Berdache

Question: The term berdache has been used in anthropology to refer to:? a. the practice of male-male insemination during rites of passage, common in the Pacific. b. the practice of female circumcision during female rites of passage, common in Africa. c. indigenous social roles in which men (and sometimes women) were allowed to take on the activities and sometimes the dress of members of the opposite sex. d. a category of individuals thought to combine male and female aspects and thus be able to serve as shamans.

Answer: c. is correct. Usually they were gay or lesbian individuals. Often they did become shamans but not always. First Nations culture is accepting of differences rather than being prejudice. Another term is Two Spirited.

Question: What is a Berdache, and what is significant about them? No need to be a jerk, I was just seeing if I was right.

Answer: I just typed in "What is a berdache"? into my address bar and look what I pulled up! You too can take advantage of this amazing discovery! Hurry now! Supplies are limited! http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=what+is+a+berdache%3F F.Y.I. I know what a Berdache is. We studied this in my sociology of sexuality class. But see, that involved me actually taking the initiative to pick up a book, and READ it. It's called doing your own research. Try it.

Question: can someone help me understand what a berdache is?

Answer: Well I think that a berdache is a Two-Spirit People. This is an English term that emerged in 1990, out of the third annual inter-tribal Native American/First Nations gay and lesbian American conference, in Winnipeg, to describe Indigenous North Americans who fulfill one of many mixed gender roles found traditionally among many Native Americans and Canadian First Nations indigenous groups. The mixed gender roles encompassed by the term historically included wearing the clothing and performing the work associated with both men and women.

Question: the berdache tradition response?

Answer: This question is a real drag.

Question: Why have terms such as "berdache" and "amazon" been replaced by a term such as "two-spirited" people?

Answer: I don't know if it's replaced, exactly. It depends on what culture you're in which word you will use, and what exactly you mean by that. Do you mean that "two spirited" is coming more into vogue as a term for a transgendered person? I can see why it would- it's kind of poetic sounding, and not a lot of people I have met outside certain social circles know what a berdache is.

Question: What is a Berdache?

Answer: Berdache (Two-Spirit) - is a term for third gender people (for example, woman-living-man) that are among many American Indian and Canadian First Nations indigenous groups. It usually implies a masculine spirit and a feminine spirit living in the same body. It is also used by some contemporary gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, same-sex attracted and intersex Native Americans to describe themselves. There are many indigenous terms for these individuals in the various Native American languages. The older term "berdache" is a generic term used primarily by anthropologists, and is frequently rejected as inappropriate and offensive by Native Americans. This may be largely due to its pejorative etymology as it is a loan from French bardache via Spanish bardaxa or bardaje/bardaja via Italian bardasso or berdasia via Arabic bardaj meaning "kept boy; male prostitute, catamite" from Persian bardaj < Middle Persian vartak < Old Iranian *varta-, cognate to Avestan varəta- "seized, prisoner," formed from an Indo-European root *welə- meaning "to strike, wound" (which is the same in English as vulnerable). It has widely been replaced with two-spirit.[1][2][3] "Two-spirit" originated in Winnipeg, Canada in 1990 during the third annual intertribal Native American/First Nations gay and lesbian conference. It is a calque of the Ojibwa phrase niizh manidoowag (two spirits). It was chosen to distance Native/First Nations people from non-Natives as well as from the words "berdache" and "gay."[4]

Question: Why do people say that allowing gay marriage would redefine marriage? ...When gay marriage has been around a lot longer than inter-racial marriage (for example within the berdache tradition) For the record... Marriage has been around far longer than the bible has...

Answer: Because they are so self-righteous as to believe that their beliefs are the only ones that should count. This is AMERICA for goodness sake, not China. You don't have that right here. You have the right to believe what you want, and you have the right to only join organizations that believe what you want, but you do NOT have the right to tell everyone else what they want. That is the basis for the whole country being formed. Freedom from having one group tell all groups what they must believe. Not to mention that marriage, as defined by law, is nothing more than a contract. And to deny two adults the right to enter into a contract based on sexual orientation is discrimination. Just keep in mind, the exact same type of people used the exact same reasons to deny the vote to women, blacks and others. The same old reasons were also pulled out for interracial marriages. I have no problem with a church not wanting to perform a ceremony between two people of the same sex, as they already do not have to perform any ceremony they choose not to. I just don't understand their hangups. It is not as if a gay couple would sue the Mormon or Catholic church for refusing to perform the rites. And trying to convince close minded people with historical data and facts is useless, the only facts they believe are some of the pages in the bible. And you can't even get them to agree on which pages to agree on. Just keep speaking up with the truth. Discrimination of any form IS discrimination and wrong.

Question: The Hijra of India are examples of...? a)Homosexuals in Asia b)Third gendered individuals c)berdache d)patriarchy

Answer: what is the meaning of Hijra? is it Emigration ?

Question: What is a berdache in reference to Native American culture? I am taking an "Introductory To Sociology" course and I came across the term "berdache" in my textbook. It has something to do with gender.

Answer: Two-Spirit People, or one called a 'Berdache', or even one of the 'third gender', are individuals not caterigorized as either gay or lesbian, transvestite or bisexual. Those who, in many Native American Cultures, who are respected and looked upon as people who are both male and female, making them more complete, more balanced than simply a man or a woman. Before those from Europe came from across the waters, and took over their land, these people were part of the 'norm', connected with the very heartbeat of the life force we are all part of. Even today, Berdaches are accepted in many American Indian societies and in other settings.