Two-spirit: Difference between revisions

'''Two-Spirit''' (also '''two spirit''' or, occasionally, '''twospirited''') is a modern, pan-Indian, umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people in their communities who fulfill a traditional [[third gender]] (or other [[gender-variant identities worldwide|gender-variant]]) ceremonial and social role in their cultures.<ref name=Estrada>{{cite journal|last1=Estrada|first1=Gabriel|title=''Two Spirits'', ''Nádleeh'', and LGBTQ2 Navajo Gaze|journal=American Indian Culture and Research Journal|date=2011|volume=35|issue=4|pages=167–190|doi=10.17953/aicr.35.4.x500172017344j30|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/318264790/Two-Spirits-Nadleeh-and-Navajo-LGBTQ2-Gaze-pdf}}</ref><ref name=NYT2 /><ref name=NCIA>{{cite journal|last1=Pruden|first1=Harlan|last2=Edmo|first2=Se-ah-dom|title=Two-Spirit People: Sex, Gender & Sexuality in Historic and Contemporary Native America|journal=National Congress of American Indians Policy Research Center |date=2016|url=http://www.ncai.org/policy-research-center/initiatives/Pruden-Edmo_TwoSpiritPeople.pdf}}</ref>

"Two Spirit" was not intended to be interchangeable with "LGBT Native American" or "Gay Indian";<ref name=NYT2/> rather, it was created in English (and then translated into Ojibwe), to serve as a pan-Indian unifier, to be used for general audiences instead of the traditional terms in Indigenous languages for what are actually quite diverse, culturally-specific ceremonial and social roles, that can vary quite widely (if and when they exist at all).<ref name=Estrada/><ref name=NYT2/><ref name="de Vries 2009" /> Opinions vary as to whether or not this objective has succeeded.<ref name="de Vries 2009" /><ref name=Pember>{{cite web|url=https://rewire.news/article/2016/10/13/two-spirit-tradition-far-ubiquitous-among-tribes/|title='Two Spirit' Tradition Far From Ubiquitous Among Tribes|publisher=Rewire (website)|first=Mary Annette |last=Pember |date=Oct 13, 2016|accessdate=October 17, 2016 |quote= }}</ref> The decision to adopt this new, pan-Indian term was also made to distance themselves from non-Native gays and lesbians,<ref name=Jacobs2-3,221/> as the term and identity of two-spirit "does not make sense" unless it is contextualized within a Native American or First Nations framework and traditional cultural understanding.<ref name=NCIA/><ref name=NYT1>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/fashion/08SPIRIT.html?_r=0|title=A Spirit of Belonging, Inside and Out|work=The New York Times|date=8 Oct 2006|accessdate=28 July 2016}}</ref><ref name=Vowel-1>{{cite book|last1=Vowel|first1=Chelsea|editor1-last=|editor1-first=|title= Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis & Inuit Issues in Canada|date=2016|publisher=Highwater Press|location=Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada|isbn=978-1553796800|page=|accessdate=|chapter=All My Queer Relations - Language, Culture, and Two-Spirit Identity |ref=harv}}</ref> However, the gender-nonconforming, LGBT, or third and fourth gender, ceremonial roles traditionally embodied by Native American and FNIM people, intended to be under the modern umbrella of two-spirit, can vary widely, even among the Indigenous people who accept the English-language term. No one Native American/First Nations' culture's gender or sexuality categories apply to all, or even a majority of, these cultures.<ref name="de Vries 2009" /><ref name=Pember/>

It is important to remember that a Indigenous person being nonbinary does not automatically make that person Two-Spirit, and that someone can be Two-Spirit without being nonbinary.<ref name="Truthwaite">{{Cite web |title=Cutting off all my hair: a non-binary Indigenous person isn't necessarily Two-Spirit |author=Truthwaite, Ava |work=The Varsity |date=28 March 2021 |access-date=9 April 2021 |url= https://thevarsity.ca/2021/03/28/cutting-off-all-my-hair-a-non-binary-indigenous-person-isnt-necessarily-two-spirit/}}</ref>

It is unclear who first coined the term ''two-spirit'' in English. Pember notes the involvement of non-Native Will Roscoe who, like his also non-Native mentor Harry Hay, is involved in the hippie/counterculture gay men's group, the [[Radical Faeries]],<ref name=RoscoePapers>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c85d8sd4/entire_text/|title=Will Roscoe papers and Gay American Indians records|website=www.oac.cdlib.org|access-date=2016-05-05}}</ref> a "non-Native community that emulates Native spirituality" and engages in other forms of cultural appropriation.<ref name=Morgensen>{{cite book|last1=Morgensen|first1=Scott Lauria|title=Spaces Between Us: Queer Settler Colonialism and Indigenous Decolonization|date=2009|publisher=University of Minnesota Press|location= |isbn=9781452932729 |pages=129–151}}</ref>

