Hi. I'm kiyoshi. Not Native--Euro/Asian bi-racial. I've done some cultural stealing in my time. Am open to any ideas on how I can make amends.
I used to attend sweat lodges in the lesbian community (not Native sweats.) Encountered a situation there that IMO was pretty abusive. Leader of the lodge claimed to be Yaqui, but wasn't trained in a tribe, had no associations to a tribe. She also claimed to be a healer of sorts--She wouldn't let people leave the lodge when they were in physical distress. Instead, she wanted to put her hands on them and "heal" the symptoms. This didn't always work.
She was also IMO abusing her authority to, well...get dates. (I'll put it nicely.) IMO some sexual abuse going on there. (While pouring water, she made some remarks like "Something's trying to get through! Oh.. If you're attracted to someone, now is the time to tell them! Now is the time to act on it!" I fell for it. We were "dating." She told me to keep it a secret. Not right.)
She was a motivation enough for me to stop attending those sweats. Hearing about the Lakota/Nakota/Dakota tribal elders' request that "non's" refrain from having sweats cemented my decision to stay away from all non-Native sweats in general. They're pretty big in some parts of the lesbian "spiritual" community, sad to say.
My biggest concern: last I heard, this woman was head dancer of a fairly large "women's sun dance." (I put that in quotes, because I do understand that's not traditional.) I don't know if she still is head dancer, and that's one of the things that needs research. (I'm willing to do this.) It started out as a women of color dance, and I know some Native women do attend. I don't want to define that dance for them as disrespectful. But it does worry me that the sweat lodge leader I mentioned is so involved, is possibly still in a position of trust and authority. I worry that she may (IMO) abuse someone else, or that someone won't be able to leave the lodge in distress, and someone will be hurt.
The "sun dance" has been moving around the Southwest. It's scheduled to land permanently on a women's collective known as Westwind in Ribera, NM: plans are in the works to have annual women's sun dances at that site. The sweat lodge leader I mentioned--the one who may still be head dancer for this particular "sun dance" is named Teresa Candelaria. (Whew. That was a hard one.)
I just hope that's helpful to someone. Again: I don't want to see a repeat. I really do think someone might get hurt.
