Pueblo beauty

michael responded to my last post saying:

"I am a heterosexual male that comes from a VERY heteronormative community and i am even aware that it is statistically impossible that among 8 billion people, there are only two sexes, and VERY few exceptions..."

i couldn't agree more!  how naive can this world be to think that there will never be variations from the norm in regards to gender.  this just reminds of what Lola said at the end of that documentary about Robert Eads.  It was something along the lines of how nature embraces deviations from the norm and celebrates them, why can't people do the same?

in Leslie Silko's essay about her Pueblo heritage, (page 173, Disch) she talks all about this same kind of this accepting of natural differences.  In fact, this idea of aesthetic beauty really never comes into play in their community.  she even talks all about how, as a people, they feel that "the act of comparing one living being with another was silly."  as far as beauty is concerned, the whole person has to be beautiful, not just their exterior.  "Thus an unhappy person o spiteful person would not be considered beautiful."

what Silko also mentions is how women tend to assume what American's would consider men's roles within the community.  the Pueblo people admire strong, sturdy women, and therefore the women would be the ones to do most of the heavy jobs.  although i mentioned gender roles, the Pueblo people really don't believe in such a social construction.  in fact, whatever jobs need to get done are done by those most fit to do them.  if a woman is stronger than a man, she will be mending the roof while the man weaves baskets, and neither job is seen as a marker as to how they should be socially and sexually identified.  Silko goes on to talk about how in a nearby village there was a man who dressed in women's clothing, and yet no one challenged his appearance.  she mentions that Pueblo people are incredibly accepting to all kinds of eccentricities because the "survival of the group means everyone has to cooperate."  

now wouldn't the world be better if everyone took a lesson from the Pueblo people.