Anthropology Final
Koro
"Male hysteria" reflects the underlying pressures for achieving masculinity in parts of China and Southeast Asia -Defined by symptoms such as acute anxiety, palpitations, trembling, intimations of impending death, in extreme cases shriveling of penis -Regression to mother kinda
Gender dysphoria
(gender identity disorder) the feeling that one is a man in a woman's body or vice versa
Why do we have less information on female gender variants than male?
- In most societies, female gender variants are more easily accepted than male gender variance (thing of tomboy vs sissy) - Female gender variance is easier to hide as "female friendships" -- Since men are more often in the public sphere, their status in the public sphere, their status is publicly or ritually marked
What are some ways women in various societies make the most of their "subordinate" position within the household?
- Matrifocality - Uterine families - Kin work
How do patriarchy, patrilineality, and patrilocality factor into the sex/ gender system in the Balkans?
- Patrilineality insures the principles of male inheritance - This institutionalized third gender category allowed for the continuation of patrilineal and patrilocal society
Negatives of Gilmore
- Social functionalism: glosses over harmful excesses of masculinist ideologies -Doesn't say how theses ideologies negatively affect men (high suicide rates) - There is no easy boundary between socially -functional behavior and destructive or dysfunctional ones -Dispositions instilled to meet a need in one context may have effects quite dysfunctional in another -If you socialize violence, the result could be a culture of abuse (not protection) -What about femininity? -He fails to adequately explore the achieved nature of femininity Perhaps overlooked because: -Less marked for prestige/ devalued by society -Assumed to be "natural" -More constant,ongoing and incremental -Unmarked by ritual or ceremony ... but nonetheless also critical to society's functioning! -Women's achievements include but are not limited to giving birth- which is not simply "natural" (think back to readings on "maternal instinct)
Sworn Virgins
- Sworn virgins of the Balkans is an example of an institutionalized gender crossing in which females could assume a male social identity with the approval of her community - Some women choose to take on a male role and identity instead of marry -In some cases cause there was no male in the family to inherit -Sworn virgins publicly bow not to marry and remain virgins - They do not leave their natal home - Violation of vow of chastity could result in her becoming stoned -Sworn virgins remain biologically female - Go by male pronouns
Sambia of the papua New Guinea Highlands
- Where men are "obsessed with masculinity" -Among the Sambia masculinity is viewed as "an artificially induced state that must be forced on young boys by ritual means" - Sambia engage in "ritual homesexuality" -In many areas of the world, homosexuality is considered masculine for the one who takes the active or dominant role (penetrator) -It is the receiver or the receptor whole is considered feminine -In sambia, men do not see their acts as homosexual at all -The ingestion of semen is a means to an end: the "ritualized masculinization" of male youth -Young boys must be separated from their mothers and purged of their mother's' blood and polluting influences -This allows his tingu (his sexul organ) to grow and begin the masculinization process -Both males and females have tingu, but female's tingu activates naturally through menstrations
Levi- Strauss on role of women
- Women are subordinate and because of this are signs/ objects of exchange that groups of men use in order to create alliances - They are key to exchange BECAUSE they can fulfill sexual urges of men *** (LS believed men's sexual urges were greater than female's) ***
Incest Taboo
- cultural rule/ norm that prohibits mating between close kin It works to overcome the randomness of mating found in nature by establishing orderly kinship relations required for cultures to function
What kinds of correlations does Gilmore posit cross-culturally for the appearance of manhood?
