Mislabeling of Native American Genders as "Transgender"

Forum: TechnoDyke.com
Date: 05/18/2000

emigrrl
Posted - 18 May 2000 1:31

libertina - it kinda concerns me when people start making gross generalizations about native american cultures -- as you know, "native american" actually encompasses a broad range of unique cultures, and their accepted gender systems differ from one another. yes, it's fair to say from western anthropological point of view that, in *some* native american cultures, as well as *some* other cultures around the world, there are more than just dichotomous man/woman genders. however, you cannot classify their unique categories into western categories of transgender, transsexual, intersex, homosexual, etc., or vice versa. always remember that categories we use are dependant on our cultural and historical context -- to appropriate everything that doesn't fit into western model of gender system as "transgender," as leslie feinberg does in _transgender warriors_, is a bit colonialist.