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Article: Native American sexuality: Two-spirit in two worlds
- Article from:
- The Village Voice
- Article date:
- July 2, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Village Voice Jul 2, 1996. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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"BERDACHE WAS NEVER used in any Native communities!" says Wesley Thomas (Dine), a graduate student in anthropology at the University of Washington. "I get irate when I hear Native Americans use the B-word to describe themselves. The berdache concept is not of Native cultures. It gives no meaning to our histories" In fact, Berdache derives from an Arabic word, bardadj, which was used to describe male slaves who served as (anally receptive) prostitutes. Anthropologists popularized the term to represent a transvestite Native American man who functioned in a feminine role.
These roles varied within each Nation. For example, We'wha ( 1849-1896) lived his life as a female member of the Zuni ...