Two Spirit People

An overview of historical and contemporary Native American concepts of gender, sexuality and sexual orientation. This documentary explores the berdache tradition in Native American culture, in which individuals who embody feminine and masculine qualities act as a conduit between the physical and spiritual world, and because of this are placed in positions of power within the community.
Michel Beauchemin, Lori Levy & Gretchen Vogel
1991 20 min. USA
Founded in 1977, Frameline is the nation's only nonprofit organization solely dedicated to the funding, exhibition, distribution and promotion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender media arts. Frameline Voices is a new digital initiative that showcases diverse LGBT stories and expands access to films by and about people of color, transgender people, youth, and elders.
More information: www.frameline.org.
Click here to download Frameline and Youth in Motion's classroom curriculum and discussion materials to accompany this film: frameline.org/y...

[@Shai-Hulud-Returned]

This made me cry. I feel seen. Thank you ❤

[@kriskabin]

I know this film is old, but really it is far better than some of the newer ones out there on Two-Spirit people. Why? Because it is balanced, like Two-Spirit people themselves. The film had a good representation of both Lesbians & Gay men. Well done 👍

[@tula1433]

Yes I see so many new age white woke queer types trying to say they are two spirit non binary it’s so offensive to us actual TS.

[@hannahmich7342]

I too was born with two spirit. I happen to be intersex, having been born with a testis and ovary. It is extremely comforting for me to see so many cultures embrace our lives

[@davidmicheletti6292]

Akasha Divinity Indeed we are blessed. My spouse and I have opened or hearts and home to people born with this blessing. We do our best to shelter these friends from the hatefully world. We also do our best to educate. I've read a few stories about how the indigenous cultures of North America actually held us in high esteem. I'm not sure what is true and what was myth. But even if they were simply accepted for who they were as human being that alone makes this a true blessing.

[@ericacardoza1771]

mark mays its still important to talk about trans people but it is good that intersex people have representation in actual culture its sad that its been warped over time

[@hannahmich7342]

Erica Cardoza When I was young and had to have surgeries for my intersex I was forced to keep quiet and not tell anyone about who and what I was.

[@hannahmich7342]

Erica Cardoza Yes I agree there is and most likely will always be misunderstand of of what this is.

[@bonjourzere9358]

What is wrong with you?

[@scarlettkeys3424]

who is watching this for school in 2020?

[@bat5385]

send the answers

[@lucasbrennan3610]

2021 lol

[@TheDaiyaEffect]

2022

[@coloursfilm]

2023

[@Mango-ly2dx]

Wow, they would never let us watch this for school in the south lol

[@vamploboluv17]

Much RESPECT and LOVE to the Two-Spirit Societies.

[@Andrei-yv8fz]

I am two-spirit and often feel alone. Thank you for the video.

[@bonjourzere9358]

What does this have to do with gender?

[@sobgray]

​@@bonjourzere9358hey guys help me report this person for harassment, they're going on every indigenous person's profile and spamming these hate comments

[@32669ndll]

​@@bonjourzere9358 ???

[@ScottRiddleArtist]

I really liked this video. I come from native american and polish genetics. There were generations of men on the native american side of my family that were bi or gay by modern standards. I started out my life very feminine. And then discovered my male spirit/ side in my late 20's. I walk with both spirits deeply and equally inbedded in me. I also have special gifts and understandings which I can only attribute to my two spirit nature. Though I think that I would be so much more in a tribal past

[@ObsidianNyx]

This was extremely eye opening. I enjoyed this very much. Thank you for uploading

[@jordansthoughts54]

Agreed

[@sylviekay5380]

Truth is so hard to accept and be accepted. I was so encouraged by what I have gained from the stories I have just heard. And I will listen to them again, and again.

[@tula1433]

Proud TS 🔥

[@KarlLind]

America, please watch and begin to understand the knowledge shared here, I believe the future of our country as well as that of the world will deeply benefit from it.

