What I understood Dellwood Barker to say about Berdache was this: men fucking men and women fucking women is the same act, no matter what you call it, no matter what language you speak, no matter what words you use. The words you use for men fucking and for women fucking in Indian, though, mean something different that the words you use for men fucking and for women fucking in tybo. 

“You make things how they are by the way you think of them,” Dellwood said.

“Tybos think it’s a sin,” Dellwood said, “-that fucking is a sin, whether men do it, or women do it, or men and women do it. Only time you can fuck is to have a child, and then it’s something you want to be over with fast.

“Most Indians love to fuck,” Dellwood said, “like they love to eat, and breathe, and take a good shit - ain’t no sin or hell damnation or fire - it’s just another part of the Great Mystery.”

pg 129

The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon

Tom Spanbauer