A Queer History of the United States (ReVisioning History Book 1)

by Michael Bronski

For the Europeans, the most extreme examples were the women and men who dressed and behaved as, in their eyes, the other sex.1 Often referred to by French explorers as berdache—an incorrect name, implying a catamite or young male sodomite—these women and men took on the dress and the tribal duties of the other sex. Their roles in each culture differed. Sometimes they were placed in socially elevated positions as religious figures, shamans, or artisans. Among the Crows, “men who dressed as women and specialized in women’s work were accepted and sometimes honored; a woman who led men into battle and had four wives was a respected chief.”2 In some cases, these “third sex” figures were integral to traditions of tribal violence and warfare.