[@bonjourzere9358]

You mean fantasy?

[@sleekcartim]

Im struck by how much this feels so right & true, like home. Im proud to be two spirit. I use this history to even help non native american kids. 1 LIFE

[@MrMatrixMinds]

Love this. In my own path discovering these ideas of gender in Native North American and other shamanic cultures has been very healing and been the most accurate description of my own experience of myself

[@cjadehudson2584]

Thank you very much for this video us two spirited have special gifts and are blessed

[@939bb]

Just a heads up that the terminology used in this video is somewhat out of date. Increasingly since the 1990s the term "berdache" has fallen out of use and is even seen as offensive by many partly because it is viewed a non-native term imposed on native communities that doesn't capture the essence of the culture. "Two Spirit" is now the accepted terminology.

[@vladimirremmirez7671]

Who cares, berdache sounds better than two spirit. "TWO SPIRIT" Sounds like a English translation of a Native American word, that can be offensive too. Im a Mestizo, So as a half native american im offended by this ,,,

[@bahati8753]

​@@vladimirremmirez7671 I expect that kinda response from somebody that refers to himself as "half" maan...when you upload your video, call it what you want! I was personally grateful for the enlightenment! Respect yourself Vlaaaadimir Ramirez! There's a way to go about imparting updated cultural info... put some respek on my culture and the people it imbodies, or stfu immediately!

[@laurielyon9219]

My understanding is that the term "Two Spirit" was a term created by Natives Americans at a national gathering in the early 1990's to replace Berdache. Given the fact that every Native American tribe had completely different cultural understandings and different names for people who were outside of the usually Male, Female characteristics "homosexual" or to mean someone who embodies an ancestor both Berdache and Two Spirit comes from colonization. Berdache being used by the colonists and Two Spirit as a general term, which Native Americans did not historically have, brought about to reject the colonized term. Also, someone who walked between two worlds of male and female were not considered to be the opposite sex. Biological sex was understood and no one thought that a man who chose to live as a woman was actually a woman and visa versa. Another way the idea of two spirit is used to describe someone who embodies an ancestor which we never hear about, two spirit it seems today is only used to describe people who are homosexual or transgender which there weren't any transgender people in Native American history. Transgender is a completely new 20th-21st c. phenomenon and has it's history can be traced back to Europe and ancient Rome and Greece. The Dene for instance thought of Two Spirit as someone who embodies two different spirits. It does not have a sexual orientation or gender identity attached to it as we think of today. It was someone who embodied an ancestor for instance, a person who resembled and had mannerism of any ancestor blood relation or not. So, if some Native Americans also do not like the term Two Spirit it is a valid dislike of the term. Today the Transgender activists have coopted the term Two Spirit to use to validate themselves and try to give themselves historical context. There isn't any written evidence of Transgender in history so they coop what they can to try to give credence to their bogus ideology. They "trans the dead" from history straight,seemedstraightextraordinaryunusual culturallyboundgender.wordpress.com/2013/03/09/toward-an-end-to-appropriation-of-indigenous-two-spirit-people-in-trans-politics-the-relationship-between-third-gender-roles-and-patriarchy/ www.feministcurrent.com/2020/12/06/the-sex-binary-is-not-a-western-construct-gender-identity-is/?fbclid=IwAR38o1_Fju16fsU49t5WYfeE6FUMKaG-hGaWReMTJIFoGMIrXnoweIGNtco

[@ohno8569]

I'm very "white", but this conversation is super cringey. I just hope that you both, have come to some sort of understanding... and peace.

[@tula1433]

@@laurielyon9219 agree. These are feminine homosexual males or masculine homosexual females. Who didn’t fit into the male or female social role. Trans activists have erased the distinction between homosexual transsexuals similar to berdaches, who Are attracted to their birth sex, and recognize their biological sex and don’t deny it, and heterosexual transvestic activists. Complete colonization of HSTS, intersex, and now two spirit. Gender identity is not real. It’s your sexuality. If you are a true transsexual you should be attracted to your birth sex. Most trans activists are heterosexual transvestites who were married men with kids ! Total erasure of an innate quality and now a political battering ram for the left!

