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bootlegdemon · 2 years

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MLM indigenous love for pride month.

#native american #ndn #two spirit #2s #native art #native artist #tesh draws #powwow dancers #mlm

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mademaciyapi · 2 months

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art inspired by a dancer i saw at the Halloween powwow last year.

the highlight of the night was when he kneeled down and asked an older woman from the crowd to dance with him.

i never learned his name, but i did hear that he won first place!

#native american #indigenous #native american art #indigenous art #character design #powwow #dancer #halloween #my art

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cipher-the-sidhe · 8 months

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I want to draw the Glamrocks and the DCA as PowWow dancers so bad but that would be just… so much detail. So mmmm it’ll have to wait.

But hear me out!

Sun and Moon: hoop dancers (Ojibwe/Anishinaabe)

Roxy: fancy shawl (Lummi)

Chica: Jingle dress (Lakota Sioux)

Monty: men’s fancy (Seminole)

Freddy: lead drummer/singer (Eastern Tsalagi/ Cherokee)

DJMM: Master of Ceremonies (Navajo/Diné)

And their regalia is just in their usual colors.

#fnaf #fnaf pow wow au?#this all came from my regular burning desire to make a jingle dress #and thinking that Chica would be such a great jingle dress dancer #I do want to do these some time #since having a little indigenous flavor to the Glamrocks would be awesome #and I want to subject y’all to electric pow wow #if you haven’t heard modern native music you are Missing Out #look up Halluci Nation/a Tribe Called Red #my tribe headcannons for each do have their reasons #but they’re just my biases #like of course gotta rep my tribe with Freddy #but also #Monty as a Seminole because duh #and Roxy would look gorgeous in PNW styles #and the Navajo always pop off at PowWow so of course we need a Diné MC #fnaf sb #dca fandom

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slayingholofernes · 1 year

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Shawna Olson and her 19-month-old daughter Ariya of the Brokenhead Ojibway Nation of Manitoba, Canada, stand in their jingle dresses at the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Grand Celebration Powwow in Hinckley, MN. "Ever since I've been walking, that's how long I've been dancing," Olson said.

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xtruss · 9 months

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Bison calves stand in Saskatchewan’s Wanuskewin Heritage Park, the first to be born in the the Archaeological Site and Cultural Centre in more than 150 years. Photo By WanuskewinHeritage Park

How Canadian Bison Have Been Brought Back From The Brink In Saskatchewan

In Saskatchewan’s Wanuskewin Heritage Park, bison are a vital piece of the indigenous cultural history and have been brought back from the brink to help rewild fragile grasslands.

— By Karen Gardiner | Published June 3, 2023 | July 29th, 2025

Dr. Ernie Walker has heard enough tired takes on Saskatchewan’s flat landscape. “A lot of people refer to the prairies as big and empty or useless,” he says, indignant, as he leads me around Wanuskewin Heritage Park, an archaeological site and cultural centre 15 minutes from the Saskatchewan city of Saskatoon. “That’s not it. What’s significant about the prairies is that it’s subtle.”

Standing under a big blue sky, amid dry rolling grassland that stretches uninterrupted all the way to the horizon, I think I understand the misconception: lacking mountains and with sparse trees, this isn’t exactly the type of landscape that wallops you with its dramatic features. But if there’s anyone who can convincingly argue for the value of this place, it’s Walker.

The park’s founder and chief archeologist, Walker has spent four decades with his hands in Wanuskewin’s dirt, turning up artefacts — including stone and bone tools, amulets and even gaming pieces — that have whispered to him stories of this land’s significance. Working here as a ranch hand in the early 1980s, he convinced his boss that the land had great archaeological importance. That slowly set in motion the park’s establishment, which involved a rare-for-the-time collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.

“When visitors look at the landscape, I’m always interested in what they’re actually seeing,” Walker continues. “They need to know the story behind this place.” The story here is of 6,000 years of almost uninterrupted human occupation. That narrative was drummed into the land by millions of bison hooves until the animals met a violent end. But now, the bison are back and they’re writing a new chapter.