- fighting over scarce resources - correlates with role stress
What evidence do Nanda and Reddy offer that hijras represent a "third gender"
- spiritual, emphasize in betweenness, makeup, dresses
Infibulation
- the closing of the outer labia by sewing them together to partially seal the vagina leaving only a small hole - is done before menarche to ensure chastity, often performed at the same time as removal of clitoris - Done in small percentage of countries - Ensures husband has married a virgin
Samburu Pastoralists
-A more complex and exacting ritual is that of the samburu pastoralists of Northern Kenya Among the Samburu, manhood revolves around competence in management of herds of cattle or sheep -Samburu are "obsessed" with livestock (b/c it is used as currency basically) -A man has to establish independent herds to express his autonomy which is the basis of male status -Most importantly, must have livestock to win a wife -Samburu are polygynous, and acquiring livestock is the only way to win a wife/ wives -A wife can cost up to 20 heads of cattle Generosity: -A samburu man also must be generous in distributing food -Men must engage in battles of generosity in tribal competitions to distribute food to their community -A selfish man is called and "eater" of his own herds... "a laroi" a small paltry thing
Engels and private property
-Private property and the monogamous family led to subordination of women - Prior to this time all production was of use/ group consumption -> ppl worked together for a communal household BUT ** households changed w/ evolution of private property because private property was controlled by men so women lost out -- many argue against this saying women's status deterioration was more due to the decline of centrality of kinship groups
Positives of Gilmore
-Unlike freud: gilmore paid attention to the social function and relational quality of gender -He is not a biological determinist -He highlighted relationship between gender and larger environments -He showed that gender roles can and do change **BUT he warns: cultural construction doesn't mean "easily changed"**
Gilmore's 4 P's
1- procreation (impregnating women) 2- Provisioning one dependents (working) 3- Protecting one's family 4- Personal autonomy (Men must leave home daily; and their space is outdoors, not in the home)
Van Gennap's 3 stages of ritual transformation
1. Separation: individual are removed from their community or status 2. Transition: one has passes out of old status, but not yet entered the new one 3. (Re) incorporation: participants are returned to the community with new status. They reap the rewards of their suffering
Why are women often excluded from the highest forms of power?
?? In a lot of cultures women are not taken seriously in public sphere and therefore cannot assert themselves - Women are associated with nature which is seen is devalued compared to culture (which men are associated with) - Additionally, they are seen as polluting - Additionally sometimes women are excluded from power because they are responsible for children and would be too busy to have an extremely powerful role
Why are women always considered inferior according to Ortner?
All societies associate women with nature and men with culture (culture is considered superior) -This happens because women's bodies and its functions are involved more of the time than men's with "species of life" --- Women procreate and men can't so they create externally through manipulation of culture
Salary Man
An important part of being a salary man is corporate life which includes not only long hours but socializing late in the evening with coworkers and often involves drinking karaoke and women Late hours and excessive drinking are one reason business is considered inappropriate and not a place for woman - The noble, gentle, adventure type appears weak but upholds family virtue today
Herbivore men
As opposed to "carnivores" ... they reject what they consider commonified manhood - They are typically young, earn little money, spend little money, reject sec, and take keen interest in fashion and personal appearance - Japan's "herbivore" men shun corporate life, sex and marriage
Homogender
Attracted to someone as same gender as you Ex: Tom and Tom gender
What is Ortner's Nature-Culture argument?
Because human society arises when humans make the transition from nature to culture, natural processes are devalued in relation to cultural ones in all societies -
Domestic- Public
Enforces the idea that labor in the public sphere is valuable, while work in the domestic sphere only benefits individual families and therefore is of lower value - Women are forced into domestic sphere and in many cultures alienated from the public sphere which is considered to be mens' place
What evidence do we have that the sex/ gender system in the US is binary?
Evidence is people are expected to chose an identity and come out to fit into a binary OR Transgender people expected to transition to fit into binary **American sexual categories and gender ideologies tend to be based on binary opposites: -Male & female -Man & woman -Heterosexual & homosexual -Encapsulate personality and identity
Ritual hazing
Ex: Frats
Uterine Families
Families based on a powerful relationship between mothers and their offspring (especially sons)
Matrifocality
Female headed households where women have control over household earnings and decision making -Kin networks linked through woman -High cultural evaluation of motherhood - often found in societies where men are gone for long periods of time Ex: Dadi's family
Why is the renunciation of sexuality so important to the case of the Albanian sworn virgins? How is this similar to other cases of "sexual renouncers" like female saints, nuns, toms, onabe
For all sexual renouncers, it is not necessarily their sexual identity that is important in these third gender categories, its the gender part of it. None of these people change genders because of who they want to engage with sexually, its a personal identity and comfort thing (????)