{{quote|Non-Native anthropologist Will Roscoe gets much of the public credit for coining the term two spirit. However, according to Kristopher Kohl Miner of the Ho-Chunk Nation, Native people such as anthropologist Dr. Wesley Thomas of the Dine or Navajo tribe also contributed to its creation. (Thomas is a professor in the School of Dine and Law Studies.)<ref name=Pember1>{{cite web|url=https://rewire.news/article/2016/10/13/two-spirit-tradition-far-ubiquitous-among-tribes/|title='Two Spirit' Tradition Far From Ubiquitous Among Tribes|publisher=Rewire (website)|first=Mary Annette |last=Pember |date=Oct 13, 2016|accessdate=Oct 17, 2016 |quote= Non-Native anthropologist Will Roscoe gets much of the public credit for coining the term two spirit. However, according to Kristopher Kohl Miner of the Ho-Chunk Nation, Native people such as anthropologist Dr. Wesley Thomas of the Dine or Navajo tribe also contributed to its creation. (Thomas is a professor in the School of Dine and Law Studies.)}}</ref>}}

{{quote|At the conferences that produced the book, ''Two-Spirited People'', I heard several First Nations people describe themselves as very much unitary, neither "male" nor "female," much less a pair in one body. Nor did they report an assumption of duality within one body as a common concept within reservation communities; rather, people confided dismay at the Western proclivity for dichotomies. Outside Indo-European-speaking societies, "gender" would not be relevant to the social personae glosses "men" and "women," and "third gender" likely would be meaningless. The unsavory word "berdache" certainly ought to be ditched (Jacobs et al. 1997:3-5), but the urban American neologism "two-spirit" can be misleading.<ref name=Kehoe>{{cite web|last=Kehoe |first=Alice B.| authorlink=Alice Beck Kehoe |title=Appropriate Terms|work=SAA Bulletin|publisher=Society for American Archaeology 16(2), UC-Santa Barbara|date=2002 |issn= 0741-5672|url=https://www.saa.org/publications/saabulletin/16-2/saa14.html | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20041105120021/https://www.saa.org/publications/saabulletin/16-2/saa14.html |archivedate= 2004-11-05 |doi = |accessdate= 2019-05-01}}</ref>}}

Some who enthusiastically took up the term and used it in the media said that this new, English-language term carried on the full meaning and implications of the Indigenous-language terms used in-community for the specific traditional, ceremonial roles that the anthropologists had referred to<ref name=Criddle>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY21Iirhp5o |title=Frameline Voices: Two Spirits |date=2007 |last=Fertig |first=Ruth |type=Documentary film | access-date = May 3, 2019| publisher = Frameline| time = :40|quote=This is a tradition that extends back tens of thousands of years.}}</ref> - emphasizing the role of the Elders in recognizing a two-spirit person, stressing that "Two Spirit" is not interchangeable with "LGBT Native American" or "Gay Indian";<ref name=NYT2>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/08/fashion/08SPIRIT.html?_r=0|title=A Spirit of Belonging, Inside and Out|work=The New York Times|date=8 Oct 2006|accessdate=28 July 2016 |quote='The elders will tell you the difference between a gay Indian and a Two-Spirit,' [Criddle] said, underscoring the idea that simply being gay and Indian does not make someone a Two-Spirit.}}</ref> and that the title differs from most western, mainstream definitions of sexuality and [[gender identity]] in that it is not a modern, self-chosen term of personal sexual or gender "identity", but is a sacred, spiritual and ceremonial role that is recognized and confirmed by the Elders of the Two Spirit's  ceremonial community.<ref name=Estrada/><ref name=NYT2/> Talking to The New York Times in 2006, Joey Criddle said,

*Cherokee: In the Cherokee language, ''asegi udanto'' refers to people who either are outside of men's and women's roles, or who have a combination of men's and women's roles.<ref name="engl_Nati">{{Cite web |title=Native American Heritage Month: Qwo-Li Driskill and Transgender Days of Remembrance |author= |work=Colorado State University |date=16 November 2017 |access-date=2 October 2020 |url= https://english.colostate.edu/news/native-american-heritage-month-qwo-li-driskill-transgender-days-remembrance/ }}</ref> "Asegi" translates as "strange" and is used by some Cherokees as a term similar to "[[queer]]".<ref name="AsegiStories">{{Cite web |title=Project MUSE - Asegi Stories |author= |work=muse.jhu.edu |date= |access-date=2 October 2020 |url= https://muse.jhu.edu/book/44810 |quote=udanto }}</ref>