[@thomasbleming7539]

I'm Two Spirit and proud that I am.

[@racheldoesacrylic4089]

Many years ago i went to festivals, me and my partner met a beautiful native American Indian called jhon,i remember my partner saying that while him and jhon were walking about many said how beautiful he looked but at different parts of the day he looked like a woman /then a man he was a hermaphrodite these people are beautiful naturally witht their gorgeous black hair and dark eyes////very interesting upload thanks

[@SarumanDeWhite]

Thanks very much for sharing. This is self-education, the only kind of education there is! I feel myself becoming more understanding.

[@bornagainsavage9551]

I am sharing this with as many people as possible! Thank you very much for sharing this! For the work that it took to compile this! And for what this represents to all of our Relatives! Ometeotl!

[@shellyhaner3433]

powerful video. i identify as a femme lesbian, but a warrior. I'm an activist and have cat spirit energy. i now realize I'm Two Spirit and I find this to be so enlightening. the Christian church, in it's ignorance and bigotry has tried to destroy the LGBTQ ppl but now knowing who we truly are, they cannot call us mistakes, deviants and sinners. we are love, life, spirit! forever!

[@joseboterorestrepo1132]

What a wonderful piece of gender history!

[@tmm83093]

Not one dislike, what a blessing.

[@elverchavez5776]

Terry was extremely ahead of their time in using english terminology to describe trans and non binary genders

[@elverchavez5776]

also just the way all of these ppl express their dissatisfaction with the terminology of the times while being hip to taking back the word queer is beautiful

[@mikeygoodboi]

I've always been intrigued with this subject.

[@obrpoet1136]

I cannot wait to explore this amazing compilation! Thank you, so much!

[@Veronicababe]

this makes so.much sense

[@bp8292]

Wonderful! A million thanks for posting this! Sharing!

[@ordequin]

5. Again History teaches a lesson that I guess is called humility, right? /By my part I need to keep on learning about this fascinating collective of the Two Spirits, Kokwihas, Koskalakas… as well as about the different cultures they belonged to. Thanks a lot, Frameline, for having shared such a jewel. ordequin/MOD Quintana.

[@ordequin]

Yes, very true. It's about balance and spirituality. And may be even with harmony as well.

[@HenryFrankpaylincpagat]

A very interesting, informative and enlightening documentary.

[@burtsmith9425]

Great film, This is explained in a book called : The Spirit and the Flesh ,written by Walter L. Williams about old traditional indian ways were all were accepted and you made that choice of who you . Check out this book

[@thenewageriseth]

This is a very interesting documentary ^-^ Helps with my understanding and research of my character who is 2 spirit (I'm a writer) and I have a dear friend who is also 2 spirit.

[@tula1433]

Yes us two spirits are very gifted creatively from a young age. ❤

[@Andy-wy7vk]

I feel this. Im bigender. I feel two identities very strongly.

[@unlock07]

I love aboriginal people... I heard the term 'Eunuchoid' recently and started doing some research, After speaking to an American Native(descent) she mentioned this 'Two-spirit' thing.... So open! Lovely People!

[@georgiejessup2943]

We need to understand that it is the tradition that is sacred and not the individual. You have to walk the walk not just holy by birth-right. And that it is not about who you sleep with.

[@bahati8753]

I'm composing an essay and appreciate you. Thanks for the insight!

[@ItsCoreyLynxxYall]

America needs to come back to this and appreciate the two spirits.

[@aaronmason8395]

Hi Joseph. Several Native American activists and scholars, as well as their allies, came together at a conference in the mid-late 1990's I believe. They chose to Two Spirit to identify themselves and the traditions they inherited and to reject/dismantle the Euro-colonial term berdache, which some anthropologists still favor. Like berdache, the term hermaphrodite has also been mostly replaced with intersex, meaning people born with complex genitalia.

