Native American/First Nations Sexualities

Native sexualities may be understood to refer to sexual behavior and expression as well as gender identities within Native American/First Nations cultures in the Western Hemisphere, specifically in [Page 811]North and South America. Using “native” as a modifier for “sexualities” should be viewed with caution; the construction of the term itself presupposes a Western European approach to understanding sexuality and gender, which does not correspond in many ways with the variety of non-European understandings of sexuality and gender identity found among native cultures. It is therefore necessary to set aside a number of Western European concepts related to sexuality and gender when speaking of native sexualities:

• The binary construction of gender. Many Native American/First Nations cultures do not see gender in binary terms of “male” and ...