different ways, but historically the language has never involved the use of gender-specific pronouns. And Iroquoian speakers, like the Cherokees, did not use gender-specific pronouns either.

These examples only scratch the surface of linguistic and cultural understandings of how Native Americans blended gender roles in and identities and engaged in sexual activity they considered normal and healthy. Traditionally, Indigenous people tended to avoid using anatomy or physical appearance as crude markers of gender. They developed much more complex social and cultural systems that made room for gender blending and sexual fluidity within kin-based communities.

The idea that an individual might blend multiple gender identities into their conception of self is an alien concept in virtually every Western culture. But when Europeans began invading the Americas during the late fifteenth century, most Native communities did not connect gender to to anatomical concepts of "sex" in the way we do today. Instead, Indigenous people blended occupational roles, physical characteristics and clothing, speech patterns and jewelry, and spiritual and... (text ends here)"

End image ID.]

[paloma-ascends-into-hellfire]

so sick of north america and europe’s superiority complex over being “so queer friendly 🩷💕💞💓💗🌸🌺🌷🪷!”

latin america, north america, south and east asia, and africa all had non european ideas of gender and sexuality. my good friend colonization force fed homophobia and the gender binary down their throats. and now they wonder why gay marriage is illegal in these countries? it’s because of you girlie, you are the problem.

[finnslay]

Me: today's gonna be a good day!!

🧠: nex loved their cat zues and playing minecraft...they loved where they were from...

Me: I'm gonna make today a good day...for them..

[chaos-in-one]

Reminder that gender stereotypes are not universal and that you shouldn't project eurocentric stereotypes onto people of color for what is or isn't "progressive" for them to do.

An example from my own culture is a different expectation for hair. As a Native American, long hair would be considered masculine for me. Many Native men hold a lot of pride in having long hair, it's a part of our culture. Having short hair as a Native American would be gender non-conforming, the eurocentric standard of short hair = masculine doesn't translate to my culture.

Please consider non eurocentric cultures and gender roles when talking about gender stereotypes. For many of us, the stereotypes are not the same as they are for white people.

[indigenous-gender]

I saw someone say that they would feel betrayed if they found out someone they were talking to who had identified as transfem was actually afab. To that I say, it’s none of your business how anyone identifies or what their reasons are, and if you would feel betrayed by a queer person identifying with a term and community, that’s something you need to rethink and reflect on. I am tired of colonial terminology being forced on Black/Brown/Indigenous people, especially when these terms are being misused. AFAB/AMAB terminology originates from intersex communities. I am not AFAB or AMAB. I was not assigned a gender. I understand that society perceives me as a specific gender most of the time, but their perception has zero to do with how I identify. I identify as transfem because I am coming from a place rooted in indigenous masculinity, and transgressing and transforming into womanhood. I do not have to explain or justify the way that I identify. It’s just another painful reminder that white gender will always be centered, and Black/Brown/Indigenous gender will always be excluded. I understand why you would feel that way, but your feelings are not my problem. Identity policing is rooted in white supremacy.

[a-third-attempt]

The Native Justice Coalition was formed in 2016 with the intent of being a platform for healing, social, and racial justice for all Native American people. [...] We are a grassroots, community based, and progressive Anishinaabe Native led coalition.

[mostly-mundane-atla]

I'm sorry but as someone with an entire blog dedicated to Avatar: the Last Airbender, who grew up watching the original run and loved every second, it did not deserve to beat Revolutionary Girl Utena in a tumblr's favorite show poll twice. Utena has better gags, a better soundtrack, more consistent themes, and is much gayer. I love atla, but I also know quality when i see it, and Utena simply has more.

[screambirdscreaming]

I used to like saying "gender is a social construct," but I stopped saying that because people didn't tend to react well - they thought that I was saying gender wasn't real, or didn't matter, or could be safely ignored without consequences. Which has always baffled me a bit as an interpretation, honestly, because many things are social constructs - like money, school, and the police - and they certainly have profound effects on your life whether or not you believe in them. And they sure don't go away if you ignore them.

