Gender and culture
“The biological nature of men and women [should be seen] not as a narrow enclosure limiting the
human organism, but rather as a broad base upon which a variety of structures can be built” {Friedl
1975, p. 6, quoted in Kottak, 2007, p. 159}.
This quote encapsulates my thoughts on culture and biology in general, but more importantly it is
something to keep in mind as we discuss culture and gender.
Most differences in behavior that we see between males and females are cultural in nature.
Before we can go any further we must make a distinction between sex and gender.
 Sex is a biological state of being
 Gender refers to the cultural roles, norms, and values that are assigned for males and females
Gender role can be conditioned by many things, including environment, economy, adaptive strategy,
and political system. I would argue that gender roles originally have their roots in the subsistence
strategy adopted by the group of people. In egalitarian societies, there are gender roles, but everyone
has the necessary skills to survive. We may see some gender hierarchy if hunting is the dominant
subsistence strategy, but that’s it. It is not until the emergence of pastoralism that we begin to see
status differences between male and female as well as clearly delineated gender roles and exclusive
norms.
Some definitions (taken verbatim from textbook):
Gender roles: tasks and activities a culture assigns to the sexes
Gender stereotypes: oversimplified, but strongly held ideas about the characteristics of males and
females
Gender stratification: unequal distribution of rewards between men and women, which reflect their
different positions in a social hierarchy
 Economic determinants: freedom of work choice as well as what to do w/the income
 Social power: control over life, labor and produce of others
In state-level societies, gender stratification is based on wealth and not as much on prestige like we see
in other types of political organization.
Stop the lecture and visit the following web site: http://lucy.ukc.ac.uk/EthnoAtlas/ethno.html.
Click on “Make Cross-cultural tables.” Select “region” for your Row category and choose sex difference
in [gathering, hunting, fishing, animal husbandry OR agricultural (you don’t have to do them all)]. Submit
your query and examine the data. Choose ONE statistic that seems significant to you. Click on that
number. You will get a new table with a list of culture groups. Choose three and click “Show values for
checked Groups.” Examine the data for significant patterns. For instance, are there other commonalities
that the groups share? Or, how might other characteristics be related to the subsistence strategy? Once
you have examined your data, go to the appropriate discussion board and post your comments. If you
have difficulties interpreting your data, email me exactly what you searched and I’ll take a look at it.
Does what you found correlate with what Kottak describes in Chapter 8?
If we look at gender stratification based on rules of descent and postmarital residence pattern we find
that women have high status in matrilineal/matrilocal societies. For instance, Malay women inherit
ancestral rice fields and are the basis of the social structure. Publically, men may appear to have more
power; however, senior women are more than likely behind the scenes pulling the strings (making the
decisions).
The opposite occurs in patrilineal, patrilocal groups. Men dominate in all aspects of the society.
Yanomami men have status based on their prowess in war as well as how many wives and children they
can support. Related men often band together to raid other villages for wives; women have little choice
in the matter. In other patrilineal societies, such as the Dogon who you should have read about in
Spradley and McCurdy, often segregate men from women because they see the women as polluting. In
the case of the Dogon, they only segregate women during their menses, but in some other groups like
the Sepik River highland Papua New Guinea people, men and women are always segregated. Women
are expected to work hard, but have little to no presence in the public arena.
Gender stratification in patrilineal societies generally creates a patriarchy which is a political system
ruled by men. In the patriarchy, women have few rights and definitely are of lower status, both socially
and politically. This can lead to violence against females that is often seen as normal behavior—
remember, norms are culturally defined, so what seems normal to you may seem abnormal in another
society. Violence against women isn’t confined to patriarchal societies; unfortunately, it is a worldwide
problem. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that in countries where reliable statistics are
available, 10-50% of women report physical abuse by an intimate partner. 12-25% of women have
experienced attempted or completed rape by an intimate partner or ex-partner. Violence by an intimate
is the 10th leading cause of death among women between the ages of 15-44 (1998). It is estimated that
half-million women are trafficked annually for the purpose of sexual slavery (Frontline
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/slaves/).
What contributes to these alarming statistics?
 Isolation caused by urbanization
 Isolation from kin networks
 Industrialization and development
 Disenfranchisement, just to name a few.
When we cover globalization in a couple of weeks, we’ll discuss how more and more women are living in
poverty.
Of course, things are changing in some areas of the world. In the US and other industrial nations, gender
roles are rapidly changing. This can be attributed to WWII, when it was necessary for women to go to
work since so many men were in the military. The wage gap between men and women is narrowing;
men more often share parental and domestic responsibilities, and more and more women are earning
positions of power both economically and politically.
Sexual Orientation and Culture
Definition: habitual sexual attraction to and sexual activities with persons of the opposite sex
(heterosexuality), the same sex (homosexuality), or both sexes (bisexuality). Indifference toward or lack
of attraction to either sex is called asexuality.
Let’s examine Kottak’s stance that “to some extent at least, all human activities and preferences,
including erotic expression, are learned, malleable, and culturally constructed” (p. 174). This differs from
what the idea prevalent in the US that sexual preference and hence activities are biologically
determined.
Kottak used various anthropological studies to arrive at his stance. He also tells us about the Etoro who
have become the standard example in discussions about the cultural influence on sexuality. Just to
summarize, the Etoro have a taboo against heterosexual sex acts—they understand that heterosexual
sex acts are necessary for reproduction, but other than for that reason, sex between men and women is
forbidden. For the rest of the year, homosexual sex acts are the norm. The Etoro believe that boys have
to acquire semen from older men in order to become men themselves and be able to give life force to
their future offspring.
Just like other societies, the Etoro have rules about who can have sex with who; Kottak refers to this as a
code of propriety. Sex between boys of the same age is discouraged. If a boy develops too quickly it is
assumed that he is getting semen from both men and boys. Since he is believed to be taking life force
from other boys, the individual is usually shunned as a witch.
The interesting question that we need to ask is why did ritualized homosexuality develop in the Etoro as
well as other tribes in Papua New Guinea? Does it have an adaptive significance?
If you want to read more about sexuality, visit Dennis O’Neill’s web site:
http://anthro.palomar.edu/marriage/marriage_6.htm. There is a link on the class web page along with
other optional readings for the week.