ARTICLE

TRANSVESTISM AMONG ABORIGINAL

AMERICAN INDIANS

Karen 5-G-14 FPE

An article written by a transvestite some years ago brought out a curi ous truth. "If women wore burlap sacks instead of silks and satins I would still desire to dress like them,” he confessed. In other words, the desire to cross-dress is not only one of esthetic choice of beautiful clothing, but an inward comfort in the mimicry of it all, no matter what is worn.

The truth of this is upheld by the observance of cross-dressing activities among cultures somewhat removed from our own. Let us take the Ameri- can Indian for example. Though Indian women did not dress in fine-woven and exquisite clothing, male transvestites still exhibited great desires for adopting their styles of clothing and manner of living.

Among California tribes, the males wore a loincloth or nothing at all. The women wore no upper clothing, but did wear a two-piece (front and back paneled) skirt of pounded bark. Indian transvestites adopted the two piece skirt and attended to feminine duties. Where female tatooing of the face was practiced, they adopted that also as part of their feminine inter- ests and adornment. Scarcely a tribe is recorded as not having had trans- vestites.

Among Yuman Indians, male TVs were called “elxa.“ female TVs were "kive-rhame." The Yumans believed that a boy who dreamed of being a woman could be nothing else from that night on. He had had his vision and the Gods had chosen him to a better lot in life (questionable, the women did most of the work then). The boy would be accepted as such by one and all.

Among the Cocopas, the male TVs were called “e L ha" (compare the closeness of the word to the Yumas above). The female TVs were "was

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