*Cheyenne: hemaneh, meaning "half man, half woman".<ref name="Brayboy">{{Cite web |title=Two Spirits, One Heart, Five Genders |last=Brayboy |first=Duane |work=IndianCountryToday.com |date=September 7, 2017 |access-date=October 15, 2020 |url= https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/two-spirits-one-heart-five-genders-9UH_xnbfVEWQHWkjNn0rQQ}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Native American Healing|year=1996|page=104|last=Lyon|first=William S.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter=Sexuality and American Indians|last=Hanson|year=1980|title=The Urban Indian| page=62 |url=https://archive.org/details/ERIC_ED231587/page/n61/|work=Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) Archive}}</ref> Sometimes cited as a word for gay men.<ref>{{cite book|title=Gay Spirit: Myth and Meaning|year=1987|page=77|last=Thompson|first=Mark|quote=Among the Cheyenne Indians, gay men were called ''hemaneh''.}}</ref> Sometimes transcribed as ''a-he-e me' ne'''<ref>{{cite book|title=The Spirit and the Flesh: Sexual Diversity in American Indian Culture|year=1988|page=278|last= Williams|first= Walter}}</ref> or ''heeman''.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Gender Diversity in Native North America|editor=Duberman, Martin|last=Roscoe|first=Will|title=A Queer World: The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader|year=1997|page=78}}</ref>

*Mexica: Xōchihuah, "One who possesses aspect of a woman" and Patlacheh "one who posssesses aspect of a male"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://davidbowles.medium.com/mexican-x-part-xii-what-did-a-xochihuah-possess-3784532d8023|title=Mexican X Part XII: Xochihuah and Queer Aztecs|last=Bowles|first=David|date=2020-07-07|website=Medium|language=en|access-date=2021-10-16}}</ref>  

|title=Native American 'Two-Spirit People' Serve Unique Roles Within Their Communities – One 'Winkte' Talks About Role Of LGBT People In Lakota Culture|publisher=Wisconsin Public Radio|date=27 June 2014 |accessdate=1 October 2017 |ref=harv}}</ref>

*Navaho/Diné people: There are at least six genders in Diné language: Asdzáán (woman), Hastiin (man), Náhleeh (feminine-man), Dilbaa (masculine-woman), Nádleeh Asdzaa (lesbian), ‘Nádleeh Hastii (gay man).<ref name="Yazzie">{{Cite web |title=Why are Diné LGBTQ+ and Two Spirit people being denied access to ceremony? |last=Yazzie |first=Jolene |work=High Country News |date=7 January 2020 |access-date=2 October 2020 |url= https://www.hcn.org/issues/52.2/indigenous-affairs-why-are-dine-lgbtq-and-two-spirit-people-being-denied-access-to-ceremony}}</ref> Náhleeh, also given as ''[[Nádleehi]]'', Nadleh<ref name="Williams">{{Cite web |title=The 'Two-Spirit' people of indigenous North Americans |last=Williams |first=Walter L |work=firstpeople.us |date= |access-date=15 October 2020 |url= https://www.firstpeople.us/articles/the-two-spirit-people-of-indigenous-north-americans.html}}</ref>, or Nádleeh, has the meaning of "one who is transformed" or "one who changes".<ref>Franc Johnson Newcomb (1980-06). Hosteen Klah: Navaho Medicine Man and Sand Painter. University of Oklahoma Press. {{ISBN|0-8061-1008-2}}.</ref><ref>Lapahie, Harrison, Jr. Hosteen Klah (Sir Left Handed). Lapahie.com. 2001 (retrieved 19 Oct 2009)</ref><ref>Berlo, Janet C. and Ruth B.  

Male-bodied two-spirit people, regardless of gender identification, can go to war and have access to male activities such as male-only sweat lodge ceremonies.<ref name="vancouver">{{cite web |title=Inventory of Aboriginal Services, Issues and Initiatives in Vancouver: Two Spirit – LGTB |url=http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/socialplanning/initiatives/aboriginal/tools/directory/twospirit.htm |accessdate=2007-07-01 |website=vancouver.ca}}</ref> However, they may also take on "feminine" activities such as cooking and other domestic responsibilities.<ref>{{cite web |at=Page 72 |url=http://vancouver.ca/files/cov/aboriginal-services-inventory.pdf |title=Inventory of Aboriginal Services, Issues, and Initiatives in Vancouver |website=vancouver.ca}}</ref>  According to Lang, female-bodied two-spirit people usually have sexual relations or marriages with only females.<ref>Lang, (1998, pp. 289–298)</ref>

