Spotlight on Students: Gender & Sexuality Comparisons (Mohave & American Cultures)

The following is a student post based on an assignment in Anth 101: Introduction to Cultural Anthropology where students were to compare and contrast gender norms and values between a different culture to American culture.  This student took the assignment a little further in this unique piece.

By Monica Kalmen

This essay discusses the alyha and hwame gender norms of the Mohave culture and how they compare to that of today’s gender norms for the equivalent in American culture. The alyha and the hwame were names given to the men and women, respectively, of the Mohave culture that stepped into the traditional role of the opposite sex (Leclerc 343). Although there are some similarities between the cultures, this paper focuses mainly on the differences between the gender norms of each culture and illustrates how culture shapes societies’ ideas of what is and is not acceptable behavior. Cultural views are often shaped by economic needs and spiritual beliefs. Differences in such show how the cultural views of the Mohave resulted in an overall acceptance of gender variants and how today’s American cultural views result in an overall intolerance of gender variants.
       
The Native American Mohave culture accepted the alyha and hwame into their society and even had customs and traditions surrounding them. One elderly native Mohave was quoted as saying, “From the very beginning of the world it was meant that there should be [transgenders], just as it was instituted that there should be shamen. They were intended for this purpose” (Devereux 501). The Mohave believed gender variants were normal and had been around from the start of time. They believed these types of people were created for a purpose. The alyha and hwame used to be initiated into their desired gender role when they were pre-adolescent (Devereux 507). They were taken seriously and formally granted placement in society as the opposite sex. The Mohave’s social participation in the initiation of individuals wanting to be the opposite sex showed how the alyha and hwame were included by society and not segregated from it because of their differences. The alyha and hwame both practiced rituals of the opposite sex once married; which included the alyha replicating menstruation and sometimes birth and the hwame ignoring their menstruation (Devereux 513). Both the alyha and hwame fully participated in the rituals of their desired gender. Anatomy did not exclude them from participating, along with the rest of the Mohave society, in the customs of their chosen gender roles. The alyha and hwame were not segregated from Mohave society or considered abnormal for wanting and living their lives as the opposite sex.
       
The Mohave cultural views resulted in an acceptance and inclusion of gender variants into Mohave society, whereas the United States cultural views result in discrimination and prejudice against such individuals. “As a rule,” according to Devereux, “[initiated alyha and hwame] were not teased” (518). The Mohave did not single these types out for ridicule. The alyha and hwame did not frequently face discrimination, prejudice, or banishment. By contrast, in the United States today, “[transgendered people are often subjected to ridicule and controversy” (“Transgendered People” n.pn). There is less acceptance of transgendered people in American culture than there was in Mohave culture. A lack of understanding about transgendered people in today’s American culture is apparent in the result of  “controversy” surrounding such people. Transgendered people also face nationwide discrimination when it comes to health care, housing, and employment (Jost n.pn). Individuals choosing to take on the role of the opposite sex in today’s culture struggle to be included in society. Worse than being ridiculed, they face being cut off from the basic necessities needed to sustain life. The Mohave believed that “temperamental compulsions” could affect people without it being their fault  (Devereux 518). The Mohave did not think something was seriously wrong with an individual wanting to be of the opposite sex. They did not think that that individual needed a cure or fix. Transgendered people in the United States today however are often considered “mentally-ill” and told to seek therapy for their condition (Jost n.pn.). Frequently views in today’s American culture see individuals wanting to be the opposite sex as inferior and sick. These views hold that someone who is still transgendered is not taking care of their mental illness. Besides being thought of as mentally-ill, transgenders face religious persecution from those who believe that such individuals are “violating the will of God” (“Transgendered People” n.pn.). Far from being accepted, transgenders in America often face segregation and exclusion. The alyha and hwame were accepted as is and incorporated into their society whereas today’s transgenders in America are often excluded and discriminated against.
       
