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Reading Response #1: Two-Spirit Identity in a Time of Gender Fluidity

Kathryn Perry

Mount Allison University

RELG 1641: Religion, the Body, and Sexuality

Dr. Shelly Colette

May 17, 2024

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Being two-spirited is very traditional to Native American people and their culture, which

is something I was neither aware of, nor educated about. Specifically, being two-spirited means

that male, female, and intersexed individuals identify as having both a masculine and a feminine

spirit which describes their individual sexual, gender, and/or spiritual identity. Additionally,

although being two-spirited was not something I was aware of and therefore was not educated

on, it clearly plays an important role in the lives of these Indigenous individuals but why is it

important to these people, their culture, and their overall lives still remains in question.

Furthermore, the question of general importance is not what has been discussed in this reading, it

involves how different shifts affect gender framework and also how Indigenous gender systems

are going to support the overall resistance to colonization.

The first point in this article that I found to be particularly intriguing was that as a result

of the erosion of the Indigenous gender systems, many Indigenous people had to self-identify

with different terms in order to conform with Settler communities. This statement is

heartbreaking to say the least as it takes away from the lives of these Indigenous people and did

not allow them to express themselves freely in a time where they may have needed it most. This

impacts the lives of the Indigenous community as they then had to walk on eggshells around

their true expression and probably felt as though they had to conform personally to these beliefs,

not just express themselves as these beliefs. Additionally, the lives on these individuals were

impacted as a result of this conformity due to not being able to express further than just being

two-spirited and therefore, most likely felt as though they were stuck in a mind and body that

was not theirs.

The second point that also gripped my attention and interested me into exploring into

more was when the article explained that being two-spirited was presented to a group of
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provincial employees and one asked the question on if a women partaking in “male’ activities

and vice versa was being two-spirited. This question makes it seem as though the individual was

diminishing the true meaning behind being two-spirited. Maybe they just didn’t fully understand

what being two-spirited meant but if they did then it seems as though they were just blatantly

degrading this identity. Even as someone who does not know much about the differences among

gender identity and expression, I know that it is much more meaningful then women doing a

mans work or vice versa and that it represents an art of expression. This also circulates back to

my first point as the people of these Indigenous cultures had to work hard to be able to fully

come out and express themselves and although many individuals will still have the same mindset

as the Settlers community, it is still heart wrenching to observe it being so degraded and

diminished.

Overall, and also coming from someone who was not educated about an individual being

two-spirited, I don’t believe it should even be questioned on why these gender choices are

important across the Native American culture and their people. A strong concluding remark from

this article, which also resonated highly with me was when it was explained that gender should

not be thought about differently, and that we must change the way we practice gender in a time

where gender expression is important and that two-spirit identity is like a circular path where we

are returning to where we belong as individuals, reclaiming, reinventing and redefining new and

old beginnings, our roots. This simple explanation allows readers to fully grasp the concept on

why such identity is important along with also explaining how society can be resistant to

colonization.