Among the goals of two-spirit societies are group support; outreach, education, and activism; revival of their Indigenous cultural traditions, including preserving the old languages, skills and dances;<ref name=NYT1/> and otherwise working toward social change.<ref name="Lipshultz">{{cite journal |title=Berdach to Two-Spirit: The Revival of Native American Traditions |last=Lipshultz |first=Hanna |journal=Discoveries |year=2007 |issue=8 |publisher=John S. Knight Institute for Writing in the Disciplines |location=Ithaca |url=https://www.arts.cornell.edu/knight_institute/publicationsprizes/discoveries/discoveriesspring2007/Lipshultz.pdf |pages=31–32 |accessdate=2016-07-18}}</ref>

Some two-spirit societies (past and present) include: 2Spirits of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario; the Wabanaki Two Spirit Alliance in Nova Scotia; the Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirits (est. 1998) in San Francisco, California;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://inthefray.org/2004/12/rainbow-and-red-2/|title=Rainbow and red: Queer American Indians from New York to San Francisco are showing both their spirits. |last=Alpert |first=Emily |date=December 5, 2004 |website=In the Fray |publisher=In the Fray, Inc. |location=New Hyde Park |accessdate=2016-04-10}}</ref> Central Oklahoma Two Spirit Natives in Oklahoma City; the East Coast Two Spirit Society and the NorthEast Two-Spirit Society in New York City; Idaho Two-Spirit Society; the Indiana Two-Spirit Society in Bloomington, Indiana; Minnesota Two Spirits; the Montana Two-Spirit Society in Browning, Montana; the Northwest Two-Spirit Society in Seattle, Washington; the Ohio Valley Two Spirit Society of Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Southern Illinois;<ref>{{cite web |url=https://ohiovalleytwospiritsociety.blogspot.com/ |title=Welcome! |last=Thomas |first=Wesley K. |website=Ohio Valley Two-Spirit Society (OVTSS) |date=June 26, 2006 |accessdate=2016-07-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bloomingtonalternative.com/articles/2009/08/09/10075 |title=Out in Bloomington: Boy Scouts raise debate |date=August 9, 2009 |last=Harrell |first=Helen |last2=Fischer |first2=Carol |website=The Bloomington Alternative |accessdate=2016-07-18}}</ref> the Portland Two Spirit Society (est. May 2012) in Portland, Oregon;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pqmonthly.com/portland-two-spirit-society-finding-family-and-a-connection-to-history-in-shared-identities/7648 |title=Portland Two Spirit Society: Finding family and a connection to history in shared identities |date=September 19, 2012 |last=Rook |first=Erin |website=PQ |publisher=Brilliant Media |accessdate=2016-07-17}}</ref> the Regina Two-Spirited Society in Regina, Saskatchewan; the Texas Two Spirit Society in Dallas; the Tulsa Two-Spirit Society in Tulsa, Oklahoma; the Two-Spirit Society of Denver in Denver, Colorado; and the Wichita Two-Spirit Society in Wichita, Kansas.<ref name="Lipshultz"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/12/18/two-spirit-leaders-call-washington-include-native-women-re-authorization-vawa-146397 |title= Two-Spirit Leaders Call on Washington to Include Native Women in Re-Authorization of VAWA |author=<!-- staff writer --> |date=December 18, 2012 |website=Indian Country Today Media Network |accessdate=2016-07-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.glapn.org/6200twospirit.html |title=Two-Spirit gathering at Portland State University, Wednesday, May 26, 2010 |author=<!-- no byline --> |year=2010 |website=Gay & Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest |accessdate=2016-07-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.santafemc.org/programs/new-mexico-gay-straight-alliance-network/new-mexico-gsa-resources/#native |title=New Mexico GSA: Resources § Native / First Nations |author=<!-- no byline --> |website=Santa Fe Mountain Center |publisher=New Mexico Gay–Straight Alliance Network |accessdate=2016-07-18}}</ref>

<blockquote>Unfortunately, depending on an oral tradition to impart our ways to future generations opened the floodgates for early non-Native explorers, missionaries, and anthropologists to write books describing Native peoples and therefore bolstering their own role as experts. These writings were and still are entrenched in the perspective of the authors who were and are mostly white men.<ref name=Pember2>{{cite web|url=https://rewire.news/article/2016/10/13/two-spirit-tradition-far-ubiquitous-among-tribes/|title='Two Spirit' Tradition Far From Ubiquitous Among Tribes|publisher=Rewire (website)|first=Mary Annette |last=Pember |date=Oct 13, 2016|accessdate=October 17, 2016 |quote= Unfortunately, depending on an oral tradition to impart our ways to future generations opened the floodgates for early non-Native explorers, missionaries, and anthropologists to write books describing Native peoples and therefore bolstering their own role as experts. These writings were and still are entrenched in the perspective of the authors who were and are mostly white men.}}</ref></blockquote>

