Two Spirit is a non binary identity with a specific cultural context within the history of indigenous peoples. In Canada, due to the increased focus on dealing with the reconciliation of Indigenous peoples the current Acronym is 2SLGBTQIA as it sort of symbolicly puts precedent on amplifying indigenous voices in the movement.
Most places in the world recognize two genders and their respective social roles: men and women. Some places recognize a third gender and its respective social and/or ceremonial role. This is the case for (some) North American Indigenous people, and two-spirit is a catch-all term to refer to a third gender role that they recognize.
It’s hard to map onto the more standard two gender system that most of us are familiar with. When you think of men as the breadwinners and women as the child bearers, some cultures think of an additional distinct third gender with a designated social/ceremonial role.
But as you might have thought while reading that, men being the breadwinners and women being the child bearers is already a fairly outdated view of gender and social roles. Turns out social constructs are messier than they seem when you start to really analyze them and attempt to strictly define them.
TLDR: two-spirit is a catch-all term for a type of queer identity recognized by some North American Indigenous cultures.
It’s reductive, but still close enough if you don’t know/interact with nonbinary or two-spirit people on a regular basis. At least to the extent of my understanding.
AFAIK, it’s basically people with different spirits inside them, falls in the gender queer domain, like being trans/NB (not a sexual orientation). So someone could have a male spirit and female spirit, or a female spirit and a nb spirit.
It primarily seems to be a First Nations/Native American identity, and appears to have a decently long history throughout time.
Their souls contain metaphysical aspects of both masculine and feminine tradition. They may contain an entire soul of both genders. None of these things are external. There is no separate or outside entity. All of the soul within them is them. Anything more specific requires knowing the person and their culture. Don’t worry about mapping it onto your worldview. Just accept it within theirs.
That’s an offensive way to refer to someone’s religious and cultural experiences. Being two spirit is a gnostic spiritual experience that is both current and real. Calling it a myth isn’t acceptance. It’s judgement, the imposing of your frame of reference on their lived experience.
This isn’t a respectful attempt to understand two spirit people. You are intentionally using dismissive language that implies a lack of validity to their lived experiences. “It’s fine that you think and do these things, but it’s all in your head, and your reasoning is made up nonsense.” is something trans people of all sorts hear before their rights are attacked and diminished. It’s something I have heard out of the mouth of flesh and blood humans in front of me. The structure with which you address two spirit people is comparably delegitimizing. If you must handle this with familiar terms instead of seeking the third party gnostic understanding of empathy, consider it a cultural metaphor. Because this metaphor contains facts and realities that you don’t understand, even if they are couched in ideas you personally find implausible, and you’re never going to really understand these facts by simple reframing. You have to understand from their perspective to deconstruct and reconstruct the truths held in the two spirit experience into your reality.
Two spirit in a Canadian Indigenous context refers to people who identify as having two spirits inside of them. They have the spirits of both a man and a woman, so outside Indigenous culture I think the most related term would be non-binary.
honest question, what’s this “two-spirit” term? I can’t find a straight forward explanation on the web
Two Spirit is a non binary identity with a specific cultural context within the history of indigenous peoples. In Canada, due to the increased focus on dealing with the reconciliation of Indigenous peoples the current Acronym is 2SLGBTQIA as it sort of symbolicly puts precedent on amplifying indigenous voices in the movement.
Most places in the world recognize two genders and their respective social roles: men and women. Some places recognize a third gender and its respective social and/or ceremonial role. This is the case for (some) North American Indigenous people, and two-spirit is a catch-all term to refer to a third gender role that they recognize.
It’s hard to map onto the more standard two gender system that most of us are familiar with. When you think of men as the breadwinners and women as the child bearers, some cultures think of an additional distinct third gender with a designated social/ceremonial role.
But as you might have thought while reading that, men being the breadwinners and women being the child bearers is already a fairly outdated view of gender and social roles. Turns out social constructs are messier than they seem when you start to really analyze them and attempt to strictly define them.
TLDR: two-spirit is a catch-all term for a type of queer identity recognized by some North American Indigenous cultures.
So, at risk of being reductive: it’s like non-binary, but in the way some North American indigenous cultures see it
It’s reductive, but still close enough if you don’t know/interact with nonbinary or two-spirit people on a regular basis. At least to the extent of my understanding.
AFAIK, it’s basically people with different spirits inside them, falls in the gender queer domain, like being trans/NB (not a sexual orientation). So someone could have a male spirit and female spirit, or a female spirit and a nb spirit.
It primarily seems to be a First Nations/Native American identity, and appears to have a decently long history throughout time.
It also has a kinda cool flag.
Removed by mod
Their souls contain metaphysical aspects of both masculine and feminine tradition. They may contain an entire soul of both genders. None of these things are external. There is no separate or outside entity. All of the soul within them is them. Anything more specific requires knowing the person and their culture. Don’t worry about mapping it onto your worldview. Just accept it within theirs.
Removed by mod
That’s an offensive way to refer to someone’s religious and cultural experiences. Being two spirit is a gnostic spiritual experience that is both current and real. Calling it a myth isn’t acceptance. It’s judgement, the imposing of your frame of reference on their lived experience.
Removed by mod
This isn’t a respectful attempt to understand two spirit people. You are intentionally using dismissive language that implies a lack of validity to their lived experiences. “It’s fine that you think and do these things, but it’s all in your head, and your reasoning is made up nonsense.” is something trans people of all sorts hear before their rights are attacked and diminished. It’s something I have heard out of the mouth of flesh and blood humans in front of me. The structure with which you address two spirit people is comparably delegitimizing. If you must handle this with familiar terms instead of seeking the third party gnostic understanding of empathy, consider it a cultural metaphor. Because this metaphor contains facts and realities that you don’t understand, even if they are couched in ideas you personally find implausible, and you’re never going to really understand these facts by simple reframing. You have to understand from their perspective to deconstruct and reconstruct the truths held in the two spirit experience into your reality.
Removed by mod
Two spirit in a Canadian Indigenous context refers to people who identify as having two spirits inside of them. They have the spirits of both a man and a woman, so outside Indigenous culture I think the most related term would be non-binary.
Removed by mod