AN OPEN LETTER TO ALL MEDICINE PEOPLE WHO DISRESPECT WOMEN AND TWO SPIRIT PEOPLE

Dear all Medicine People from the 4 directions,

I do not care how old you are, I do not care what spiritual tradition or tribe you come from, I do not care if you are a sundancer, I do not care if you are full blooded, if you are Mexica, Orisha, or First Nation. None of that excuses you from spreading stories and ideas that degrade women and erase the histories of two spirit people.

I will no longer stand to hear stories in which women are portrayed as less than or subservient to a men being passed off as traditional stories. These are lies, women have always either been equal to men or seen as more worthy of leadership than men because they know how to bring life into the world, they know how to keep peace, and they know how to tell men that battles and war are sometimes necessary but there comes a point when weapons need to be laid to rest.

I will no longer accept traditional stories about polyamory being skewed in order to justify men sleeping around with as many women as they want. If you want to go that route, of course our traditions and our histories are rich with examples of both men AND women taking on multiple partners. But these men were responsible to provide for each of these women, everyone knew about it, all families were in agreement, and if you weren’t respecting your partners someone would say something. It was not about having sex with multiple partners, it was about being worthy enough to take on a large responsibility.

I will no longer accept traditional stories about sexual freedom from our history being skewed to justify rape and violence towards women. If you want to go that route, of course it is traditional to value open exploration of our sexuality. But we were always taught to do this in the most RESPECTFUL manner. That meant ensuring that there was consent, that each person shared responsibility in giving and creating pleasure for the other person, this meant honoring the sacredness of sex. But what we have now is a sad situation where most men believe that sex is about asserting power over women and relying on women to fulfill all of their sexual fantasies. This is not traditional, nor even respectful in a simple basic way. Sex is about sharing power, sharing trust, sharing passion, sharing spirit. It is agreeing to mutually share each others bodies with the UTMOST respect. And yet we wonder why there is so much sexual violence within our communities.

I will also no longer accept medicine people who claim that two spirit people “did not exist” in their tradition. These are flat out lies. We ALWAYS existed, and will always exist on every corner of this planet and we are important. Each person was given a specific gender and sexuality from the creator and maybe at certain times there were less or more, but we will always here in every tribe in diverse and creative ways. If you are saying that we didn’t exist you are wrong. Simply put, we were always here and you have forgotten.

And most of all, if you are a medicine person and you are going to say that yes two spirit people did exist “but we don’t have that many stories about them” or that those stories were “lost” then I fully expect that you will pray to your spirit guides, you ancestors, or use whatever medicine ways that you have been instructed in to bring our stories back. I want to hear that you are doing everything in your power to receive any visions or stories that have been lost about two spirit people. All stories that ever happened can always be brought back, and unless we ask for them to return, unless we demand them to return, they will continue to be “lost”. Two spirit medicine will come back to this earth. It will come back fully, it will come back honestly, and it will come back to heal wounds and ties that have been broken. That is not negotiable, that is not a choice, that is not an option. It is a necessary.

And furthermore, I am sorry that I cannot make this pretty, but all of these lies have come at a great cost. They have lead to the violation of women’s bodies, they have lead to low self esteem, they have lead to suicide, they have lead to broken hearts, they have lead to pain, they have lead to suffering, they have lead to innocent people who don’t know their stories or traditions into being brainwashed into believing that they are not valuable, they have lead to people hating themselves for being who they are. There is no excuse for this behaviour. Simply put it must stop and I for one will not stand for it. Yes colonization has also lead to destruction, but we are also responsible for the destruction we have brought on ourselves. We cannot point and play the blame game on white people for this. Yes they may have caused us to internalize these ideas, they may have even forced us to internalize these ideas in many circumstances, but we can no longer be the perpetrators. We must take responsibility to be the healers, to be the freedom seekers, to be repair the damage that has been done.

And if you disagree with anything that I have said, then please I DARE YOU. Come at me with your hate, come at me with your curses, come at me with whatever you want. I AM NOT AFRAID.  I will not listen to any arguments that contradict my statements,nor will I give them power. Giving women and two spirit people the equal standing in our communities that we deserve is long overdue. The spirits are waiting.

 

sincerely,
-anonymous