Cross-gender females

In "Sexuality and Gender in Certain Native American Tribes: The Case of Cross-Gender Females," Evelyn Blackwood explores custom of cross-gendered females in Native American culture. According to the author, in western Native American society, once a woman assumes male role and performs masculine tasks, the soceity generally ignored the fact that she is woman, and treated her like a man. She also writes that although when a woman assumes man's identity, she loses her child-bearing potential, the family placed her "individual interest and abilities above her value as a reproducer" (31). It is interesting to see how political and social circumstances affect the balance in gender role. Native American tribes in the West were able to maintain stability of their tribes longer than the tribes in Plains. Therefore, establishing kinship between families was one of the main reason for marriage. Perhaps, maintaining the number of tribal members was less of concern for these tribes.

Stability of cross-gender female in the western Native American society is contrasting from the earlier disappearance of cross-genders in Plain Native American society. Plain Native Americans encountered European frontiers sooner than the western Native Americans. Due to frequency of battle and death following them, child bearing role of women became the priority of female members of the tribes. I wondered why trading with Europeans became male privilege. During our class discussion yesterday, Diago suggested that it might be because Europeans preferred trading with men, and they might have considered cross-gendered female unpleasant and strange.

Although the spirit of gender equality of Native American tribes disappeared, I think women in our society are very slowly re-establishing that equality as they take the leading role in politics, business and academia. It is interesting to see that in history, economic and scientific progress do not always result in progress in human rights...