Seminar on Sex Gender And Culture January 07, 2014 UM TEC 206 11:00-12:00 Objectives: • to know what is the difference between the Sex and Gender. Speaker Graduate of BEED Generalist Program at the University Of Mindanao main Full time professor BEED Program Head Speaker Graduate of BEED Generalist Program at the University of Mindanao-Tagum Ethnographer Part Time teacher Speaker a Graduate of BEED Generalist Program at the University Of Mindanao main President in the Association of Filipino Ethnographers Full time teacher at USEP What is SEX and GENDER? SEX – Either of the two categories (male or female) into which most organisms are divided. - Biological differences GENDER- cultural construction of male and female characteristics. What is their differences? Sexual dimorphism – marked differences in male and female biology besides the primary and secondary sexual features Sex and Gender • Gender roles – tasks and activities that a culture assigns to the sexes Gender stereotypes – oversimplified, strongly held ideas of characteristics of men and women Sex and Gender • Gender stratification – unequal distribution of rewards (socially valued resources, power, prestige, and personal freedom) between men and women ◦ Reflects different positions in social hierarchy Recurrent Gender Patterns • Subsistence contributions of men and women are roughly equal crossculturally ◦ In domestic activities, female labor dominates ◦ In extra domestic activities, male labor dominates ◦ Women are primary caregivers, but men often play a role Recurrent Gender Patterns • Differences in male and female reproductive strategies ◦ Men mate, within and outside marriage, more than women do ◦ Double standards that restrict women more than men illustrate gender stratification ◦ Gender stratification lower when domestic and public spheres not clearly distinguished Gender Among Foragers • The Public-Domestic Dichotomy ◦ Strong differentiation between the home and the outside world is called the domestic-public dichotomy, or the private-public contrast The activities of the domestic sphere tend to be performed by women The activities of the public sphere tend to be restricted to men Public activities tend to have greater prestige than domestic ones, which promotes gender stratification • Sex-Linked Activities – All cultures have a division of labor based on gender, but the particular tasks assigned to men and women vary from culture to culture. • Almost universally, the greater size, strength, and mobility of men have led to their exclusive service in the roles of hunters and warriors ◦ Lactation and pregnancy also tend to preclude the possibility of women being the primary hunters in foraging societies ◦ !Kung San Gender Among Horticulturalist • Reduced Gender Stratification – Matrifocal Societies ◦ Survey of matrifocal (mother-centered, often with no resident husband-father) societies indicates male travel combined with a prominent female economic role reduced gender stratification ◦ Igbo (Nigeria) demonstrated that gender roles might be filled by members of either sex • Increased Gender StratificationPatrilineal-Patrilocal Societies ◦ Spread of patrilineal-patrilocal societies has been associated with pressure on resources and increased local warfare ◦ Patrilineal-patrilocal complex concentrates related males in villages, which solidifies their alliances for warfare Patrilineal-patrilocal tends to enhance male prestige opportunities ◦ Results in relatively high gender stratification (e.g., highland Papua-New Guinea) ◦ Women do most of the cultivation, cooking, and raising children, but are isolated from the public domain ◦ Males dominate the public domain (politics, feasts, warfare) ◦ Women dominated horticulture in 64% of the matrilineal societies and in 50% of the patrilineal societies Gender Among Agriculturalist • When economy based on agriculture, women typically lose role as primary cultivators ◦ Women were main workers in 50% of horticultural societies but only 15% in agricultural societies ◦ Gender stratification associated with plow agriculture rather than with intensive cultivation Patriarchy and Violence • Patriarchy – political system ruled by men in which women have inferior social and political status – Societies that feature a full-fledged patriarchy, replete with warfare and intervillage raiding, adopt such practices as dowry murders, female infanticide, and clitoridectomy • Family violence and domestic abuse of women worldwide problems ◦ With spread of women’s rights movement and human rights movement, attention to domestic violence and abuse of women increased ◦ Patriarchal institutions persist in what should be a more enlightened world Gender and Industrialism • Gender roles changing rapidly in North America ◦ “Traditional” idea that “a woman’s place is in the home” developed among middle- and upperclass Americans as industrialism spread after 1900 ◦ Attitudes about gendered work varied with class and region ◦ Woman’s role in the home stressed during periods of high unemployment Both men and women constrained by their cultural training, stereotypes, and expectations • The Feminization of Poverty – Increasing representation of women and their children among America’s poorest people • Consequences in regard to living standards and health are widespread • The Feminization of Poverty ◦ Contributing Factors Male migration Civil strife Divorce Abandonment Widowhood Unwed adolescent parenthood Sexual Orientation Sexual Orientation • Person’s habitual sexual attraction to, and sexual activities with ◦ Persons of the opposite sex, heterosexuality ◦ Persons of the same sex, homosexuality ◦ Both sexes, bisexuality Sexual Orientation Recently in U.S., tendency has been to see sexual orientation as fixed and biologically based – Culture always plays a role in molding individual sexual urges to a collective norm – Sex acts involving people of the same sex were absent, rare, or secret in only 37% of 76 societies studied by Ford and Beach Sexual Orientation • Various forms of same-sex sexual activity considered normal and acceptable ◦ Sudanese Azande males shifted from sex with older men (as male brides), to sex with younger men (as warriors), to sex with women (as husbands) ◦ Etoro in Papua New Guinea believed limited lifetime supply of semen that boys had to acquire orally from older men The Location of the Etoro, Kaluli and Sambia in Papua New Guinea The western part of the Island of New Guinea is part of Indonesia. The eastern part of the island is the independent nation of Papua New Guinea, home of the Etoro, Kaluli, and Sambia Seminar on Sex Gender And Culture January 07, 2014 UM TEC 206 11:00-12:00