An abandoned building stands along the roads of rural Saskatchewan. Photo By Design Pics Inc, Alamy

A Place of Sanctuary

In the Nēhiyawēwin (Plains Cree) language, ‘Wanuskewin’ roughly translates as ‘sanctuary’. Lying at the fertile confluence of the South Saskatchewan River and Opimihaw Creek, it was a gathering place for the people of the Northern Plains — the Blackfoot, Cree, Ojibwa, Assiniboine, Nakota and Dakota — who all followed bison herds and found sustenance and shelter here. Before European settlement, this land was home to vast numbers of bison (also known as buffalo) and the multitudes of species they supported, from the insects that thrived in the bison’s manure and the birds that fed on those insects to the humans that were dependent on the bison’s meat and skin.

But then came catastrophe. Bison were deliberately slaughtered to near extinction, a tactic used by settlers to starve Indigenous people into submission. “Around 400 years ago, there were 26 to 30 million bison on the Great Plains in North America,” Walker says. “By the 1890s, there were just 1,200.”

With the bison and their way of life gone, Plains people were left with little choice but to sign Treaty Six, an 1876 agreement with the British Crown that opened up the land for European settlement and promised one square mile of land to every Indigenous family of five. They were then corralled onto reserves.

“What if I were to come to all of your houses, empty your fridges and say you guys have to move to the s****y part of town?” Wearing a fringed buckskin waistcoat adorned with beaded flowers, Jordan Daniels, a member of the Mistawasis Nêhiyawak (Cree) Nation, raises his voice above the prairie wind to ensure we understand the depth of his ancestors’ loss. I’ve left Walker for now and joined a small group along Wanuskewin’s bison viewing trail where we’ll see and learn about Wanuskewin’s reestablished herd.

“The bison were a central part of our existence,” Daniels explains. “We made our teepees out of them. They were a main food source. Everything we needed for sustenance came from these animals.” There was also an emotional connection. Many Indigenous people consider bison kin, and the animal is ubiquitous in Indigenous stories and art. “They played a central role in our beliefs and in our way of seeing the world around us,” explains Daniels.

Bringing back the bison to Wanuskewin was always the park’s founders’ dream. In 2019, the animals finally came home. Six calves from Saskatchewan’s Grasslands National Park established the herd, followed by an additional five animals from the United States with ancestral ties to Yellowstone National Park. The herd, which has grown to 12, is now helping to restore native grasses. North America’s grasslands are one of the most endangered biomes in the world and bison, a keystone species, can help restore balance between animals, land and humans.

While grazing, Daniels explains, bison’s hooves aerate soil and help to disperse seeds, and by wallowing (rolling around), they create depressions that fill with rainwater and stimulate plant growth and provide habitat for microorganisms, amphibians and insects. “They’re ecologically unmatched,” he says. “But, I feel, nothing outweighs the cultural factor of having bison back here.”

Daniels’ connection is intensely personal. He explains that his seven-times great grandfather was Chief Mistawasis, the first chief in Saskatchewan to sign on to Treaty Six. Before signing, Daniels says, Mistawasis “had spent his life living how our people have done since time immemorial, out on the plains hunting bison. And today, I’m able to look at animals that are genetically close to the ones that he’d have interacted with. It’s a very impactful and powerful thing.”

Tianna McCabe, a Navajo, Arapaho and Cree powwow dancer, explains the significance of her ornate regalia. Photo By Concepts/KareeDavidsonPhotography.Com

Happy To Be Home

Wanuskewin is about protecting the future as much as preserving the past. I meet with young Indigenous people who demonstrate aspects of their cultures, once suppressed, now thriving. Tianna McCabe, a Navajo, Arapaho and Cree powwow dancer, explains the significance of every fabric and colour of her ornate regalia before hopping her way through an Old Style Fancy Shawl dance, her feet landing with each staccato beat of a drum.

