Lesbians In American Indian Cultures - Admission/Application Essay Example

Response paper, "lesbians in American Indian cultures" Type History and Political Science Type Your Name] 3 November 2011 There are numerous customs and rituals of the American Indians that are not known to us today. Amongst them, one for interest and discussion is of the unconventional gender styles of women and men compared to today’s modern world. The article, "Lesbians in American Indian cultures" by Paula Gunn Allen, considers the role of women and the characteristics they possess as studied in ancient tribal histories. Different theories are of different views over the topic. A number of historians have never openly addressed or claimed that lesbians did exist in American Indian tribes as said by Paula Gunn in her essay. It is true that today the Western world is highly male-dominated and because of these reason women relationships are much more critiqued then men (Allen 2003). According the ancient Native American tribal mythologies, it can be clearly suggested that women and men were endowed equal distribution of power. This is clearly seen when Paula Gunn clearly points out similar roles of men and women both in the tribes. They were believed to possess similar powers and maybe women were thought to have more spiritual powers than men at times. It was only after the invasion of the European Americans that colonialism took over and the society continued to become a male-dominated structure as it is today. The question of acceptance of woman to a woman to relations has been in debate in today’s world. The existence of lesbians in tribal times has been a thought with no evidence or proofs until today. A lot of writers, mythologists and researchers, argue that the picture portrayed by Paula in her essay is too far led and does not provide any evidence of what she is relating too. On the other hand, the same concepts and ideas are considered to be ground breaking thoughts for women in today’s world. The presence of lesbians then and today cannot be denied. It is true that some women are attracted towards each other due to erotic attraction and other for other reasons. It cannot be clearly defines as to what criteria’s can define a woman as a lesbian. Information regarding the women relations or sex and desire in women during the colonial period of America can hardly be found. The traditions followed by the Native Americans were disrupted and destroyed (Howell 1996). They were being reclaimed once again in the twentieth century. As Paula Gunn Allen suggests that there were two kinds of relationships between women that existed then. One was spiritual and the other erotic which were desire based relations only. Traces of this can be found in the colonial court cases after the Europeans settled down. The cases indicate that women were convicted of relations with other women and hence the presence of lesbians. But it also suggests that they were not considered as different kind of human but as sinners instead. Feminist critics have examined the significant roles of women adopted by women in the American Indian tribes and the impact of the lesbian identity portrayed by Allen in a worldly view. It cannot be denied that women possessed extreme powers in tribes. They were spiritual leaders, as well. The control and strength of women in those days were equal to that of men. Secondly, the spiritual influence on people and their strict beliefs that spirits gave the strength and made the women able to be attached to someone did not pose any questions on any individual. The attraction between women would have been a natural result the way Allen puts it. Obviously if, the women were to stay behind without men for long periods they would have developed an intimacy for each other. On the other hand, women with power might have disguised their erotic interests in other women as spiritual determinants. There are no traditions providing evidence to the fact that women, who claimed to be spiritually attracted to other women, were not disguising their sexual desires. There is always a possibility to that. But the reason of spiritual attraction rendered no objection on woman-woman relationships, even though giving birth to a child was thought to be one of the most influential virtues for any woman. This is one reason that Allen suggests that the “rope baby” ritual was carried out. The “Serpent Mound” or the “Snake Mound” is considered as the world’s biggest American Indian Ceremonial Structure in the world. Some scholars believe that this mound was the place where women vowed to each other, and the ceremonial ritual of the rope baby was performed. Though it still is a myth, but it can relate to the importance of giving birth to a child for Native women. The mention of the Tribal Family units can also not be argued upon, as Allen’s viewpoint on this seems perfect still. Whatever we learn of Native history and wherever we can read, they never come across as nuclear family household as in today’s modern world. The tribal units were always a group of people living together regardless the number of women or men in a certain tribe. It cannot be determined if the similar ritual was observed by all Native American tribes, since all tribes are known to have different rituals and customs. The family size or unit or even ceremonials rituals observed would be different tribe to tribe. In many tribes, it was a matter of clan members whosoever it was. Unlike today, women had powers in the ancient times. The laws were equal for both men and women. Both had equal positions. Across all the studies of Native Americans it can be clearly seen that women had defined roles throughout whether, as a child bearer, child rarer or goddesses. The women history has been explored but not as much as men’s. For this reason, a number of evident facts seem to be missing from the history showing the power of women in tribes. The existence of lesbians has been totally untracked about maybe since our society and customs don’t accept them today. But again in today’s world most of the woman-woman relations are on the grounds of erotic attractions rather than spiritual inclinations. In those days, women were believed to have powers spiritually and naturally get hold of the strength that men had (American Lesbian Marriage 2007). The existence of lesbians was though there, but the facts and myths provided by Paula Gunn Allen are widely critiqued and challenged to be truthful, due to the lack of proper evidence of lesbianism apparent to such an extent by any historian. Critics have even accused the writer of manipulating the realities only to strengthen and further encourage her own tribal feminist agenda. They argue that the facts have been generalized and broadened as compared to what the reality actually was. There is no doubt that a question can be raised on the details provided by Allen in her essay since it lacks proof. Then again it might even be the truth. A number of feminists take inspiration from Allen’s write up to take the feminist movements. The overall essay suggests that there was a high presence of lesbians amongst the Native American Indians. Though not all historians and mythologists agree to this fact, still there are many evidences that the presence of lesbians was there. The desires and inclinations, as explained, are true or not cannot be fully agreed upon or rejected due to the lack of solid evidence and abstinence of historians on talking about the subject of lesbianism in Ancient American Indian history. This is a subject that needs a lot of further commentaries and research that can only be proven with time and sufficient research material. The views of Allen are highly motivating and encouraging for feminists and have brought up new commentaries on the subject. It has now opened new doors of research on lesbianism and can certainly prove to be fruitful for women activists and feminists working for the rights of women. Lesbian category is a part of our society who should not be accepted just like all others. Bibliography Allen, Paula Gunn. "Lesbians in American Indian Culture." Williamapercy. 2003. http://www.williamapercy.com/wiki/images/Lesbians_in_American_Indian_Cultures.pdf (accessed November 3, 2011). Howell, Caitlin. "The Impact of Colonization on the Role of the Nontraditional Native American Woman." CS.Wise. 1996. http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~caitlin/papers/native.htm (accessed November 3, 2011). "Native American Lesbian Marriage Ceremonies, Serpent Mound, and the KOSKALAKAs special powers." Leewind. December 11, 2007. http://www.leewind.org/2007/12/native-american-lesbian-marriage.html (accessed October 31, 2011). 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