Anyway. What I've taken to saying instead is, "gender is a cultural practice." This gives more of a sense of respect for the significance gender holds to many people. And it also opens the door to another couple layers of analysis.

Gender is cultural. It is not globally or historically homogeneous. It shifts over time, develops differently in different communities, and can be influenced by cross-cultural contact. Like many, many aspects of culture, the current status of gender is dramatically influenced by colonialism. Colonial gender norms are shaped by the hierarchical structure of imperialist society, and enforced onto colonized cultures as part of the project of imperial cultural hedgemony.

Gender is practiced. What constitutes a gender includes affects and behaviors, jobs or areas of work, skillsets, clothing, collective and individual practices of gender affiliation and affirmation. Any or all of these things, in any combination, depending on the gender, the culture, and the practitioner.

Gender encompasses shared cultural archetypes. These can include specific figures - gods and goddesses, mythic or fictional characters, etc - or they can be more abstract or general. The Wise Woman, Robin Hood, the Dyke, the Working Man, the Plucky Heroine, the Effete Gay Man, etc etc. The range of archetypes does not circumscribe a given gender, that is, they're not all there is to gender. But they provide frameworks and reference points by which people relate to gender. They may be guides for ways to inhabit or practice a gender. They may be stereotypes through which the gendered behavior of others is viewed.

Gender as a framework can be changed. Because it is created collectively, by shared acknowledgement and enforcement by members of society. Various movements have made significant shifts in how gender is structured at various times and places. The impact of these shifts has been widely variable - for example, depending on what city I'm in, even within my (fairly culturally homogeneous) home country, the way I am gendered and reacted to changes dramatically. Looping back to point one, we often speak of gender in very broad terms that obscure significant variability which exists on many scales.

Gender is structured recursively. This can be seen in the archetypes mentioned above, which range from extremely general (say, the Mother) to highly specific (the PTA Soccer Mom). Even people who claim to acknowledge only two genders will have many concepts of gendered-ways-of-being within each of them, which they may view and react to VERY differently.

Gender is experienced as an external cultural force. It cannot be opted out of, any more than living in a society can be opted out of. Regardless of the internal experience of gender, the external experience is also present. Operating within the shared cultural understanding of gender, one can aim to express a certain practice of gender - to make legible to other people how it is you interface with gender. This is always somewhat of a two-way process of communication. Other people may or may not perceive what you're going for - and they may or may not respect it. They may try to bring your expressed gender into alignment with a gender they know, or they might parcel you off into your own little box.

Gender is normative. Within the structure of the "cultural mainstream," there are allowable ways to practice gender. Any gendered behavior is considered relative to these standards. What behavior is allowed, rewarded, punished, or shunned is determined relative to what is gender normative for your perceived gender. Failure to have a clearly perceivable gender is also, generally, punished. So is having a perceivable gender which is in itself not normative.

Gender is taught by a combination of narratives, punishments, and encouragements. This teaching process is directed most strongly towards children but continues throughout adulthood. Practice of normatively-gendered behaviors and alignment with 'appropriate' archetypes is affirmed, encouraged, and rewarded. Likewise 'other'- gendered behavior and affinity to archetypes is scolded, punished, or shunned. This teaching process is inherently coercive, as social acceptance/rejection is a powerful force. However it can't be likened to programming, everyone experiences and reacts to it differently. Also, this process teaches the cultural roles and practices of both (normative) genders, even as it attempts to force conformity to only one.

Gender regulates access to certain levers of social power. This one is complicated by the fact that access to levers of social power is also affected by *many* other things, most notably race, class, and citizenship. I am not going to attempt to describe this in any general terms, I'm not equipped for that. I'll give a few examples to explain what I'm talking about though. (1) In a social situation, a man is able to imply authority, which is implicitly backed by his ability to intimidate by yelling, looming, or threatening physical violence. How much authority he is perceived to have in response to this display is a function of his race and class. It is also modified by how strongly he appears to conform to a masculine ideal. Whether or not he will receive social backlash for this behavior (as a separate consideration to how effective it will be) is again a function of race/class/other forms of social standing. (2) In a social situation, a woman is able to invoke moral judgment, and attempt to modify the behavior of others by shame. The strength of her perceived moral authority depends not just on her conformity to ideal womanhood, but especially on if she can invoke certain archetypes - such as an Innocent, a Mother, or better yet a Grandmother. Whether her moral authority is considered a relevant consideration to influence the behavior of others (vs whether she will be belittled or ignored) strongly depends on her relative social standing to those she is addressing, on basis of gender/race/class/other.