Some of the reasons for the differences between American and Mohave cultural views have to do with Mohave spirituality and economic needs as well as popular American religion and today’s  commonly held view that transgenders are mentally-ill. According to Leclerc, “[t]he spiritual systems in place in the Mohave culture provided a context whereby a gender variant identity was validated and given meaning” (344). Mohave spirituality accounted for people such as the alyha and hwame. The Mohave spiritual beliefs allowed the hwame and alyha to be accepted within their society. Popular American religion such as Christianity declares that ‘humans were created as gendered beings’ and frequently results in the discrimination of transgenders, such as being fired from a job after coming out publicly as transgender (Bailey 19). These popular religious beliefs do not provide a means for believers to accept or understand gender variant individuals. Because these beliefs dictate American cultural views, individuals outside the norm face prejudice and persecution.   In Native American Mohave culture, both the alyha and hwame were often powerful shamans (Devereux 516). The alyha and hwame frequently held admirable positions in society and were respected. Rather than lowering their social status, their preferences served to fit them into positions of spiritual power. In the United States however, it was not until May of 2013 when the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders came out with the revision of gender identity disorder that transgenders were no longer classified as mentally-ill (Schwartzapfel n.pn.). Up until very recently, gender variants were stigmatized as being mentally-ill and needing psychological treatment to fix them. Both religion and medicine have persecuted gender variants, leading to their widespread mistreatment across the modern United States. Unlike the stigmatized gender variants in the United States today, the alyha and the hwame played important roles in their society including domestic roles. According to Devereux, “[t]he essential adverturesomeness of the Mohave character combined with their completely humoristic attitude of sex,...along with economic comfort and convenience, induced many a man to [be with] an alyha” (518). The alyha supported their society by filling its economic and domestic needs. Alyha had symbiotic relations with other members in their society. Because young wives in Mohave society were sometimes considered unstable, men often took an alyha as a wife as this insured “a well-kept home” and an “exceptionally industrious” partner (Devereux 513,515). The alyha had something uniquely valuable to offer a husband that other Mohave wives may not have had. The Mohave culture recognized and utilized the strengths the alyha had to offer. The hwame too were said to be “excellent providers and took pride in dressing up their wives”(Devereux 515). The hwame also filled a domestic need and contributed to Mohave society. They could be relied on to sustain themselves and their wives. Devereux also notes how partnering with an “industrious hwame” was alluring to women who had some experience with “flighty, lazy and spend thrift husbands” (515). The Mohave saw that one’s character mattered more in marriages than the gender one was born with. Far from lacking any characteristics, the hwame were sometimes preferred over other men for husbands. Because hwame and the alyha served their society in a variety of important ways and fit particularly well into Mohave spirituality, the Mohaves’ cultural views of the alyha and hwame was one of acceptance and inclusion whereas the cultural views of today’s transgenders support their exclusion and persecution.  
       
 In conclusion, the alyha and the hwame of the Mohave culture were not segregated because of their gender identity. They were largely accepted into their society’s norms. Transgenders in the United States however are a controversial dilemma and consequently face exclusion, discrimination, ridicule, and persecution. Popular religious beliefs that people should not disrupt “God’s will” as well as beliefs that transgendered people only desire to be the opposite sex due to a mental illness continue to play out in the discrimination of such individuals. The spiritual views along with the domestic and economic needs the alyha and hwame met encouraged placement and acceptance of these individuals in Mohave society. The comparison of the Mohave gender norms to today’s gender norms in the United States illustrates how culture defines acceptable and unacceptable behavior.

 Works Cited

Bailey, Sarah pulliam. “Christian College Parts ways with Transgender Professor.” Christian Century

130.21 (2013) 19-20. Academic Search Premier. Web. 23 July 2014.

Devereux, George. “Institutionalized Homosexuality of the Mohave Indians.” Human Biology 9.4

(1937) 498-527. JSTOR. Web. 20 July 2014.

Jost, Kenneth. “Transgender Issues.” CQ Researcher 16.17 (5 May 2006): 385. CQ Researcher.

Web. 21 July 2014.

Leclerc, Nancy. “Berdache.” and “Sex Identity.” Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Ed. H. James Brix.

Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2006. 434-44 and 2073-2074 SAGE Knowledge. Web. 17 July 2014.

Schwartzapfel, Beth. "The new normal: until 1974, being gay was officially a mental illness. Now

transgender people want shrinks to stop calling them crazy." Mother Jones Jan.-Feb. 2013: 10+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 23 July 2014.

"Transgender People." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2014. Opposing

Viewpoints in Context. Web. 22 July 2014.