Naughty pictures

Recently someone asked me to explain the use of images on the side bar of my blog and why I chose to display pictures of certain Native "two-spirits". For Jicarillas, Nadleeyee, or "two spirits" have existed since the beginning of our creation story. Some have argued that linguistically, in Jicarilla, it parallels the English translation of a "cross dresser". Others have looked that how the word functions in a cultural sphere of understanding and how it's used in everyday terminology. My understanding of the word Nadleeyee, as a Native Jicarilla speaker, is a person whose spirit “chooses” what gender role to encompass. Traditionally and spiritually, it’s believed that Jicarillas are reincarnated and sometimes, the spirit and the body aren’t perfectly matched. So, when children are born, they have no sex and its left up to their “spirit” to show itself and “choose” what gender roles to encompass. Usually, this happens at the early stages of development and the child will usually decided where it feels more comfortable, with the men, or the women. After it’s seen that the child has “chosen,” the spiritual naming ceremony, occurs, usually around puberty. This is when the child is not only seen as an adult, but is also seen as having a fully developed societal role.

It’s important to note though, that the word Nadleeyee makes no implications in the sexual orientation of the person. For instance, a child that is born with male organs, and whose spirit “chooses” to reveal itself as a woman, may have either a male or female partner, or both. Here, as gender is seen to have fluidity, so is sexuality.

This concept of sexual fluidity, as well as gender fluidity is something that I see as imperative to the discussion of the LGBT identity and the concept of Nadleeyee lends to the understanding of that concept as practice today.