Why do many societies have painful rites of manhood? What is the point?
GIlmore argues that the rites have a collective rather than individual functions (158) The ritual process is one of separating the boy both physically and psychologically from his mother In order to reject the maternal, terminate childhood Gilmore sees in all of the the sambia are fighting the regressive tendencies that are universal
The cultural construction of sexuality
Gender is the the social and cultural elaboration of biological sex - Because gender and sexuality are cultural constructs, hypothetically they could take the shape a certain culture decided to assign it -Because of this we see considerable variation in gender norms and practices culturally Better answer: -We now know that sexuality (as sexual attraction) is also in important ways culturally constructed -Our sexuality may be affected by what is considered acceptable, normal, and even possible in our society -What is considered or deirable has changed dramatically over time
Gilmore
Gilmore has presented us with societies where manhood must be "constantly reasserted" Gilmore offers 3 examples of structured rights of manhood The jewish bar mitzvah The samburu Pastoralists of Northern Kenya The sambia of the highlands of Papua New Guinea In many of there rituals the youth "dies" and is "reborn" as a man Gilmore notes that the most prolonged, collective rites of passage are found in primitive or preliterate societies and many have today been abandoned or altered The Bar Mitzvah The jewish bar mitzvah is an exception to the general lack of public ritual among modern societies Usually performed when the young man is 13 It is both a chronological marker as well as a ritual initiation which is dramatized publicly -At one time, Gilmore argues that the tests of memory and comprehension central to the Bar Mitzvah were a public measure of knowledge -The rite involves: The young man is tested in his knowledge of the Torah in Hebrew The ritual specialist- a rabbi The congregation, as witnesses The test (hypothetically, the initiate can fail) Today Gilmore writes, the "rite is more like a religious excuse for extravagant partying" An innovation introduced in the 1920'a is the Bat Mitzvah for girls GIlmore's Conclusions Summarized: There is no universal masculinity but some convergences Pressured manhoods is the more frequent pattern Male cults: correlate with role stress and fighting over scarce resources (functionalist) Gilmore disagrees with Orter's Nature/ culture argument that Woman more tied to nature because their biological ability to reproduce, and this frees up men to focus on cultural production -->Manhood is not "cultural" as opposed to nature "It's more complicated than that" Gilmore argues that like femininity, masculinity is also nurturing, though it is less demonstrative than female nurturing In fact, manhood in providing/ provisioning and protecting is caring and nurturing AN inducement for high performance in the social struggle for scarce resources Male imperatives (Provide, procreate, protect, and personal autonomy)- are either dangerous or highly competitive. They place men at risk Masculinity: "code of conduct that advances collective interests by overcoming inner inhibitions (223) **To be men, most of all they must accept they are expendable*** So what is the function of manhood according to gilmore: 1. Manhood is an inducement for high performance in the social struggle for scarce resources 2. The male imperatives: Provide Procreate Protect Personal Autonomy Are all either dangerous or highly competitive 3. Masculinity is a code of conduct that advances collective interests by overcoming inner inhibitions (society is kinda deciding how men should behave) 4. Men do not naturally want to sacrifice themselves for the group They may have to be induced 5. "To be men most of all, they must accept the fact that they are expendable (223) Gilmore ends by asking: "Why should only males be permitted to be 'real men' and to earn the glory of a risk successfully taken?" (231)
Levi Strauss on Incest Taboo
He argues incest taboo functions to define the categories into which once can and cannot mate thereby **forming the basis for marriage rule in all societies** - For LS the formation of incest taboos marks the critical transition from NATURE to CULTURE and is the foundation of all social organization
Explain the Indian sex and gender category of Hijra
Hijras are male bodied gender variants - associated with spiritual power - Their traditional role is to dance and sing and give blessings at important lifetime rituals (ex childbirth, marriages) - they can curse too - They are NOT MEN (wear dresses and makeup, behave like females) but also NOT WOMEN (don't give birth or menstruate, sometimes act sexually crude or aggressive, lift skirts to prove not a girl) They go through Ritual emasculations (Nirvan): -Was outlawed in 1888, but has not died out -Involves: separation (separated from male status, operation, transition (liminal period, 40 day recovery), reintegration (come back to society as real Hijra)
Structuralist Approach to contractions of gender
Ideas are often considered distinct and autonomous factors that not only exert an influence over the behavior of individuals, BUT constitute the individual's very sense of self *** Basically compartmentalization of things affects people's actions, by forcing labels, you aren't allowing people to create their own identity***
Forced sharing
If someone asks you for something you have, you must give it to them (ex. That's a nice ax you have there, you must give it to them) - Because the Aka have so few possessions, there is no warfare - Do not want to cultivate differences in property or self much
According to LS, what important social function did marriage play in the evolution of human society?
