I love this one ❤️ Holder doesn't give much identifying information but I really wonder if it was Osh-Tisch who said this - the age matches up, at least. Also, I think the sisters record is Lakota? But from a 2S person interviewed in the 1970s! We should seriously make a source map one day... 👀

AND there are stories of trans women/girls moving between communities as theirs become unsafe. I think one of the young trans women arrested w/ Osh-Tisch on the Crow rez had actually escaped a residential school, knowing there was a sisterhood among the Crow ❤️ we have so much to discuss at the AHA 😭

Omg, I'm seeing a lot of similar "would-be" stories in the PNW too, not just by anthros but elders recalling violence against trans kin and explaining there are others "like them" but who don't change dress. Makes me think that "gay" interpretations of this history were just cases of detransition 👀

This varied greatly by region, what colonial power was taking hold, and community, with trans women living more remotely and without religious influence generally spared colonial suppression until the late 19th C when population loss led many tribes to amalgamate, and/or be moved onto reserves.

In the PNW, this was a dramatic change from early contact (1810s-40s) where indig trans women retained powerful roles as healers, seers, and leaders of their communities, and went largely unnoticed by white people. But come mass migration, missionization, and policing, their abilities to pass waned.

This is exactly what I am mapping out in my diss! In summary, yes, most trans women are shifting to masculine dress by the 20th C to avoid colonial scrutiny, some in direct consequence of being arrested and their hair cut, etc., which represented a major shift in colonial power post-1880s thru 1900.

It is open-access here! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

🫶🏼🫶🏼🫶🏼

Deadddddd 😂😂😂 adding to my cv now, ty ❤️

Stopppp. Thank you 🫶🏼 those words mean a lot!

Thank you so much for publishing and sharing my research! I am so grateful ☺️

yayyyyyy! just had a consult with her myself - so nice to finally have someone in the lower mainland :)