The Two-Spirited Tradition

Today I figured I would share what I had to write for my Sociology of Gender class. We watched a film called Two Spirits for class, and it was actually pretty interesting. I have included a link that tells what two-spirits is referring to, and my response for my class.

Two-Spirits

If you are really interested, you can rent the film for like $3 from Amazon, though the quality is not great. I found the premise of the film interesting, and something to think about.


Two Spirits Documentary

The first interesting point to me when watching the film Two Spirits was the cultural history of the Navajo people, and how they initially had had designations for four genders, not two. They recognized the following: feminine woman, masculine woman, feminine man, and masculine man. The people who did not fall into the traditionally “normal” categories of feminine woman or masculine man were not held apart from the others. They were respected and often revered-holding jobs of importance in their community. The Navajo even held non-traditional marriage ceremonies for people of the same sex wanting to marry one another. I liked how one man interviewed in the film said that to the Navajo, homosexuals were not just biological dead-ends, but often helped in shaping the lives of the next generation through teaching, counseling and care-taking roles.  I also found it interesting that because of Western civilization and the ideals of two and only two neatly separated genders, this way of thinking has pervaded the Native American tribes, where in many (though I assume not all) being two-natured is no longer acceptable. 
Another thing that I found poignant was the sharp contrast between the way that Fred’s mom treated him compared with how one of the men being interviewed was treated. Fred’s mother was accepting of the person that Fred was. When he told her that he wanted a purse and some of her make-up, she did not make him feel stupid. When he told her how he felt and wanted to live, Fred’s mother said to him that she loved him no matter whether he looked male or female, and shared with him the tradition of the Nadleehi, or the two-spirited people. They shared a very close relationship. In stark contrast, however, was a man who said that his parents did not like it when he did not act like a “boy” enough, and they would even burn the musical scores that he wrote. I found that appalling, to destroy something their child had created because he was not conforming to what the parents wanted. My husband and I actually had a discussion when I was sharing this film with him about our sons. We both agreed that the quality of the person, not the gender, will matter most to us when our sons are finding someone to share life with.
Finally, another point that hit home with me was also through the interview of a two-spirited female. She describes how people (regardless of their gender or sexual orientation) just want a place to fit in. She said how she hates the word “tolerance”, because she doesn’t just want to be tolerated, but to be accepted. I liked this because I too have always wondered at the word choice. To tolerate someone has the connotation that they are not okay, that they are irritating to us, like tolerating a fly that has buzzed its way into the home. Overall, it was a great film, and interesting to see much influence Western beliefs have, and the hatred that people can possess due to nothing more than insignificant differences in others.