Incest taboo transitioned marriage and created constructs for what type of marriages were and were not appropriate. This organization marked the beginning of the human evolution from nature to culture
Transvestite
Individual who cross dresses occasionally or all the time
What evidence does the Indian example and others offer to argue that not all societies share this binary view?
It demonstrates that not all cultures try to fit into strict labels/ binaries and are okay being a third, somewhat uncategorized third gender - In some cultures,same sex relations was something one did, not something one was ---That is, having a same-sex relationship does not define their entire sexual orientation ---There are many cultures in which: Both partners in same-sex relationships are not/ were not identified as "homosexual"
Levi Strauss on Binary Oppositions
Men are more highly valued than women because of binary oppositions
Bride wealth (Bride price)
Money paid to the bride's family by the groom or his family, often descried as "compensation to the parents for the effort and expense of raising her"
The value of virginity
Ortner also argues hypergamy may provide the strongest explanation for the purity of women ideal and for certain peculiarities -Ideal of the orientation of upward mobility through marriage "A Virgin is an elite among females" -In many societies we see this association of women's chastity with family honor and reputation -When woman is deflowered sometimes there is a big ceremony
Emergence of state and virginity (value of virginity continued)
Ortner suggests the preoccupation with female chastity is somehow bound up with the historical emergence of the state in the evolution of human societies ---> before state structures woman were perceived as dangerous, with rise of the state they were seen as "in danger" (Their virginity and purity must be protected)
Westermarck Effect
People living in close domestic proximity in early years of their life become desensitized to sexual attraction -- Simpua was unattractive because of this
Gender Ideologies
Refers to the "attitudes, beliefs, assumptions, regarding the appropriates roles, rights, and responsibilities of men and women in society Examples of gender ideology: - Bathroom signs -Dress codes - Virginity tests in Indonesia (in order to get their diploma→ argument was they should not be engaging in sex)
Moran Age Grades
Samburu age sets: -Boy -Adolescent (Moran) -Elder Moranhood -Begins with circumcision which is supposed to be "traumatic" and intensely painful -The initiate must remain silent and motionless -Could take 4 minutes or longer -Hair cutting is often a representation of shedding old (young) self -Gilmore writes that an initiate should not show fear or he will shame himself and his whole lineage as a coward -As part of the ceremony, the male must forswear his mother
Fleeing rather than fighting
Semai have reputation of fleeing from danger instead of fighting - No concept of male honor - Known as least aggressive people on earth -They believe aggressing angers the spirits and would put the whole village in jeopardy
Metrosexuals
Spornisexual men: sports, porn, metrosexual Men who go to the gym in order to share eroticized images on social media New technologies in plastic surgery, exercise regimes, chemicals like botox and dillers allow us to believe we can become and remain youthful and beautiful -Metrosexual men care about appearance (clothes and body
Mahu
Tahitian aka token homosexual homosexual men who dressed as women but were still active in sex third gender traditionally spirtual
Kin Work
The conception, maintenance, and ritual celebration of cross-household kind ties ** Can be done through: - regular visits -letters -telephone calls -Organized celebrations (reunions, Christmas dinner, easter brunch, etc.)