As the day eases into night, I follow a group to the top of a bluff to meet Métis chef Jenni Lessard, who’s prepared our Han Wi (‘moon dinner’ in Dakota language). As well as bison tenderloin, sourced from a nearby farm and seasoned with yarrow and sage, we eat pickled spruce tips and bannock bread with chokecherry syrup. Sipping wild mint and fireweed tea, we gather around a fire, rejoined by Dr Ernie Walker to hear “a miraculous story”.

Dezaray Wapass, a Fancy Shawl dancer, performs in Wanuskewin National Park. Photo By Concets/KareeDavidsonPhotography.Com

In August 2020, Walker was visiting the bison herd when he noticed a boulder protruding from a patch of vegetation the animals had worn away. Seeing a groove cut across the top of it and, brushing away the dirt, he spotted more cuts and realised what he was seeing was a petroglyph. The boulder turned out to be a ‘ribstone’, so-called because its engraved motifs represent bison ribs. Three more petroglyphs were later unearthed, as well as the stone knife used to carve them.

What the bison did when they uncovered those petroglyphs was to complete the story of Wanuskewin. “We’d always lamented that, here in the park, we’ve got [archeological sites like] buffalo jumps, teepee rings and North America’s most northerly medicine wheel, but we didn’t have any rock art,” explains Walker.

Wanuskewin is on the tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage designation. The discovery of the petroglyphs, Walker believes, has boosted its chances. He tells me: “The stones complete everything you’d expect to find on the Northern Plains, but you don’t usually find those things within walking distance of each other.”

Dressed in a white Stetson, blue jeans and cowboy boots, Walker retains the appearance of a young ranch hand but, after 40 years of arguing for this place, I sense he’s content to rest a little. “I’ve told this story many times before,” he says. Now, the bison have picked up Wanuskewin’s epic story and it’s time to let them tell it once again.

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i-am-thevoid · 2 years

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#before this month ends enjoy my powwow boyfriends #my art #this is Mâkwa and Crash #a couple of my twospirit dancer characters #ndn tumblr #ndn art #Mâkwa ekwa paskwâwi-mostos #gay ndns #yes crash is literally just me shh

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beautifulbadlandsnd · 2 years

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Centuries of History at the Twin Buttes Traditional Powwow

You haven’t always been able to attend the Twin Butte Traditional Powwow. But now you can. Only Since the 60s A couple of decades ago you would never find a local traditional powwow like this one at Twin Buttes. They were illegal from 1900 until late in the last century. That egregious law was overturned and now, communities such as Twin Buttes host spectacular weekends of color and…

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aworldofpattern · 2 months

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Cara Jade Myers at the 2024 SAG Awards, wearing ribbon dress by Cree designer Jontay Kahm.

'The designer’s work references traditional regalia, incorporating elements such as feathers and ribbons that are typically worn by powwow dancers into designs that are voluminous and avant-garde.' Vogue US: The Powerful Meaning Behind Cara Jade Myers’s SAG Awards Look

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kakapoto1 · 3 months

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Pose studies using powwow dancers

#beginner artist #art study #pose study #learning artist #my art

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adamofingolstadt · 23 days

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Thinking about when I attended a Powwow and (though I had to step out because I got overstimulated) I remember it being so damn cool. The dancers were incredible and all the clothing was beautiful, and the stands selling art and jewelry were so cool.

I still get excited when I see someone wearing a ribbon skirt.

I recommend all white people (esp north americans) make an effort to learn about indigenous cultures and ask to help/participate where you're allowed. Listen to indigenous storytellers, attend truth and reconciliation marches, go to indigenous-lead workshops, listen to indigenous music. GO TO INDIGENOUS RESTAURANTS. I'm so serious, indigenous art is so cool and important.

and never forget that being a non-indigenous (esp white) person comes with privilege, make sure you use that privilege to stand up for our indigenous neighbors.

