American Indian Females And Stereotypes By Denise K.

Theda Perdue`s Cherokee Women: Gender and Culture Change, 1700-1835, is a book that greatly depicts what life had been like for many Native Americans as they were under European Conquering. This book was published in 1998, Perdue was influenced by a Cherokee Stomp Dance in northeastern Oklahoma. She had admired the Cherokee society construction of gender which she used as the subject of this book. Though the title Cherokee Women infers that the book focuses on the lives of only Cherokee women, Perdue actually shines light upon the way women 's roles affected the Native cultures and Cherokee-American relations. In the book, there is a focus on the way that gender roles affected the way different tribes were run in the 1700 and 1800`s. Native

Throughout the course of American history, Native American women have repeatedly become primary targets of sexual violence from non-native men. Around one in three Native American women has been raped or had undergone attempted rape, which makes them the largest race to experience sexual abuse than any other race in the United States. Before any contact was established between the Natives and the European settlers, the Native population had thrived off the land and they had their own criminal justice systems, which was meant to help all Native citizens find justice (Griffith, 5). Unfortunately, their efficient way of life would soon be interrupted forever following the arrival of white setters upon their lands.

In Apache society, both men and women were important to the Apache tribe. A husband was expected to care for his family and be a loyal man to his woman. Men in the Apache tribe were taught to be respectful and humble to their women. If his wife dies, the husband must stay with her family and her family would help him find a new bride. Men were allowed to marry more than one woman, but only wealthy leaders did this. If he did remarry, it was usually a sister or cousin of his wife. Apache men were hunters, warriors, and leaders. Only men were chiefs in the Apache tribe. They made sure no one would harm the tribe and kept everyone safe. The women usually gathered the food because they knew where to find eatable plants and knew how to use them

The Choctaw Indian Tribe is very different in terms of the roles of the men and the women. Women assume the position of leader in most cases. However, they all have to work together. Men, women, and children have to come together to help the tribe to function.

As the complications arose, one of the original Native American stereotypes was made, the savage. When the colonists needed their help for battles, they were considered noble savages; however, if they got in the way of the colonists, they were thought of as animalistic, bloodthirsty savages. Colonists viewed the natives as an unnecessary obstacle in their never- ending pursuit of more land. There are three commonly used stereotypes of natives in film: The Indian Princess, The Native Warrior, and The Noble Savage. The stereotype of the “Indian Princesses (Media Smarts)” was made as a way for colonists to marry and to try to help with civilizing and integrating her people into “their” society. However, Native Americans do not have anything relating to a monarchy in their tribes and the creation of the princess was made as a way for Europeans to try to understand and relate with the various native groups. Most representations did little to correctly represent women in tribes. Another common stereotype is known as “The Native Warrior. (Media Smarts)” These characters tend to be bare- chested, with war brandishing to represent savagery and go against all that “is good” in the story, such as fighting against Western colonization. Recently in film, many are presented as a strong, silent type looking for a white woman

The Iroquois creation story is a renowned Native American myth written by a Tuscarora historian, David Cusick. He is also the author of David Cusick’s Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations, which is known to be the first Indian-written history printed in the English language (Radus). The Iroquois creation myth exists in twenty-five other versions. It describes how the world was created from the Native American perspective. It begins with a sky woman who falls down into the dark world. She is pregnant with twins. Sky woman lands on a turtles back, which ends up growing and becomes a part of island with time. The sky woman gives birth to twin boys, the good mind, and the bad mind. She dies when the bad mind decides to come out of her

Although Native Americans are characterized as both civilized and uncivilized in module one readings, their lifestyles and culture are observed to be civilized more often than not. The separate and distinct duties of men and women (Sigard, 1632) reveal a society that has defined roles and expectations based on gender. There are customs related to courtship (Le Clercq, 1691) that are similar to European cultures. Marriage was a recognized union amongst Native Americans, although not necessarily viewed as a serious, lifelong commitment like the Europeans (Heckewelder, 1819).