[Again, these examples are *not* meant to be exhaustive, nor to pass judgment on employing any social power in any situation. Only to illustrate what "gendered access to social power" might mean. And to illustrate that types of power are not uniform and may play out according to complex factors.]

Gender is not based in physical traits, but physical traits are ascribed gendered value. Earlier, I described gender as practiced, citing almost entirely things a person can do or change. And I firmly believe this is the core of gender as it exists culturally - and not just aspirationally. After the moment when a gender is "assigned" based on infant physical characteristics, they are raised into that gender regardless of the physical traits they go on to develop (in most circumstances, and unless/until they denounce that gender.) The range of physical traits like height, facial shape, body hair, ability to put on muscle mass - is distributed so that there is complete overlap between the range of possible traits for people assigned male and people assigned female. Much is made of slight trends in things that are "more common" for one binary sex or the other, but it's statistically quite minor once you get over selection bias. However, these traits are ascribed gendered connotations, often extremely strongly so. As such, the experience of presented and perceived gender is strongly effected by physical traits. The practice of gender therefore naturally expands to include modification of physical traits. Meanwhile, the social movements to change how gender is constructed can include pushing to decrease or change the gendered association of physical traits - although this does not seem to consistently be a priority.

Gender roles are related to the hypothetical ability to bear children, but more obliquely than is often claimed. It is popular to say that the types of work considered feminine derive from things it is possible to do while pregnant or tending small children. However, research on the broader span of human history does not hold this up. It may be true of the cultures that gave immediate rise to the colonial gender roles we are familiar with - secondary to the fact that childcare was designated as women's work. (Which it does not have to be, even a nursing infant doesn't need to be with the person who feeds it 24 hours a day.) More directly, gender roles have been influenced by structures of social control aiming for reproductive control. In the direct precursors of colonial society, attempts to track paternal lineage led to extreme degrees of social control over women, which we still see reflected in normative gender today. Many struggles for women's liberation have attempted to push back these forms of social control. It is my firm opinion that any attempt to re-emphasize childbearing as a touchstone of womanhood is frankly sick. We are at a time where solidarity in struggle for gender liberation, and for reproductive rights, is crucial. We need to cast off shackles of control in both fights. Trying to tie childbearing back to womanhood hobbles both fights and demeans us all.

Gender is baked deeply enough into our culture that it is unlikely to ever go away. Many people feel strongly about the practice of gender, in one way or another, and would not want it to. However we have the power to change how gender is structured and enforced. We can push open the doors of what is allowable, and reduce the pain of social punishment and isolation. We can dismantle another of the tools of colonial hedgemony and social control. We can change the culture!

[allthecanadianpolitics]

A Winnipeg judge last week condemned a system that left a vulnerable 14-year-old girl without the housing supports she needed after her release from custody. A day later, the girl was dead. "I just think in this province, at this time when we have the concerns on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls — how is that not a priority to see that she has the resources?" provincial court Judge Kusham Sharma asked during a hearing for the teen on Dec. 14, a day before the girl was stabbed to death in downtown Winnipeg.

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Tagging @politicsofcanada

[captainjonnitkessler]

I feel bad about how much I hate those "Actually, Native Americans/African tribes (don’t worry about which specific tribes or nations ok just trust me) revered trans people and made them priestesses or honored leaders” posts because idk man, I know they’re supposed to be positive but that kind of just sounds like gender roles with extra steps

[thenuclearmallard]

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

Missive for all video essayists.