Ive gotten lots of new followers the past month, so here’s a thread explaining my gender.
Im wíŋkte, one of the 4 genders of Lakota ppl. We’re an accepted gender within (non-colonized) Lakota society, we have specific social roles, ceremonial roles, etc
Im wíŋkte, one of the 4 genders of Lakota ppl. We’re an accepted gender within (non-colonized) Lakota society, we have specific social roles, ceremonial roles, etc
Wíŋkte have a long history in Lakota society. We’ve aided in famous battles, we’ve given famous ppl special names (one of our roles is giving ppl secret names only their family knows), we’ve been active in Sundance and other ceremonies. We’ve also suffered because of colonialism
Wíŋkte comply with a lot of wíŋyaŋ (women’s) roles in society, but we’re born with what the colonial gender structure sees as male physical features. Because of that, many rez superintendents would have police arrest us, cut our hair, and force us to wear men’s clothing
Many of these colonial thoughts about how gender works is present among Lakota ppl today, too. This means that acceptance among our own ppl (let alone settlers) can be tough and daunting. A demonstration of gaining acceptance was the two-spirit camp during NODAPL
Speaking of two-spirit, are wíŋkte two-spirit? That’s a personal question. I very much dislike calling myself two-spirit other than having it be a way to identify with other Natives whose gender wasn’t able to be copy/pasted onto “man” and “woman.”
There’s also the question of identifying as a trans woman. I also don’t identify myself as a trans woman, although sometimes it’s necessary when we share the same characteristic of having male physical features but conforming to what is thought of as traditionally womenms roles
A wíŋkte and trans woman will likely face similar issues when they wanna use the women’s restroom, for example. But a wíŋkte is different from a trans woman in that wíŋkte is culturally specific to Lakota (and Dakora) ppl. We have a very different history to white trans women
I love being wíŋkte, we’re pretty awesome, I hope y’all’ve learned something in this very short thread. There’s a lot to talk about, but those are the basics. If anyone has any questions feel free to ask