[@windstorm1000]

Magnificent. Freeing. Courageous.

[@TransitionRadioShow]

excellent video that helps explain who we are as transgender individuals.

[@jubchuqun]

Very beautifully narrated!

[@franchaisson3258]

Miigwetch 4 sharing the TRUTH..AHO...

[@ordequin]

3. 15:21 I'm not surprised Judy Grandma cried when first seeing those flyers.These peoples and their Berdaches, an, in so many senses, superior culture, so advanced, intellectually refined that even had their starting social point -in terms of establishing the relations individuals would hold with their community- substantiated in a clear, well differentiated distinction among the concepts of sex, gender and sex orientation.

[@tula1433]

This makes so much more sense. If a boy is extremely feminine and relates more to women and is girl like why force him to take on a masculine warrior male role that isn’t in his nature? This makes so much more sense. Sadly now it’s been politicized.

[@32669ndll]

​@@tula1433 I hate it so much. Why does the way people want to be perceived as so frowned upon 😕 There's gender non-conforming people in every party either ways so it really doesn't make sense.

[@lukekeating9788]

This is an amazing video, thanks so much for uploading :) its so true

[@franchaisson3258]

This should be tought in schools...at a young age...aho

[@jackheltzel2804]

Thank you so much for enlightening all LGBT.

[@stacyeleanza4917]

EXCELLENT! Everyone needs to see this: where are you on the circle?

[@stephaniehartsock3417]

Beautiful .

[@noellajioneness3399]

Excellent we are One- all the same. All created by our creator or we would not know each other.

[@digischen2]

Two-spirited persons are not so easy to define. This is a good video and we make a good start, but more of us need to speak out that this may be better understood. I so far have found I am different even among two-spirits, of which I am.

[@pepe256r]

Brilliant - thank you!

[@clairealexander1346]

nice, I love this kind of insight :)

[@Andrei-yv8fz]

Thank you very much for your comment. :)

[@Rosie_love88]

Terry Tafoya is absolutely stunning! Such a gorgeous human being!!!

[@digischen2]

As a child I never related to boys very well, when we played war I'd get frustrated with them because they didn't understand war, so I'd find myself going back to the girls, who I felt close to and after saying my peace about the stupidity of boys and how dumb their games were, we'd play one of my favorites, horses, galloping around the school yard.

[@lgl5701]

Wow I did not know about this. Thanks for the upload!

[@MrFalconford]

Thank you too

[@Frameline]

@kylecoriza You're welcome thanks for watching :)

[@SevakKirakosyan]

What a cool thing! Especially at the end... that's so true...

[@AndrewUnruh]

I like the idea of the circle rather than the line and I’d like to add a layer of interpretation. You can draw a vertical line through the circle with one side being male and the other female. You can draw a horizontal line through the circle with one side of the circle being additive and the other being subtractive. So let’s just arbitrarily say the left side of the circle is masculine and the right side feminine while the top is subtractive and the bottom additive. So a very masculine man with no feminine characteristics would be located on the westernmost part of the circle while someone with neither masculine or feminine characteristics would be at the northernmost point, a feminine person with no masculine characteristics would be at the easternmost point and someone with strong masculine and feminine traits would inhabit the southernmost point.

[@clairealexander1346]

Great, informative piece :)

[@itzpapalotl13]

Terry Tafoya is so beautiful!! He looks like a goddess!

[@mcdyke]

excellent.

[@patriotsrebelsrogues7332]

very interesting i will be deep diving on this

[@RoxanneHenare]

Tena koe whanau / greetings family. Our pacific peoples identify with our Berdache Whanau/family throughout the pacific; Tonga, the cook islands, Samoa, Tahiti, Hawaii, Niue, Aotearoa, Tokelau, New Caledonia; these cultures share their unique understandings of cultural values of in regards to trans values, we have a place of standing ancestral within our respective Pacifica culturals .

