# Gays in small Amazon tribes
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-in-small-amazon-tribes/533614
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 24, 2010, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-in-small-amazon-tribes/533614 "2010-03-24T13:09:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2010, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-in-small-amazon-tribes/533614/21 "2010-03-29T06:49:12Z")
I read an article on this some years back, but my recollection is vague. I seem to recall that the natives found the subject rather amusing: yeah it happens, but not in _our_ tribe. Meanwhile in the next tribe over, the anthropologist reported that one man took up a female lifestyle (i.e. he didn’t hunt) and was accepted as such. But there was another guy who was bad at hunting but did it anyway, supplementing his work with chores traditionally performed by women. This they found irritating.
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### Author:  [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gays-in-small-amazon-tribes/533614/22 "2010-03-29T21:26:52Z")
> [@Toxylon](#):
>
> Somehow there’s a whiff of the Noble Savage in the air here: “All natives were pro-gay until the White Man came to rule.”
I’d hardly call forcing all non-traditional gender roles into particular societal niches “pro-gay”. I’m just saying that some traditional cultures clearly did have a place for GLBT people.
> [@](#):
>
> Opler’s study of the Chiricahua was conducted in the 1930’s, and entailed interviewing Apache elders about the life of their youth, ie. the 1870-80’s or so. **MrDibble** , I wonder how have research methodologies concerning traditional Chiricahua life been improved since that time? We don’t have any traditional Chiricahua to ask questions around any more.
You didn’t have any to ask in the '30s, either. Apaches in the 1870s were hardly pristine aborigines any more than modern Apaches are. Plus the actual questions asked and the expected answers would differ greatly based on the researcher’s culture. The more homophobic culture of a 30s researcher is surely going to colour the types of questions asked. Nowadays, we have a better awareness of bias in interaction, and more of a commitment to reducing said bias in our research. At least, that’s what I’ve gleaned from my (admittedly only introductory) anthropology courses.
It also should be considered that the more recent studies are specifically directed at studying Two-Spirit lifeways, and therefore would be expected to be more comprehensive in this particular regard.
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