I came across this trailer for a documentary called Two Spirits.  It looks at the killing of Fred Martinez; seeing his death as a hate crime against queers and his life as part of Indigenous acceptance for gender fluidity.

I'm curious about this doc and its title because they disrupt (thanks peter) gender assumptions and even stories of cultural progress.

In the book, Two Spirits: A Story of Life with the Navajo the term is defined.

"Two-Spirit" is the term chosen by lesbian and gay Native Americans (at an international conference in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1990) for gender variant men and women in indigenous cultures. These two-spirits were called "berdache" by French explorers (a term that is considered derogatory). In the Native cultures they were known by a variety of names, including (in English translation, of course) "Changing Ones," "One who is Transformed," "Those with Special Powers,""Spiritual Mediator," "Healer," also "Crossdresser"and "Male Woman," "Female Man."

While indigenous Two-Spirits were understood within the mythological and social context of their tribes as special beings, the identity parallels modern American, psychologically-tinged, or street-culture, terms for androgyny and androgynes like transsexual, transvestite, TS, TV, crossdresser, hermaphrodite, as well as T-boys, shemales, trannies, tranny, lady boy, drag queen, etc. The modern terms do not have the sense of honor and spiritual power that the Native American did.

Two Spirited people can be seen as Genderqueer (thanks robert) but I'm left with this question:

Do Two Spirited people embody both genders or neither?

Perhaps 'embody' is launching pad for this 'query' because gender doesn't have a body - it's a performance, a role, an identity from within oneself or granted by the culture at large.  Sex: male and female, these are the terms we use for the body, but so often people get messy in their thinking.  Are we interested in looking in someone's underpants to talk about queerness? I hope not.

I've asked around to understand what 'masculine energy' is and what makes it exclusively attached to the male body.  Still haven't heard one.

I'd say being Two Spirited or Queer is also about being without or even beyond gender. Richard Jenkins married his male partner and while the term Two Spirited is an honour that reflects his identity, he agrees that the spirit is sexless (hmm, what about genderless?)

This doc also disrupts Western Civilization's claim on the advancement of human rights. The Cree nation can marry Jenkins and his partner without changing any of its traditions because it's always been accepting of gender variance. Not surprisingly the dignity of being Two Spirited has been degraded by both European and Christian traditions. I hope this doc (in progress) makes the rounds to show us this native history in all its variations.

*****

Paul does media education workshops in Toronto.