Historically, the presence of male-bodied two-spirits "was a fundamental institution among most tribal peoples", according to Brian Gilley<ref>{{cite book |last=Gilley |first=Brian Joseph |year=2006 |title=Becoming Two-Spirit: Gay Identity and Social Acceptance in Indian Country |isbn=0-8032-7126-3}} Page 8</ref> and, according to non-Native anthropologist Will Roscoe, both male- and female-bodied two-spirits have been documented "in over 130 North American tribes, in every region of the continent".<ref>{{cite book |last=Roscoe |first=Will |year=1991 |title=The Zuni Man-Woman |url=https://archive.org/details/zunimanwoman00rosc_0 |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/zunimanwoman00rosc_0/page/5 5] |isbn=0-8263-1253-5}}.</ref> However, Ojibwe journalist Mary Annette Pember argues that this depiction threatens to homogenize diverse Indigenous cultures, painting over them with an overly broad brush, potentially causing the disappearance of "distinct cultural and language differences that Native peoples hold crucial to their identity".<ref name=Pember/>

<blockquote>I have submitted substantial evidence that those Indian men who, both here and farther inland, are observed in the dress, clothing and character of women&nbsp;– there being two or three such in each village&nbsp;– pass as sodomites by profession.&nbsp;... They are called ''joyas'', and are held in great esteem.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Fages |first1=P. |last2=Priestley |first2=H. I. |author3=Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Historia y Etnografía (Mexico) |year=1937 |page=33 |title=A historical, political, and natural description of California  |url=http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015027939639 |location=Berkeley, Calif |publisher=University of California Press |accessdate=}}</ref></blockquote>

Many, if not all, Indigenous cultures have been affected by European [[homophobia]] and [[misogyny]].<ref>{{harvp|Jacobs|Thomas|Lang|1997|pp=206}}; {{harvp|Roscoe|1998|p=114}}; {{harvp|Lang|1998|pp=119, 311–313, 322}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Trexler |first=R. |title=Sex and conquest: Gendered violence, political order, and the European conquest of the Americas |pp=155–167 |location=Ithaca, NY |publisher=Cornell University Press |year=1995 |ref=harv}}<br>{{cite book |last=Swidler |first=Arlene |title=Homosexuality and World Religions |url=https://archive.org/details/homosexualitywor00swid |url-access=registration |pp=17–19 |location=Valley Forge, PA |publisher=Trinity Press International|year=1993}}</ref> Some sources have reported that the Aztecs and Incas had laws against such individuals,<ref>{{harvp|Lang|1998|p=324}}<br>{{cite book |last=Spencer |first=Colin |title=Homosexuality in History |p=142 |location=London |publisher=Harcourt Brace & Company |year=1995}}</ref> though there are some authors who feel that this was exaggerated or the result of acculturation, because all of the documents indicating this are post-conquest and any that existed before had been destroyed by the Spanish Empire.<ref>{{harvp|Trexler|1995|pp=155-167}}<br>{{cite book |last=Greenberg |first=David |title=The Construction of Homosexuality |url=https://archive.org/details/constructionofho00greerich |url-access=registration |pp=165–168 |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press|year=1988}}</ref> The belief that these laws existed, at least for the Aztecs, comes from the Florentine Codex, and that evidence exists that indigenous peoples authored many codices, but the Spaniards destroyed most of them in their attempt to eradicate ancient beliefs.<ref>Fitch, Nancy. [http://www.historians.org/tl/LessonPlans/ca/Fitch/conquestbib.htm 0General Discussion of the Primary Sources Used in This Project"]. ''The Conquest of Mexico Annotated Bibliography''. Accessed: June 14, 2008.</ref>

Some contemporary Zapotec peoples in Mexico embody the traditional third gender role known as ''muxe''.  They consider themselves to be "''muxe'' in men's bodies," who do the work that their culture usually associates with women. When asked by [[transgender]] researchers in 2004 if they ever considered surgical transition, "none of the respondents found the idea interesting, but rather strange" as their essence as ''muxe'' is not dependent on what type of body they are in.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://origin-www.goethe.de/mmo/priv/4038800-STANDARD.pdf|title=Muxe: el tercer sexo|last=Bennholdt-Thomsen |first=Veronika|work=|year=2008|agency=Goethe Institut|language=Spanish|access-date=March 13, 2016|via=}}</ref>

