Two Spirit

      Pictured is We’wha, a Zuni Native American Two-spirit male.¹ In Native American culture, most tribes recognize 5 genders. These 5 genders are: male, female, Two-spirit male, Two-spirit female, and transgendered. The native tribes believed that behind each physical manifestation of a body was the spirit.² Spirits were not tied to sex and thus someone in a male body could have experiences and feelings of a female and vice versa. Two-spirit however was a term to encompass those who felt the spirit of a man and the spirit of a woman. These individuals were seen as blessed and considered to possess bountiful wisdom and skill. They tended to the well being of the tribe and were very highly regarded amongst its members.​

     From a young age Native American children are encouraged to find their own gender and sexuality. They are dressed in gender neutral clothing until such an age at which they can decide what gender they wish to be. This concept was extremely foreign to the white Europeans who were exploring the native lands. They wrote home of what they were seeing and how it conflicted with their Christian values.² The settlers had never seen such behavior and did not know what to make of it. They viewed the practices as sin because of their narrow scope and strict beliefs on gender practices. They immediately sought to eradicate these practices and thus the Native Americans were no longer allowed to wait to assign gender identities.³ The practice of two-spirits was pushed to extinction and the natives were forced to assimilate to a culture unfamiliar to their own, rather than the white settlers accepting a new way of thinking.