[@Andrei-yv8fz]

It looks very confusing to me as well, but I received an email notice that directed me here. Thank you for your kindness.

[@gabriellafeathers9836]

Thank you for sharing ❤

[@waynejones3915]

Brilliant.

[@blkbri2]

Brillant!

[@Frameline]

@kylecoriza According to this film's credits at 22:33, the movie you're looking for is titled "Little Big Man."

[@constancecraven]

The common term now in 2020 is two spirit- neeso achak in Swampy Cree, Northern Manitoba Canada.

[@jerryballew37]

Being true to one's self, spirit, and birth right is not wrong. On the flip side of the coin, there's nothing wrong with being ignorant because that's simply not being exposed to truth. Being proud of being ignorant is another matter altogether. That is a truly preventable abomination of sloth and laziness.

[@MarchionessDarby62]

Two Spirit was coined in 1990, at an LGBT+ conference. It was meant to be a “pan-Indian” term, and many tribes take issue with the term, mainly because it doesn’t fully correspond to some of their traditions in which they acknowledge 4 genders: a feminine woman, a masculine woman, a masculine man, and a feminine man. None of these are a part of transgendered. Critics of this term talk about how this term comes from a Western mindset rather than a Native American mindset, but it’s been in common use among some for some time now.

[@shawnamcdougall3192]

My name is Shawna McDougall i am have Native American i am Transgender , my Parents disowned when i 11yrs old even my own people didn't want me so i am twospirit with parents and no people.I stand alone.

[@gabbytheseer3973]

Subscribe and follow my channel to connect with me... You have family here my love and are not alone 😍

[@holarc]

yes, it really is about the spirit. in your case, i think that since u two were born w a male and a female body, u have a classic physical foundation of natural balance, so it balances out your twin-spirit natures. aho.

[@NATHANSLATE]

YES THIS IS SO RELATEABLE 1

[@thomasbleming678]

Being bisexual (Two Spirit) is NATURAL and those who are blessed with being that way should be proud that they are Two Spirit.

[@Judas19840]

I am identify as Two spirit however however I am navajo and Apache. So I have two different specific words "Hey o kea" and Nádleehí.

[@brandicecarlson924]

can you please fill me in more about this culture

[@schmiigle]

how constraining words can be

[@xXxXSHUGXxXx]

This was interesting.

[@digischen2]

To be more clear in relation to my other posts. I am considered male because of my physiology, but I am neither male nor female, I am warrior: : I understand war through a unified perspective of genders, I love life but am not at all bothered by taking human life, military Veteran, but I cry when I deal with the needless death of an animal.

[@ms.eddiespottedfeather7156]

I am Oklahoma Choctaw. In my language I am Hatukiklanna.

[@brandicecarlson924]

i just found out that my great grandmother is a part of the Choctaw nation there in Oklahoma and I would like to get to know more about my heritage since she is now passed on. i get the lessons everyday for language but would like to know more. Can you help?

[@annalorree]

They are from the Dustin Hoffman movie "Little Big Man" (1970).

[@daknostic]

Nice!!!! I like the film. I have to say that not all gay or lesbian people are Two Spirit people, & on the other side not all Two Spirit people are attracked to the same gender (key word being ALL). It is important not to loose site of this. It is the inner blance of the individual person which is important (Two Spirit or not).