Before the late twentieth-century, non-Native (i.e. non-Native American) anthropologists used the term ''berdache'' ({{nowrap|{{IPAc-en|b|ər|ˈ|d|æ|ʃ|}}}}), in a very broad manner, to identify an indigenous individual fulfilling one of many mixed gender roles in their tribe. Often in their writings they applied this term to any male who they perceived to be [[homosexual]], [[bisexual]], or  [[effeminate]] by Western social standards, leading to a wide variety of diverse individuals being categorized under this imprecise term. At times they incorrectly implied that these individuals were [[intersex]] by calling them "hermaphrodites".<ref name="AnthroGeneralizations">{{cite web|url=http://www.phenomenologycenter.org/course/berdache.htm |title=How to become a Berdache: Toward a unified analysis of gender diversity|last=Roscoe|first=Will |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226235121/http://www.phenomenologycenter.org/course/berdache.htm |archive-date=February 26, 2009 |quote=This pattern can be traced from the earliest accounts of the Spaniards to present-day ethnographies. What has been written about berdaches reflects more the influence of existing Western discourses on gender, sexuality and the Other than what observers actually witnessed.}}</ref> The term ''berdache'' has always been repugnant to Indigenous people. De Vries writes, "Berdache is a derogatory term created by Europeans and perpetuated by anthropologists and others to define Native American/First Nations people who varied from Western norms that perceive gender, sex, and sexuality as binaries and inseparable."<ref name="de Vries 2009" /> The term has now fallen out of favor with anthropologists as well. It derives from the French ''{{lang|fr|bardache}}'' (English equivalent: "[[wikt:bardash|bardash]]") meaning "passive homosexual", "catamite"<ref name=bardash>{{cite web|url=http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/bardash|title=Definition of "bardash" – Collins English Dictionary|accessdate=7 June 2015}}</ref> or even "under-age boy prostitute".<ref name=NativeOut101/>  ''Bardache'', in turn, derived from the Persian {{big|{{lang|fa|برده}}}} ''barda'' meaning "captive", "prisoner of war", "slave".<ref>{{cite book |last=Steingass |first=Francis Joseph  |url=http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.0:1:8571.steingass  |title=A Comprehensive Persian-English dictionary, including the Arabic words and phrases to be met with in Persian literature |location=London |publisher=Routledge & K. Paul |date=1892 |page=173}}</ref><ref name="Two Spirit People" /><ref>{{cite book |last=Roscoe |first=Will |title=Changing ones: Third and fourth genders in native North America |location=New York |publisher=St. Martin's Press |date=1998|ref=harv}} Page 7.</ref><ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/vulnerable |chapter="vulnerable" |title=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |edition=Fourth  |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |date=2004}}</ref> Spanish explorers who encountered these individuals among the Chumash people called them ''"{{lang|es|joyas}}"'', the Spanish for "jewels".<ref>{{cite book |author1=Kent Flannery |authorlink1=Kent V. Flannery |author2=Joyce Marcus |authorlink2=Joyce Marcus |title=The Creation of Inequality |date=15 May 2012 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-06469-0 |pages=70–71}}</ref>

The 2009 documentary film<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1296906/|title=Two Spirits (2009)|date=21 June 2009|work=IMDb|accessdate=7 June 2015}}</ref> ''Two Spirits'', directed by Lydia Nibley, tells the story of the hate-murder of 16-year-old Navajo Fred Martinez. In the film, Nibley "affirms Martinez' Navajo sense of being a two spirit 'effeminate male', or ''nádleeh''".<ref name=Estrada/>{{rp|168}} Martinez' mother defined ''nádleeh'' as "half woman, half man".<ref name=Estrada/>{{rp|169}}

The film ''Two Spirits'', shown on Independent Lens in 2011, and winner of the annual Audience Award for that year, is about two-spirit people, particularly Fred Martinez, who was murdered at age 16 for identifying as a two-spirit.<ref>{{cite web|last=Nibley |first=Lydia |url=https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/two-spirits/ |title=Two Spirits &#124; Native American Gender Diversity &#124; Independent Lens |publisher=PBS |date=2011-06-14 |accessdate=2017-01-26}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Preview (0:02:01) |url=https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/videos/the-bravest-choice-is-to-be-yourself/ |title=The Bravest Choice Is To Be Yourself &#124; Video &#124; Independent Lens |publisher=PBS |date=2011-06-14 |accessdate=2017-01-26}}</ref>