Native’s from all over the country were removed from their homelands and put on smaller pieces of land reserved for their tribe or band. They were forbidden to practice their traditional ways and was forced to survive off of government rations provided once a month. Furthermore, instead of the Natives’ bands owning the land in general the government forced them to be signed allotments for individualism. All of these aspects combined took a negative toll on gender roles in the Native society. The men could no longer hunt or farm as irrigation was difficult and the soil was not fertile. The men could not provide for their families even in the way the Anglo’s had previously forced them to do so. Women were still supposed to go through a series of domestic lessons to learn how to take care of the children and the home. Everyone on the reservations became poor and malnourished as they had to line up once a month to try to get their ration of food for their families (Hudson, Lecture 18). It was demeaning and an insult to the Natives’ sovereignty. As everyone struggled for survival, gender roles within the weak social structure

Anyone can read a history textbook assigned in class and understand the events in their minds, but understanding the emotion of the people who were there at the events are lost in blank monotone text. Being able to recite events dryly from your textbook is not knowing one’s history. In order to fully understand history, you have to be able to understand every aspect of the events. Every emotion, thought, and desire of the people who were there as the history was made. In order to tell history, you need to attach emotion to the words being expressed so that the reader can fully understand what happened. In this context, with the help of Dr. Herbert T. Hoover, Joseph Cash gathered fifty-eight oral stories from Native Americans who had faced oppression

Sexual violence is a sensitive topic for any and every woman. Whether it is sexual harassment, rape, or domestic violence, no woman wants to be taken advantage of by any man or even a woman. In the article, “Not an Indian Tradition. The Sexual Colonization of Native Peoples,” author Andrea Smith contrasts sexual violence and history from white woman to Native American women. Sexual violence differs for woman of color than white women alone. This has to do with the theory of intersectionality, which is the threats of discrimination when an individual’s identities overlap with other things such as race, gender, ethnicity, and so on. The demeaning of Native American’s worth is due to a white patriarchal society and intersectionality.

How is it that sexual abuse exerted today is still pushed to the side, one might ask? A suggestion maybe, that no one ever implicated the details of the times before us. “Had I glimpsed just a little of the suffering I would witness and the heartbreak I would endure, I would have fled in the other direction...But I could not foresee any of these things...And many years later, with tears in my eyes, I remembered my decision to follow this God no matter what the cost.”1 This quote brings us up to date on the unruly horrors many indigenous women faced when their lands were invaded, or they were forced into foreign territory. Not having a choice in the matter, they succumbed to the men who stole them, and their foreign culture, religion, and one

Pregnancy and birth for the modern Ojibwe woman differs very little from current American practices. Both AN and her brother were born in a hospital, their mother received prenatal care, and both were formula fed. When asked about breastfeeding views patient was unsure if she would want to breastfeed when she has children as her mother didn’t and she feels that it would be very embarrassing to breastfeed in public. AN states that Ojibwe women are very modest and do not feel comfortable being exposed in public no do they feel it is appropriate.

When you are a hijra in India, which means you are neither a male nor a female. Some societies would have a third gender. An example of having a culture having a third gender is native North Americans. When a native North American would take roles or additional roles, not matching with their gender that person would be considered having two-spirits. If a native North American family had no son, a female could be picked to do the hunting. Another example of a two-spirit would be a male would go through rituals and ceremonies then get a new female name and do things like farming. People of the third gender would dress as the gender of their new roles would. Two-spirits were thought of highly in Native American culture. They were believed to have

The Sacred Hoop, by Paula Gunn Allen is an amazingly introspective look at the roles that American Indian women play in their families and tribes throughout a gynocentric culture. Through reading this text (which is actually a compilation of several works by different people)we are able to compare and contrast the ways, beliefs, cultures, rituals, and traditions that exist between Indians and non-Indians. In some aspects, we see that women, in their most basic form (which is also quite complex) hold the same abilities and powers no matter what their blood is. Gunn speaks about how women in this age, possibly through all ages, are “engaged in the struggle to redefine themselves” (Allen, 43). The modern American Indian woman is induced with this

Disney tells the story of Pocahontas as a tale of love where romantic connection can conquer all regardless of your race — and especially if the other is planning on taking your land and sexually abusing your fellow women. It is inspired by an account given by John Smith where the daughter of the chief, Pocahontas, rests her head against his so as to stop her father from bludgeoning Smith to death. Some historians have suggested that this story is probably not true.