Two-spirit

'Two-spirit' (also written as two spirit or 2S) is an English umbrella term used by some Indigenous peoples of North America for people with a particular ceremonial, social, or spiritual role in their community. The term is rooted in specific cultural traditions and is explicitly not a universal label for gender diversity.

Origins and cultural context

The term two-spirit was coined in 1990 in Winnipeg, Canada, by Indigenous activists as an umbrella English term for a range of traditional concepts that differed from one nation to another. Examples include 'winkte' (Lakota), 'hemaneh' (Cheyenne), and 'nadleeh' (Navajo). Each of these concepts has its own cultural meaning — often connected to rituals, crafts, healing, or mediating roles — that does not fully correspond to what 'two-spirit' generally suggests.

Two-spirit and Western ideas about gender

In Western LGBTQ+ contexts, two-spirit is sometimes cited as 'historical evidence' that gender diversity is universal and centuries old. Many Indigenous scholars and activists object to this framing. Their objections essentially come down to this: two-spirit is not an identity label like the Western concept of 'non-binary', but a role within a specific community.

At the same time, two-spirit is sometimes wrongly used to suggest that traditional societies recognized 'more than two genders'. Anthropologically, this is inaccurate: these cultures also distinguished between men and women, and the roles corresponding to two-spirit often concerned function within the community, not a separate biological category.

Comparable cultural roles elsewhere

Two-spirit is not unique. In other parts of the world, there are also culture-specific roles that fall outside the Western identity framework: hijra in South Asia, kathoey in Thailand, fa'afafine in Samoa, muxe in Mexico, X-gender in Japan, and travesti in Latin America. Each of these roles has its own origins and social function; they are not interchangeable and cannot be combined into a universal category.

Respectful use

Many Indigenous two-spirit organizations explicitly advise non-Indigenous people not to apply the term to themselves. The label is culturally specific; those involved often experience its use outside that context as appropriation. People looking for Western gender terms to describe their own experience are better off using those Western terms rather than borrowing an Indigenous concept.