Mandan's Oppression Of Anglo-American Women

Slaves, debauchers, and prostitutes: Anglo-American explorers and fur traders used these terms to describe Mandan women. David Thompson claimed they were women to whom “modesty in the female sex appears to be a virtue unknown” and who “plagued” the explorers asking for sex. The Corps of Discovery was both delighted and appalled by Mandan husbands presenting their wives to members of the expedition. Anglo-American observers perceived the Mandan’s actions as affirmations of the Anglo-American irresistible masculinity or indigenous savagery to be “civilized” by western intervention; however, these perceptions stem from fundamental misunderstandings of the centrality of women in Mandan social and ceremonial culture and their involvement in the

Many men gladly engaged in the sexual aspects of “walking the buffalo”, but they viewed the women as “sexually lax” and characterized Mandan husbands as pimps selling their wives bodies. David Thompson, as mentioned in the introduction, recorded several cases of young women coming to “lie with him” and were “very much displeased” when he did not take part. To others, like George Catlin and Henry Boller, “walking the buffalo” demonstrated the subjugation and exploitation of Mandan women by their husbands. Men were their ‘lords and masters” and the submissive women would do whatever they were told. Finally other Anglo-American observers criticized “walking the buffalo” through moral and religious arguments. J.V. Brower who records a formal anthropological record of “walking the buffalo” and the spirituality surrounding the ceremony calls it an example of the “pagan” Mandan religion and sexual debauchery.

Anglo-American perceptions shaped the historical perspective on Mandan feminine agency and power, and discredits Mandan women creating a screwed image of Mandan culture. They judged the Mandan’s actions against their own ideas of morality and “civilized” society using the perceived “savagery” of Mandan to emphasized their own “civilization,” leading to an incomplete

The Mandan taught their children to be “good” by protecting themselves from compromising situations. Waheenee-wia, or Buffalo Bird Woman, told Gilbert Wilson about her mother’s teachings. “‘We are a family who has not one bad woman in it so you must try and not be bad.’ She meant that I should obey my parents and marry only as my parents wished and I never met young men at night or smiled at them.” Parents were concerned about their children’s reputation and sexual action. They discouraged promiscuity and emphasized the importance of morality not only to their own reputation but also to the reputation of their clan. In addition to verbal teaching, Mandan custom prevented young women from being left alone with men. Girls were not left alone in their lodges with men even if they were relatives by blood or marriage, and when girls went to the fields, they were chaperoned by older women. If a man had a reputation for being abusive or sexually threatening to his wives or other women, they was ostracized from Mandan society and parents actively prevented their daughters from coming in contact with