Gennifer George
Diversity Unit Assignment
LA 497A
Imagine a world where there were no fixed gender roles; a culture where
boys were free to play with dolls without fear of ridicule, and where girls could
wear her hair short without wondering if she looked too masculine.
Unfortunately, those societies are long gone; wiped out by those spreading the
word of God and Christianity in the New World. Evelyn Blackwood’s article
entitled, “Sexuality and Gender in Certain Native American Tribes: The Case of
Cross-Gender Females”, provides a view of pre-colonial Native American history
that I never knew existed, and that view is wonderful and sad all at the same
time.
Gender roles vary greatly in Native American cultures, and what was
normal in Native American culture was often deemed disgusting and sinful by
colonial settlers. In her article, Blackwood provides examples of societies that
was not only accepting, but accommodating of people who were crossgendered. These Native American societies permitted their children to choose
whichever gender they preferred. Blackwood’s article concentrates on crossgendered female Native Americans, and shows a society that not only accepts
these females in their men roles, but encourages them to become men if they
so choose. In one example, Blackwood tells of the Kaska tribe. If a family in this
tribe bears only female children needed or wanted a male child for hunting
then it was the parents’ job to select a child to become a boy. In several Native
American cultures female children might reject behavior or activities that other
girls did in favor of those activities deemed "boy" activities, and they were not
discouraged. When the child became an adult, the community held a
ceremony that pronounced them to officially be men in order to find wives and
do their duties as men in their tribes. The easy nature in which these females
cross-gendered to men was due largely in part to the non-hierarchal way of the
Native American tribe. Many tribes like the Klamath and Kaska, held women
and men as equals. There was a separation of duties between male and
females, however, the duties were dependent upon one another, and seen as
equal. If men helped women with their duties, or vice versa, there were no
objections, nor would they be looked down upon for helping out the other
gender.
When settlers came to the New World, they brought with them many new
ideas, and unfortunately, Native Americans were seen as savages that needed
to be shown the Christian way. These settlers used their ideas about white
superiority, sexuality, men and women’s roles and equality (or rather the lack
thereof) to suppress the Native American’s beliefs, and by the mid-19th century,
cross-gender people had almost completely disappeared. If the settlers could
have been more open-minded, perhaps our society would be more tolerant
towards issues such as homosexuality, cross-genderization, and gay marriage; or
perhaps those wouldn’t be issues at all.