[@renemireles7227]

i liked the video..but what if ..in my case .I am a twin..( he died.already ) but he had family and i became gay..i can see the beauty in a woman.and a man..am open about it.but i rather have intimacy with a man.i have always said that i was special cuz i was a twin i miss him a lot..but he did not get to see me living my life as a gay man..How can i find out how many spirits i have?.is there any practices i should do?.am a person whose mood can change in a second which sometimes i can notice it

[@RoxanneHenare]

I am a Maori woman of new Zealand. Who is two spritedm❤️

[@shashzhaanpuebla3251]

Not all of us two-spirits are gay, lesbian or bi. Some are male by western standards and even considered "Butcher than butch," yet there is a nurturing quality not found among males. In the same there are females by western standards who are Girly girls yet can fight better than any man, a warrior. When I was a "boy" I called myself a "tomgirl" because the only boy game I liked was war; I thought boys were idiots otherwise, relating to more to girls yet somehow feeling more "manly" than any man

[@please-lookatmysearchhistory]

What is the film that featured in this video? Referencing: ‘Goodbye my little big man’?

[@rubi_agua4899]

I would love to be able to translate the subtitles of this video into Portuguese, but the video is not able to receive translations from the community, please let me know when I can add a translation

[@daknostic]

No problem. What turned your attention to 2 Spirit people? If you have any other questions you can ask. I do not have all the answers, but you never know what we can learn from one another.

[@sbearly]

So it appears that there is a recognition or determination among the indigenous people that there is a male and a female nature (as opposed to sexuality). And that an individual can be or decides to be one or the other. But that there are some individuals that have both natures and those individuals are identified as special because they have insights that mere men or women can't have. But is this something we (non-indigenous) are to assume occurs only among the indigenous? I'm new to this so just trying to get it sorted out. In other cultures there is the realization that gender attributes are on a wide scale, meaning males can have a wide range of 'natures' from very 'masculine' to very 'effiminate'. And females can be very 'feminine' to very 'tom-boyish'. And those traits may be separate from how they express their physical sexuality. So is it possible that the indigenous belief about 2 spirits is merely the result of that community not having advanced to the point of having the benefits of psychology? It seems as though this might be something of interest only to those who enjoy the higher status of being both male and female. And only because LGBTQ issues are front and center in the wider culture and there is a similar sense that being non-binary is somehow better than being either male or female.

[@ordequin]

2. As it is dramatically explained in the course of the film, the individuals there involved had to subsequently face sorrows even worse than those of a second time colonization. It made me feel powerless and so sad. 14:45 11:34

[@trst3789]

The founders tried to keep their way of thinking while adding human advancements in the way of sciences. Somewhere along the historical line statesmen became politicians who then became career politicians, who then became overseers. The original Constitution was a combination of native rules and guides mixed with what the founding fathers brought to the table. It could have worked.

[@rainmarshall4477]

Can someone tell me the name of the Woman at 13.13 minutes into this documentary, I think she is a well known Author/Poet?

[@Ricardogonzalez-os3qk]

holy shit anthropology in todds class makes sens all of a sudden

[@zofdig]

of course things get diluted and changed especially when its through the filter of one culture not really trying to understand another. Add to that vastly different cultures among the native peoples from one ocean to the other many separated by language barriers just as much as europe if not more so. You have to build and work with whatever frame work you have. If you boil it down most native groups had a much broader scope for sex, gender, and other identities.

[@lgl5701]

Are you native American or a sociologist or something?

[@ordequin]

4. The LGBT community tries nowadays to re-conquer those same rights these natives depicted here had. In order to be successful in that goal we have to SET today -for us and also for others to be able to ever get to understand the basics of what this is all about-, THOSE THREE PREMISES as the three separate, independent vectors they are; wisdom already achieved by North American natives some centuries before.

[@ordequin]

1. 12:23 Their mistake was to translate ‘Two Spirit’ as ‘Gay’. A candourous error they couldn't be blamed for (they were not having any 'precedent' which could have guided them); they also just could not anticipate which the consequences of that naivety would be like.

[@jadese33]

What is the name of the first speaker who appears on camera?

[@michellesotelo6537]

I feel that I am a two-spirit because I was supposed to be a twin and I absorbed my twin can an elder please talk to me about this am I to Spirit or am I not a two spirit I am a single mother I do play both roles mom and dad and I have to wonder if my twin was a male that I absorbed but ever since I was a child I've always considered myself since I found out but two spirit