#indigenous art #powwow #indigenous peoples #north america #canada #white privelage

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inanotherunivrse · 3 months

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in another universe you watch me dance at the powwow and congratulate me, pick me up and spin me around in the air. we eat bannock together while the dancers sway in the sunlight, our fingers intertwined and your kiss is the sweetest thing i've ever known.

you finally sing me that song you promised you'd sing for me that you wrote about me and you hold me closer than you ever held anyone. you tell me how much i mean to you as you laugh softly and cup my cheeks. you make everything up to me one day. you kiss me until my lips are swollen. you write me a single letter every day of july until my birthday. your parents love and accept us being together. you propose to me the day we finally meet in person like you promised.

we get married in the forest like we said we would and you give me the dragon's breath opal ring i always wanted.

in this universe, it's been three years and i die inside knowing you chose the rest of her and them over me when all i ever wanted was you. in this universe, i never even got to hold your hand and weave my fingers through your hair. i still wish i was the one by your side and not anyone else. i wanted you so badly.

#submission

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 8 months

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More:

I worked at a place that had ballroom venues for events. Annually, Chipendale dancers had a show at this place. The amount of calls we dealt with for groping, cat-calling, lewd behavior, and general harassment toward the performers and staff was outrageous. This was at a native owned casino in the Midwest where they also had an annual powwow event at which members of rival native gangs would murder each other. Chipendale night was worse than Indian murder weekend. Anyway, they also hosted boxing events and one guy commented once on how sexy he thought the ring girl was. He was evicted for a year. The ladies who molested security staff? No evictions.

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As a man, even in the most progressive countries, you are seen as the secondary parent to your child.

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We aren't allowed to make fun of fat people, but it's more than acceptable to rip on guys due to their height.

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I had a psycho ex that was trying to kick in my door, I called the cops. She left before they got there. She wrote all over my car in lipstick. The cops laughed at me and were like - you afraid of a girl? And told me they couldn't do anything about the lipstick because they didn't see her do it. I would have been in jail for the same shit.

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I have mentioned this before.. but I have a weird work schedule that gives me several weekdays off. I would take my girls to the parks nearby, and got constant side-eyes and resentment from the haus-fraus and molly-mormon sanity groups there with their kids. I even had the cops called on me twice asking me to prove I had my own kids there.

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wanting men that are tall is a matter of preference and can be voiced out loud and is somehow acceptable even though they have no control over it but men on the other hand can't voice their preference in any regard else they'd be cancelled for body shaming.

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I'm older: I have only cried at a movie one time. It was the end of Braveheart. My date was turned off. Said it was "not cool". Same girl hit me for not crying when Jack went down at the end of Titanic, said it was "not cool". I decided she was not cool.

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I’ve had multiple women make comments on my weight gain

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The Duluth Model. It states that men are abusive in order to control and women are abusive because they are victims of abuse. Most law enforcement agencies use this model in dealing with DV cases. The creators disavowed their own work and admit it is completely biased and flawed but is still in use in the majority of the country

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I was a tray aid (food server) at an elderly home, and I went thru a fitness phase where I lost a ton of weight and gained a lot of muscle. Nearly all of the CNA’s (young and old) would come up and grope me (rub my arms, nipples, back, etc) and talk super flirty about how good i looked. It took a few weeks for the older CNA’s to finally snap out of it and start telling the younger ones that it wasn’t right

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If I open up and share the things weighing on my mind somehow that makes me weak and a crybaby but if I hold it all in and just “suck it up” I’m contributing to toxic masculinity and I’m an asshole.

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When my ex-wife (of a 16 year marriage) had a year long affair before I caught her and we split up. She wanted to not tell anyone that she'd had an affair, and wanted to have an even split on custody and divorce etc. I asked her, "if I'd been cheating on you, would you have agreed to keep it a secret and still let me have 50-50 custody of our kids?" Her answer? "of course not." But like, the way she said it was like, "obviously, cuz you're a man, it's fine to tell everyone about the affair, and for the mom to get the kids." Even, when people did find out there was an affair, 90% of them thought it was me that had cheated. I never cheated on anyone. But cuz I was a guy, then obviously it was me.

