[–] 2 points 2 days ago (1 child)

It's used to replace other terms that were/are being used, but the term itself was made by first nation people.

So, because the term was coined by people to refer to themselves, it's not really a colonial term, even if it's often used in place of other "colonial terms".

Also, the old terms used to describe the non-eurocentric gender/sexual roles often. had roots in words from the language of one of the first nations, they were just being applied to multiple groups from multiple languages, and sometimes the root they used was for something like a prostitute.

Like everything else, it's messy and complicated l, and basically any answer is at least a little bit wrong.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 days ago (3 children)

    Starting with, I am not two-spirit, I just know some people who are.

    So, here are some random points

    At one point it was used to describe, in English, non-euro-centric gender roles that exist within many of the Canadian First Nation tribes. Previous words (often used by non-native people) to describe those roles would often just be slurs. It's one term to try to describe something in many different cultures. It is an English-Language term, not a traditional native one.

    There are hundreds of recognised tribes in North America, with many different belief systems and cultures. Trying to lump them together as one is kinda like saying the ever country in Europe is the same. So, the term is kinda hard to pin down, and it also doesn't apply to every tribe.

    It very-specifically does not mean that you have the spirit of a woman and the spirit of a man.

    Its meaning has expanded, and I've seen it used catch-all for LGBTQ+ by native people, often as a way to reject the idea that they need to fit into euro-centric cultural boxes. I also know that some people refuse to use it, because they feel it's something that is sometimes pushed onto them by outside sources (aka, well-intentioned white people), or it doesn't really fit into the historic cultural beliefs of the tribe they are from, or they just don't want to use it.
    (see also "Native American" vs "First Nations" vs "Indian")

    Something important: It is not an identity you can have if you are not from one of the tribes who lands are within the current Canadian or United States boarders.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 weeks ago

    Daniel Smith's first name.

    Since Marlaina decided that people under 16 can't go by anything other than their legal first name without parental permission in schools, many people will call her by her legal first name until they see her permission slip.

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  • [–] 31 points 1 month ago

    You go to a physical store and buy a toilet plunger.

    That might seem like a waste of money, but getting a cheap plunger at a dollar store is going to be much less stress than figuring out places to go to the bathroom.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 month ago

    The animatratonics night teach the bears that humans are nothing to be scared of, causing a rise in bear attacks in the future.

    Or, the bear remains hungry from not being able to scavenge, which also increases the bear attack risk.

    Humans love to use "licking chapped lips" approach to problems

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  • [–] 3 points 1 month ago*

    Four test:

    Are you banned from that community?
    easy way to check: just try to access it while logged out. If you can, then you've been banned.

    Did you block the community?
    Easy way to check, go to the page, and check the sidebar.

    Did either instance block the other?
    Nope.

    How to check:
    https://lemmy.sdf.org/instances
    https://lemmy.zip/instances

    Are you accessing Lemmy through a phone app instead of a browser, and is that app blocking that community or instance?
    Easy way to check, just use a browser.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 months ago

    Most of these articles exist not because of the trans people, but because other people are trying to control them or actively make their lives worse.

    Like, if the results were "Canadians could not care any less if Bob wears make-up or not" there likely wouldn't be an article, and the 0.33% of people would get closer to 0.33% of our attention.

    But, "Canadians are becoming more hostile towards trans people, which might be a result of politicians using them as a wedge issue", that's an article. Especially when one of the authors is a professor of gender studies, which makes complete sense that they wrote about the answers of these questions.


    This survey had a number of questions, mostly not about trans issues.
    You can see the questions here: https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p3Instr.pl?Function=assembleInstr&lang=en&Item_Id=1543122

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