Chapter 8
Sex and Gender
Sex and Gender
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Sex refers to the biological differences between
male and female.
Gender refers to the social classification of
masculinity and femininity.
But are human understandings
of sex and gender universal?
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The hijras are an
ambiguous gender role in
India.
Though born male, they
are considered neither
man nor woman.
Hijras undergo an
operation in which their
genitals are surgically
removed.
Margaret Mead
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•
Developed the central
anthropological principle that
gender is a cultural
construction
Key findings in three New
Guinean societies
• Arapesh: Both sexes
acted in ways Americans
consider “feminine.”
• Mundugamor: Both sexes
acted in ways Americans
consider “masculine.”
• Tchambuli: Men acted in
ways Americans consider
“feminine” and women
acted in ways Americans
consider “masculine.”
Cultural Construction of
Gender
•
The idea that gender characteristics are not inborn but
constructed within each culture
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•
Native Americans
Afghan girl/boys
A society’s gender ideology is its totality of ideas about sex,
gender and the natures of men and women, including their
sexuality, and the relations between the genders.
Homosexuality and Culture
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•
Adolescent boys in Sambia have
homosexual relations as part of initiation
but enter heterosexual marriages as
adults.
In the United States, consistent
heterosexuality is considered essential to
masculine identity.
Sexuality and Culture
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•
Sexual norms affect sexual behavior.
Cultures differ in:
• age that sexuality begins and ends.
• ways people make themselves
attractive.
• importance of sexual activity.
Gender Stratification
•
The ways gendered activities and
attributes are related to the distribution of
resources, prestige, and power in a
society
Gender Relations: Complex
and Variable
•
Male dominance, called patriarchy, was
considered almost universal.
Matriarchy, or female dominance, has not
been found to be equal to that of male
dominance in any society.
•
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/26/upshot/when-family-friendly-policies-backfire.html?_r=0&abt=0002&abg=1
•
Female Initiation Among the
Kikuyu, Kenya
How does a
woman’ social role
change as a result
of circumcision?
Do we have
anything
comparable in the
U.S.?
Bringing It Back Home: Female
Genital Operations
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Approximately 100 million females in the world,
mainly in Africa and the Middle East, undergo
some form of female genital operations.
The practices vary from a ritualized drawing of
blood to the removal of almost all of the
genitals, stitching together the wound, and
leaving only a small opening for urine and
menstrual flow, sometimes called female genital
mutilation.
Bringing It Back Home: Female
Genital Operations
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Where traditionally practiced, female genital
operations are viewed as essential gender rites.
They are intended to preserve a girl’s virginity
before marriage, to symbolize her role as a
marriageable member of society, and to
emphasize her moral and economic value to
her patrilineage.
Scientific evidence demonstrates that female
genital cutting raises the likelihood of a
woman’s death in childbirth.
Bringing It Back Home: Female
Genital Operations
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•
A view held by some anthropologists and some
members of cultures that practice this ritual,
urges that the practice be examined in its
cultural context.
While some women from societies that practice
female genital operations defend it as affirming
a woman’s value and enhancing cultural
cohesion, others speak out against it.
Bringing It Back Home: Female
Genital Operations
You decide:
• Should female circumcision be outlawed
globally as a violation of women’s and
children’s rights, even if it is a valued cultural
tradition in many societies?
• Since female circumcision is often associated
with religious belief, does outlawing the practice
violate our Constitution’s freedom of religion
clause?
Bringing It Back Home: Female
Genital Operations
You decide:
• What can anthropologists contribute to the
debate over female genital operations and other
debates which pit universal human rights
against local cultural patterns?
• What does the example of female genital
operations suggest about the possible limits
of the anthropological principle of cultural
relativism?