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I don't think any of my girlfriends have ever bought me flowers. I like flowers.

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Women don’t ask for consent. I have a female acquaintance who described something they did to a man that would otherwise be considered sexual assault — but she was joking about how awkward the guy was.

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Worked at a hotel in Edinburgh and had to wear a kilt. Cleaning staff LOVED lifting my kilt. I've rarely been out in a kilt but whenever I have been (not weddings) random women will lift it to see. I wouldn't dare lift a woman's skirt. I'm not even that attractive and assume it's much more likely to handsom guys.

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My daughter is now 11, but when she was younger, a lot of women were surprised at how involved I was in my daughter's education, medical appts, and her life in general. There is still the double standard where it's assumed the mother is the one who knows all the details of their kids' lives. My wife had a very busy career and so we tried to evenly split all the parenting responsibilities as much as possible. It was amazing at how many places like playgrounds or fun kid stuff where it would be just my daughter and I, and it was assumed I was a single dad or more often that it was my custody time. Fortunately, my daughter looks very like me because I would sometimes get double takes from mom's to make sure I was not stealing some random kid or a pedophile.

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Women taking advantage of a male teenager rarely get the same disgust compared to a male taking advantage of a female teenager. It's always an abuse of power and wrong no matter who does it. The double standards for this by teachers are the worst.

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If sex with her is not that great that is my fault. If she does not enjoy sex with me that is also my fault.

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After I and my wife separated, she took my kid and told the police, CPS, random doctors, etc that I SA'd my kid. When talking to my lawyer, CPS, police, or whoever, the first thing they would ask is if I'm paying child support and am I up to date with it. Only after I assured them that I was would they continue helping me. Now I've gained custody, she has never even bought a pencil for school but still accusing me of BS. Anytime I bring up child support with anyone it's always "we'll get to that later". Why is she allowed to be a deadbeat mom without consequences while I would possibly be in prison if I were a deadbeat dad?

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A friend of mine is a male military spouse, no kids. You would think that the military spouse community would be so welcoming as everyone has that in common. Absolutely not, in fact he gets denied access to online support groups because he is a guy. He has 0 support. Many military spouse appreciation events don't think or care about male spouses. He just stopped trying to integrate with the other spouses, or go to events. It is really sad.

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Women almost always refuse to acknowlege that men have any problems at all. And when they do acknowlege them, it's like "they're caused by patriarchy, so help us fight patriarchy", and it's like, "no bitch, how about you stop being an ass and have some sympathy for once in your fucking life". So many of men's problems just, don't exist or aren't worth thinking about for women. But when men behave the same way about women's problems, they're sexist.

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In rural Africa, FGM is still a modern day practise that sees the labia and sometimes clitoris removed before the child can even stand up or give consent. This painful procedure leads to death in a small amount of cases. This is obviously disgusting. In the Western world, circumcision is still a modern day practise that sees the foreskin cut away or sometimes bitten off by an adult before the child can even stand up or give consent. This painful procedure leads to death in a small amount of cases. This is widely accepted and sometimes seen as a hate crime to oppose. How is this OK?

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Continued:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskMen/comments/15cto3y/men_of_reddit_what_absurd_double_standards_have/

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One double standard that keeps coming up again and again: women's problems are caused by external societal factors ("tHe pAtRiArChY!") that society has to fix, while men's problems are caused by their own flawed internal factors that they have to fix.

She was cutting? It's because society doesn't respect or understand her and doesn't treat her right. Women are already perfect. Society has to recognize that and do better. Teach men that women are hurting.

He killed himself? He must have been fragile and too toxically macho to talk about his feelings. Men should recognize that and do better. Teach boys to cry.

