Two-Spirit is an identity created by indigenous people for indigenous people as a way to challenge colonial ways of understanding native gender and sexual expression. It should not be used as an identity by non-indigenous people. Two-Spirit is an identity label that describes gender identity and/or sexual orientation. Other terms might be used within different tribal communities, so always respect a person’s self-identification. Overall, the term two-spirit is generally preferred to “berdache,” which is a word that European settlers used to describe a third gender person (womanliving-man) who is Native American (Poynter, 2017).
It is cultural appropriation for someone who is nonindigenous to identify as Two-Spirit. Appropriate alternatives for a non-indigenous person who identifies as multiple genders are bigender, pangender, and polygender.
Poynter, Kerry John, ed. 2017. Safe Zones : Training Allies of LGBTQIA+ Young Adults. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.
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