“The Indian Theory of Dandies.” from the September 28, 1895 Advocate
The Indian Theory of Dandies.
The Indians have a theory that their dandies—for there are dandies even in wigwams as well as in brown stone mansions are mistakes of nature; that by some untoward accident souls of the wrong sex have been assigned to them; but we think it would be a libel on the general good sense of the “weaker vessels” to assume that some of the tailor-made popinjays one meets with in society are animated by female souls.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
[The editorial “we” refers to Frank Long: https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/local/door-co/opinion/2015/04/14/editors-view-another-advocate-county/25785751/
“Dandies” in the sense above refers to effeminate and over-dressed men, not to men being deliberately altered. Native Americans historically have not regarded the cutting off of breasts or the castration of humans as a positive thing. In more recent history, when medicalized sterilization was imposed, it was from the government.
Some years prior to Pierre-Esprit Radisson’s visit to the Door peninsula in the 17th century, he managed to escape his Iroquois captors. From his time in captivity, he described body parts being cut off of his fellow captives, they were torturing enemies. Likewise, it wasn’t for friendly purposes that the Indian Health Service pushed sterilization in the 20th century.
Radisson is known for his perception that the Great Lakes area is “a kingdom so delicious”, and he also remarked, “I have seen right-minded Jesuites weep bitterly hearing me speake of so many Nations that perish for want of Instruction” https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/6913/pg6913-images.html. His “kingdom so delicious” comment in part described his aspiration that missionaries would be sent.
Although the final appeal for Parents Protecting Our Children v. The Eau Claire Area School District, https://will-law.org/parents-protecting-our-children-v-eau-claire-area-school-district-et-al/ has been rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court, there is still hope. An inspiring and “so delicious” development is the Watertown Unified School District’s adoption of a more conservative policy than Eau Claire’s: https://go.boarddocs.com/wi/watertown/Board.nsf/files/DAYRXL6F516A/$file/DRAFT%20C%20WUSD%20Administrative%20Procedural%20Guidelines_%20Transgender%20Students.pdf.]
Articles relating to Native Americans
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/native-americans
Articles by Frank Long
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/frank-long