#The Tin Men #double standards #MenToo #hypocrisy #religion is a mental illness

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nmnomad · 11 months

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Photographer 📸 Brandon Barela, aka @brandon.barela on Instagram - "Horse Dancer @official_djaymoz. Nizhoni Days #Powwow 2023"

#albuquerque #powwow #native american #culture #heritage #dance #tradition #travel #weekend getaway #new mexico

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tempting-andromeda · 4 months

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You mentioned rains fall dancing at powwow at any chance he got and I literally couldn’t stop thinking about it so like what kind of dancing do you think he does? My first thought was fancy for some reason but all videos I’ve found are incredibly fit guys doing backflips and acrobats and like…. Zero older guys

I’m talking about traditional dancing. Like the little jump steps. Like grass dance style l . I hc he was a big traditional dancer when he was younger so he could do more intricate things

He definitely knew how to do the sweetheart dance with his wife

I genuinely have no idea how to explain this 🧍‍♀️ like it’s something I’ve always been raised with.

#andyrambles #I have no idea how to explain this #like I was raised with it #like my grandpa is always active in a powwow #it’s not all young guys doing flips most guys I’ve met are like…in their 30s and up #also this is not meant to do harm #but finding stuff about powwows is not difficult #it’s not rare nor dead #and grass dancing is like…so common

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neechees · 11 months

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Volunteering at my first powwow and do you have any tips for dealing with the panindianism? I’ve never been in a space that’s so set on homogenizing into a single “Native American” culture. Are all powwows like this or am I at a bad egg 😫 (also the weird gender binary (the whole sacred womyn with wombs thing) is so strong and I am so twospiritly uncomfortable).

Omg thats so exciting! :) good for you!

And that's kind of the thing with pow wows. They're not really like traditional ceremonies, so there usually isn't like one tribe's specific practices and beliefs being followed by everyone (although the conduction of the pow wow or some of the practices involved will likely be influenced by where you are & which tribe(s) is hosting it for the more spiritual bits). Pow wows kind of arose out of a desperation to try preserve parts of our cultures, and that's why they're so "public" & "pan-indian" I suppose you could say. But there's also stuff that isn't like "pan-Indian" in the purposeful sense, but rather that it's just a coincidence and overlap of cultures that happen to practice the same thing.

like, the Northern war dance in traditional bustle. Multiple tribes practiced that & danced like that in that style, it IS a traditional dance & one of the oldest, it didn't come about specifically to make it "pan-indian" or to strip a tribe of its individual traditions for the sake of panindianism, it just happened to be a dance practiced by multiple tribes, so it's included in pow wows. Take that but also compare it to something like fancy shawl dancing, which is very new (came in the 60s), isn't traditional, and anyone can dance it specifically because it doesn't have roots in any one tribe (iirc), & in a way you might say it was made to be panIndian. Pow wows in different ways, are still a celebration of traditions & dances not lost, & have a history of rebellion against oppression, so I think we continue to do them out of a sense of pride in that. So if it helps you to bear through it, you could think of it that way.

But i can see why you might not like a pow wow, and you don't have to honestly. Pow wows in the modern sense aren't really traditional (some aspects are, though), and again pow wows had to be used under the guise of "entertainment" because it used to be illegal to practice our dances, & pow wows evolved into what they are now. In some ways they're just for show. One thing I personally don't like about pow wows is how competitive & monetized they've become, and lots of people only participate in it for the (potential) money, like for competitions.

So, I'd say different ways to potentially deal with this:

Go to traditional pow wows. There's more traditional things involved, dancers get fed for free, usually less people, and no competitions. This could also potentially mean that the tribe who's land your on for the pow wow will be the main focus for spiritual/traditional affairs & practices throughout. (Aka, more likely less pan-indianism)

Go to more local, less popular pow wows, like school pow wows in your area. Sometimes schools (like universities or high schools) will host their own mini pow wow (usually a day) & will invite people within the community & ones nearby to visit. This also means most of the people dancing & in attendance will be people of the same tribe or neighboring ones, and a similar deal with above.

