Men as Women, Women as Men: Changing Gender in Native American CulturesAs contemporary Native and non-Native Americans explore various forms of "gender bending" and gay and lesbian identities, interest has grown in "berdaches," the womanly men and manly women who existed in many Native American tribal cultures. Yet attempts to find current role models in these historical figures sometimes distort and oversimplify the historical realities. This book provides an objective, comprehensive study of Native American women-men and men-women across many tribal cultures and an extended time span. Sabine Lang explores such topics as their religious and secular roles; the relation of the roles of women-men and men-women to the roles of women and men in their respective societies; the ways in which gender-role change was carried out, legitimized, and explained in Native American cultures; the widely differing attitudes toward women-men and men-women in tribal cultures; and the role of these figures in Native mythology. Lang's findings challenge the apparent gender equality of the "berdache" institution, as well as the supposed universality of concepts such as homosexuality. |
Contents
3 | |
Missionaries and Traders Physicians and Ethnologists | 17 |
TwentiethCentury Research | 26 |
Gender Identity Gender Role and Gender Status | 47 |
PART TWO Gender Role Change by Males | 57 |
CrossDressing and Mixed Gender Roles | 59 |
CrossDressing and the Feminine Gender Role | 91 |
Feminine Activities Without CrossDressing no CHAPTERS The Imitation of Femininity and Intersexuality | 128 |
PART THREE Gender Role Change by Females | 259 |
CrossDressing and Mixed Gender Roles | 261 |
MenWomen in Masculine Occupations | 268 |
Status Relationships and Entrance Rituals of MenWomen | 286 |
Warrior Women and ManlyHearted Women | 303 |
PART FOUR The Cultural Context of Gender Role Change | 309 |
Attitudes Toward WomenMen and MenWomen | 311 |
Gender Role Change and Homosexuality | 323 |
WomenMen as Shamans Medicine Persons and Healers | 151 |
Other Specialized Occupations of WomenMen | 169 |
Partner Relationships and Sexuality | 185 |
2 Entrance into the Status of WomanMan | 218 |
Ideology and Reality | 241 |
Gender Role Change in Native American Oral Traditions | 331 |
Conclusion | 342 |
355 | |
380 | |
Other editions - View all
Men as Women, Women as Men: Changing Gender in Native American Cultures Sabine Lang Limited preview - 1998 |