A male who takes on the roles of women and who may also dress as a woman and engage in sexual intimacy with men. More recently, the term "Two Spirits", which has traditional roots, has been preferred. This status was found in several North American First Nation's cultures and is interpreted as a way of integrating deviant members into cohesive, small societies. While the term is sometimes used to refer to women who take on male roles there do not appear to have been female berdache in North America and authors tend to prefer the term "amazon" to describe these women. Both of these terms are important parts of the anthropology of gender and sexuality and reveal the social or cultural construction of gender.