Go to LESS local pow wows, if you can. What I mean by this, is try to go to one far away. Some tribes do pow wows very differently & include different dances, especially if the cultures are very different, so if you can find one like that, maybe this'll be refreshing from the culture shock alone. Different areas will feature more local & tribe specific dances depending on where you go, like Haudenosaunee smoke dancing or Ojibwe woodland dance

Try the food more from different stores & ask where they're from. Food trucks like to travel FAR and wide, and there's literally so many different food types from different tribes, so trying their different foods would get you more perspective on people showing off their culture's different foods

When observing pow wow dancers, look at how different their regalia are. All regalia is hand made, and many make their own, or get it from someone of the same tribe. People often like to show off their specific tribe pride in their regalia designs, which shows they're NOT trying to be pan-Indian. A specific style of floral beadwork on a jingle dress might indicate someone is Ojibwe. A specific braided hairstyle could show someone is Lakota. A woman who's a traditional dancer & wearing a blue, elk tooth dress with a triangular red collar could mean she's a Crow woman. A fancy shawl dancer with lines painted on her chin could mean she's Cree or Dene & paying homage to traditional tattoos. Lots of people subtly show off their culture this way, & it's fun to see where someone might come from this way, & comfort you

In a way there's always going to be a pan-indian aspect of pow wows, but for the most part people don't really go to pow wows specifically to say "we are all one tribe, pan-indianism forever", or specifically for the sake of pan-indianism, they see it more as a celebration of multiple tribes together and pow wows are just the medium for doing it. & the history or pow wows just kind of amalgamated on what they are today, there wasn't one meeting where Native people said "we're going to be pan-Indian now" & continued to do it, it just kind of happened due to a number of factors (forced illegalization of our traditional dances & ceremonies being a big one). So Idk if I necessarily agree with you there that pow wows are VERY SPECIFICALLY intently set on pan-Indigenizing, but even so you also don't have to like pow wows! Maybe it's also the pow wows you've been going to.

I can't singlehandedly do much about the borderline fetishization & obsession of Native women & "womb sacredness" or give you a foolproof method for how to "avoid" it, even though I also don't like it, even as a cis woman. I'm curious as to what pow wows you're visiting just because I don't hear it THAT often at specifically pow wows (like maybe its the emcees?), but I have heard it before (I see it more in facebook tbh). The only thing I can say is that there's times I don't think people always do this on purpose, because I've seen even trans friendly/generally progressive (if not a little ignorant but well meaning) people say things like this, but that they're forgetting to not be so cis-centric and that they don't realize it's weird, even for cis women. Which is still annoying, though. Like its kind of misogynist to define women's importance on their potential ability to have kids, or their relationship to someone else ("our mothers/sisters/daughters" etc) regardless of how you dress it up in "traditional" language, or whether you're talking about cis or trans women or people with uteruses. You see that in spaces that aren't pow wows as well, & you see it a LOT in discussions of mmiw.

Pow wow dance categories aren't even separated by genders, they're separated by.... categories. You just pick which category you want to dance in & you dance it. My cis cousin danced Chicken (a war dance more popular with men) for several years, and she's a straight woman. I'm not saying you can't or won't run into transphobia at pow wows, but like even the dances themselves aren't strictly seperated by gender (even if the announcers forget this & use cis-centric language like "men's traditional" when they could just say "traditional bustle" or "northern war dance"), and there WILL and HAVE been twospirit & lgbt ndns dancing various dances not typically associated with their gender at p much every pow wow. Again, I can't do anything about that, but maybe try find a two-spirit pow wow to go to. That will likely improve your experience.

I'm sorry this came out so LONG but I sincerely hope you get a better experience with pow wows if you decide to go to more, and that you get to have fun at your next one!

#ndn #anonymous #half the time i never explain things the way i want to im sorry dbthtf #youre not a bad egg :)

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ghostacolytev2 · 11 months

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Male dancer at the Second Annual 2-spirit Powwow (Toronto, ON)

#Dance #Powwow #2Spirit #Toronto #IndigenousCulture

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