Image Credits: Qwo-Li Driskill, Academy of American Poets
(2004) - Stolen From Our Bodies: First Nations Two-Spirits/Queers and the Journey to a Sovereign Erotic – Qwo-Li Driskill
Qwo-Li Driskill addressed the problem of the erasure and colonial violence against Two-Spirit and queer Indigenous identities. Driskill critiqued the ways in which colonialism, Christianity, and Western gender norms disrupted and marginalized Indigenous understandings of gender and sexuality. He argued that colonial forces have "stolen" Indigenous peoples' bodies and erotic lives, leading to the repression of Two-Spirit identities and the destruction of traditional, fluid gender roles. Driskill advocated for a return to Indigenous sovereignty, which includes reclaiming and revitalizing Two-Spirit and queer sexualities as part of broader decolonization efforts.
While homophobia, transphobia, and sexism are problems in Native communities, in many of our tribal realities these forms of oppression are the result of colonization and genocide that cannot accept women as leaders, or people with extra-ordinary genders and sexualities.