In 2017 two-spirited Métis filmmaker Marjorie Beaucage released a ''Coming In Stories: Two Spirit in Saskatchewan'' as way to raise awareness about the experiences of two-spirited individuals living in Saskatchewan, Canada.<ref name="Petrow">{{cite news |last1=Petrow |first1=Erin |title=A Q and A session with OUTSaskatoon two spirit elder Marjorie Beaucage |url=https://thestarphoenix.com/news/local-news/a-q-and-a-session-with-outsaskatoon-two-spirit-elder-marjorie-beaucage |accessdate=12 August 2018 |work=Saskatoon StarPhoenix |date=14 February 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Storytelling as medicine: Coming In documentary follows two-spirited people living in Sask. |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/storytelling-as-medicine-coming-in-documentary-follows-two-spirited-people-living-in-sask-1.3982532 |accessdate=12 August 2018 |work=CBC News |date=14 February 2017}}</ref>

In the 2018 indie film, ''The Miseducation of Cameron Post'', a Lakota character – Adam Red Eagle, played by Forrest Goodluck – is sent to a [[conversion therapy|conversion camp]] for identifying as ''[[winkte]]'' and two-spirit.<ref>{{Citation|last=Nicholson |first=Amy |title=Forrest Goodluck: the Native American actor ripping up the rulebook|date=2018-11-13|url=https://www.nativeknot.com/news/Native-American-News/Forrest-Goodluck-the-Native-American-actor-ripping-up-the-rulebo.html|work=nativeknot.com|language=en|access-date=2018-11-18}}</ref>

In the 2019, second season of ''American Gods'', Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs (Mohawk) plays a young Cherokee woman, Sam Black Crow, who self-identifies as "two-spirited". Her character, raised by a white mother and estranged from her Native father, speaks of looking to older ancestors to try to find her own beliefs, much like the other humans in the series. In an interview she says, "I identify as queer, and not two-spirited, because I’m Mohawk and we don’t have that" and that Neil Gaiman (author of the novels on which the series is based) advocated strongly for her to be cast in the role.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://collider.com/american-gods-season-2-devery-jacbos-interview/|title='American Gods' Season 2: Devery Jacobs on Bringing Sam Black Crow to Life|last=Radish|first=Christina|date=2019-03-24|website=Collider|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-26}}</ref>

In 2012, a marker dedicated to two spirit people was included in the Legacy Walk, an outdoor public display in Chicago, Illinois, that celebrates LGBT history and people.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legacyprojectchicago.org/2012_INDUCTEES.html|title=2012 INDUCTEES|author=Victor Salvo // The Legacy Project|accessdate=7 June 2015}}</ref>

* [[Susan Allen]] (Lakota), Minnesota State Representative<ref name=Allen>{{cite web |last=Weber |first=Stephanie |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2016/12/21/susan_allen_minnesota_state_representative_is_lesbian_and_two_spirit_and.html |title=Minnesota Rep. Susan Allen Is Two-Spirit, a Lesbian, and She Won't Be Assimilated |website=Slate (magazine) |date=December 21, 2016 |access-date=November 29, 2017}}</ref>

* [[Raven Davis]] (Ojibwe), artist, activist, and traditional cultural worker<ref name=RavenDavis>{{cite web |last1=Lewis-Peart |first1=David |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/03/20/raven-davis-racism-self-care_n_9481120.html |title=Raven Davis On Racism And Self-Care |publisher=The Huffington Post Canada |date=20 March 2016 |accessdate=1 October 2017}}</ref>

* [[Qwo-Li Driskill]] (Cherokee), poet, scholar, and activist<ref name="poet_Qwo-">{{Cite web |title=Qwo-Li Driskill |author= |work=Poetry Foundation |date= |access-date=2 October 2020 |url= https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/qwo-li-driskill}}</ref>

* [[Mary Gauthier]], musician<ref name="Miller-CQ">{{Cite web |title=Non-Binary Country Artists You Need to Hear |last1=Miller |first1=Sydney |work=Country Queer |date= |access-date=18 November 2020 |url= https://countryqueer.com/stories/list/non-binary-country-artists-you-need-to-hear/ |quote=Mary Gauthier describes herself as a two-spirited (an Indigenous term referring to someone who has both a masculine and feminine spirit) lesbian. }}</ref>

* [[G.R. Gritt]] (Anishinaabe-Métis), musician<ref>{{Cite web |title=Spotlight on: G.R. Gritt |author= |work=Ontario Performing Arts Presenting Network |date=1 February 2020 |access-date=2 October 2020 |url= https://ontariopresents.ca/blog/spotlight-gr-gritt}}</ref>

