Abstract
The histories of the feminist and reproductive rights movements of the 1970s have traditionally been written within a framework that support women’s issues like abortion rights and gender equality as the forefront of the movements. Feminist activists sought progressive change through challenging the traditional gender roles of mother and wife as patriarchal obstacles which they tried to dissolve. However, the research on feminism and reproductive rights has been written primarily about white women with a focus on their struggles and goals; their voices have become associated with all women, regardless of race or ethnic background. Native American women are barely recognized in histories of feminism the 1970’s, and when they are, they are often identified as an extension of minority women who presumably desire the same changes as all other women. This essay provides an Indigenous feminist critique of how the histories of the feminist and reproductive rights movement have been applied to Native American histories. I argue that unlike white feminist activists, Native American women voiced the potential in a return to traditional gender roles as a way to strengthen their sense of identity and reconnect with their culture. I analyze the existing rhetoric about indigenous traditionalist feminism and pursue the notion that persisting settler colonialist assumptions have defined the way we think and write about indigenous feminism, traditionalism, and the effects of medical sterilization; the history of Native American sterilizations, I believe, has been too often written under the circumstances of settler influence. To address these issues, I begin with a short history of the matrilineal practices of the Navajo tribe, the role of creation stories in defining gender roles and address the “taboo mentality” of menstrual and fertility rites that has often framed settler perspectives on Native women in American history. Finally, I address the American Indian Movement and its feminist branch in their discussions of traditionalism, culminating my argument with an analysis of the sterilization epidemic of Native women that occurred in the 1970s from a consideration of the ramifications of reproduction and indigenous gender politics.