A Native American Perspective on the Theory of Gender Continuum

VARIOUS NAMES

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Nearly all tribes honoring the berdache status had different names for the roles. Most sources used suggest using the specific name associated with the tribe and this was done whenever possible

The Lakota call their berdache Winktes. The Mohave call theirs alyha. Lhamana is the Zuni word for berdache as is nadleeh among the Navajo. There are literally dozens of others; most being variations on a general root word that is used in a certain geographic area (Roscoe, Changing 213-222). The berdache role also exists among peoples of the Southern American continent and various other places in the world as well. In Mexico, Zapotec people call their berdache ira’ muxe (Williams 49)..

Some Definitions

There are many definitions of being berdache. Some of the many found are listed below.

1) "Berdache has been employed to refer to special gender roles in Native American cultures that anthropologists have interpreted as ceremonial transvestitism, institutionalized homosexuality and gender variance/multiple genders." (Jacobs, Thomas and Lang 4).

2) "…..a berdache can be defined as a morphological male who does not fill a standard society’s man’s role, who has a nonmasculine character (Williams 2)."

3) In 1975, in their book, The Female of the Species, Martin and Voorhies wrote, "sex differences need not necessarily be perceived as bipolar. It seems possible that reproductive bisexuality establishes a minimal number of socially recognized physical sexes, but these need not be limited to two (Roscoe, Changing 123)."

4) In The Zuni Man/Woman , author, Will Roscoe describes the famous We’Wha as "a man who combined the work and social roles of men and women, an artist and a priest who dressed, at least in part, in women’s clothes (Roscoe, Zuni 2)."

Anthropologist, Evelyn Blackwood felt "The berdache gender is not a deviant role; nor a mixture of the two genders, nor less a jumping from one gender to its opposite, nor is it an alternative role behavior for nontraditional individuals who are still considered men and women. Rather it comprises a separate gender within a multiple gender system (Roscoe, Changing 123)."

Suffice it to say the subject is complex and often seems to defy description. There are common attributes, however. These vary from group to group, but a core set of four traits is shared.

Specialized work roles- Male and female berdaches are typically described in terms of their preference and achievements in the work of the "opposite" sex and/or unique activities specific to their identities.

Gender difference - In addition to work preferences, berdaches are distinguished from men and women in terms of temperament, dress, lifestyle and social roles.

Spiritual sanction - Berdache identity is widely believed to be the result of supernatural intervention in the form of visions or dreams, and/or it is sanctioned by tribal mythology.

Same-sex relations - Berdaches most often form sexual and emotional relationships with non berdache members of their own sex" (Roscoe, Changing 8).

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