It seems like lately I've been reading a lot of articles on cross-genders. This article caught my attention though because it took place a little closer to home (North America) and talked about how the white people were not ok, to say the least (I'm thinking of the guy who gave the Berdaches to the dogs) with people not playing their part of their biological sex. Westerners thought of this practice as unnatural, but yet how could that theory stand when so many tribes spread out over so many miles all come up with the same practices?
I was a little confused by when the author pointed out that some of the berdaches were chosen at birth (mainly in the Arctic tribes) but then at puberty they could switch genders if they wanted to. This idea seemed a little foreign to me because I can't imagine living as one gender, male/female, for let's say 13 years and then switching to the other. It just seems like your whole world would be turned around. Then again, I didn't grow up in the Arctic tribes so maybe if I did it wouldn't seem like as big a deal.
I thought the statement, "We don't waste people the way white society does. Every person has their gift" was a really cool thought. Imagine if we, as a society, lived by this motto. What doors would remain open. How many lives would change for the better? Maybe this is something we should strive for.
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