Strange World

The reading on female Native American cross-gender individuals (berdaches or two spirits) shows how gender and sexuality are socially constructed. As we discussed in class sex affects definition of gender which then influences definition of sexuality. I found it interesting that in the western tribes where there was more interdependence between males and females, male and female gender roles and sexuality could be more ambiguous. While in the tribes of the plains where due to the nomadic lifestyle and trading, males were more dominant and females saw marrying as closely tied to their identity. We see how one culture's perspective can influence another when Blackwood notes that by the late 19th century, female cross gender roles among the Native Americans had all but disappeared due to the change in construction of gender and sexuality brought about by the dominant Western culture. For some of the anthropologists studying these gender roles, it was difficult for them to imagine that a perspective of gender and sexuality existed and it is reflected in the amount and type of information available about those who were considered two-spirits.