* [[Bretten Hannam]] (Mi'kmaq/Ojibwe), filmmaker<ref>Jordan Parker, [https://www.halifaxtoday.ca/local-news/two-spirit-filmmaker-puts-queer-representation-first-in-films-2-photos-946347 "Two-Spirit filmmaker puts queer representation first in films"]. ''Halifax Today'', June 12, 2018.</ref>

* [[Richard LaFortune]] (Yupik), activist, author and artist<ref name="Two Spirit People">{{Cite book |title=Two Spirit People: Native American Gender Identity, Sexuality, and Spirituality |last1=Jacobs |first1=Sue-Ellen |last2=Thomas |first2=Wesley |last3=Lang |first3=Sabine |date=1997 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=9780252066450 |oclc=421792266 |ref=harv |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/uneasycareersint0000unse }}</ref>

* [[James Makokis]] (Cree), physician<ref name="Boudjikanian">Raffy Boudjikanian, ''[https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/a-cree-doctors-caring-approach-for-transgender-patients A Cree doctor's caring approach for transgender patients]'', CBC News</ref>

* [[Kent Monkman]] (Cree), visual and performing artist<ref>{{Cite web |title=Super Queeroes! |author= |work=CBC |date= |access-date=22 October 2021 |url= https://www.cbc.ca/artsprojects/superqueeroes/kent-monkman |quote=Half-Cree, two-spirit artist Kent Monkman, who is a member of the Fisher River band in northern Manitoba, often channels his subversive view of history through the trickster lens of his campy, gender-bending alter ego Miss Chief Eagle Testickle. }}</ref>

* [[Rebecca Nagle]] (Cherokee), activist and writer<ref>{{cite web |title=Extraordinary Women Making History: Five Fast Facts About Rebecca Nagle, The Indigenous Activist Upsetting Rape Culture |url=http://www.theextraordinarynegroes.com/theblog/extraordinary-women-making-history-five-fast-facts-about-rebecca-nagle-the-indigenous-activist-upsetting-rape-culture |website=The Extraordinary Negroes |accessdate=8 February 2019}}</ref>

* [[Geo Neptune]] (Passamaquoddy), performance artist, educator, and basket maker.<ref name="Neptune-Lang">{{Cite web |title=Geo Neptune, Maine’s First Two-Spirit Elected Official, Is Ready to Decolonize Education |last=Lang |first=Nico |work=them. |date=6 October 2020 |access-date=25 October 2020 |url= https://www.them.us/story/geo-neptune-two-spirit-elected-official-interview}}</ref>

* [[Harlan Pruden]] (Cree), scholar and activist<ref>{{Cite web |title=Going Far From Home to Feel at Home |last=Walker |first=Dalton |work=New York Times |date=17 July 2007 |access-date=22 October 2021 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/17/nyregion/17spirit.html?_r=1&oref=slogin}}</ref>

* [[Smokii Sumac]] (Ktunaxa), poet and activist<ref>{{cite web |title=Smokii Sumac on Being Seen in Poetry, Why Endings Matter, and a New Spin on Love Letters |url=http://open-book.ca/News/Smokii-Sumac-on-Being-Seen-in-Poetry-Why-Endings-Matter-and-a-New-Spin-on-Love-Letters |website=Open Book |accessdate=1 October 2019}}</ref>

* [[Ilona Verley]] (Nlaka'pamux), drag queen known for competing on the first season of ''Canada's Drag Race''<ref name="Allaire-Ilona">{{Cite web |title=Indigenous Queen Ilona Verley On Bringing Two-Spirit Representation to Canada's Drag Race |last=Allaire |first=Christian |work=Vogue |date=31 August 2020 |access-date=25 October 2020 |url= https://www.vogue.com/article/ilona-verley-canadas-drag-race-indigenous-queen}}</ref>

* [[Massey Whiteknife]] (Cree), businessman, producer and entertainer<ref>{{Cite web |title=Aboriginal music awards host two-spirited performer |author= |work=CBC |date=11 September 2014 |access-date=22 October 2021 |url= https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/aboriginal-music-awards-host-two-spirited-performer-1.2763666}}</ref>

* {{cite web|title=Two-Spirit People: Sex, Gender & Sexuality in Historic and Contemporary Native America|url=http://www.ncai.org/policy-research-center/initiatives/Pruden-Edmo_TwoSpiritPeople.pdf|first1=Harlan|last1=Pruden|first2=Se-ah-dom|last2=Edmo|publisher=Northeast Two-Spirit Society}}