Cultural Constructions of Gender
The ideas that members of society hold about gender and how these are represented in language, symbols, and myths
Mediating symbols
The mind may produce signs or symbols that mediate between categories or oppositions - Ex: reincarnation, heaven, nirvana... all mediating categories between Life and Death
Binary Oppositions
The way the mind organizes the world into clear opposing categories -male vs female - masculine vs feminine -culture vs nature
How does the example of the hijras support the argument that gender identity can be a gradual, fluid process and not either/ or?
They demonstrate that people who don't identify in the binary can appear between genders and have certain qualities of both genders, but also be completely different For example: Hijras ARE NOT MEN -They must wear female attire -Long hair, jewelry, make upi -They may not shave but pluck their beards -Must behave like females (walk, sit, stand) -They take female names and in some cases have special language -If they can, they take on female occupations -They are impotent Hijras ARE NOT WOMEN -They act in exaggerated caricatures of women -They are sexually aggressive and explicit -They use coarse language -Lift up skirts -Don't give birth or menstruate
Simpua
To avoid the high costs of marriage- a young girl may be adopted at birth so their son may have a wife and incur less debt this way
Eunuch
Typically understood as castrated male, but may be used to refer to celibate or impotent males who do not marry or reproduce
Hypergamy
Up- status marriage, usually between higher status men and lower status women - way for a woman and her kin group to improve their social situation ----> partner argues this could be a reason a women's purity is valued, it make a girl more valuable for a higher status spouse - knowing her daughter may benefit from up-status marriage, a mother may reinforce the system of female virginity
How does the uterine family work in Taiwanese culture?
Uterine families are seen in Taiwanese culture because mother's are expected to have children right after marriage and in a lot of cases, a close relationship with a woman and her son will allow her to have some power when her son is older -Patrilineal (descent is reckoned through males) -Patrilocal (sons bring wives to their house) -Male offspring are necessary for the extending of the family line -Sons are favored after daughters - **Filial Piety**
How do we know our society is hegemonically heteronormative?
We know this because the norm those who are not heterosexual are expected to "come" out and label themselves as different **American sexual categories and gender ideologies tend to be based on binary opposites: -Male & female -Man & woman -Heterosexual & homosexual -Encapsulate personality and identity ****To be healthy one must admit an embrace one's sexual identity; to come out**** - In the case of gender dysphoria ---> the response is surgical;- to align the body with the gender identity so as to restore the binary
Dowry
Wealth or goods that a bride brings with her to marriage
HEGEMONY/ HEGEMONIC
When an ideology is so pervasive/ dominant that it seems natural and inevitable
Gender Pollution (Ortner, Gottlieb)
Women are also considered of lower status because they are viewed as polluting - period, childbirth, etc. - Not allowed to cook, have sex, or enter religious places when menstruating and some cultures even have menstrual huts so "they don't pollute or defile other males they may come in contact with"
Why are women exchanged and not men?
Women are objects of men's desire and are considered subordinate to men, due to binary oppositions
Why has kin work become associated with women in our culture?
Women generally are more associated with the responsibility and coordinating of kin work because they are often more worried about the well being and emotional state of other family members (leads to checking up/ visiting, etc)
How might woman's roles and statuses within the household change over their lifetime
Women in a lot of cultures enter a family as a wife who is brought in, in matrifocal families, her role will evolve from doing all the work her mother in law orders her too to eventually being the head of the household
HETERONORMATIVE
a society or group for which hetero relations and desires are considered normative and become accepted as the "natural order" or "norm"
Levirate (or widow inheritance)
a widow was automatically married to her husband's brother or a cousin or uncle on the death of her husband, she had been paid for by family and was not allowed to leave the family or her husband, also she could not own property (ensures wealth, property, and offspring can't leave the husband's family) -A widow may in fact have the right to require her deceased husband's family provide for her and may have the obligation to accept the man they put forward by the family with no real responsibility of turning him down - If a family "paid" for the bride, they can literally own her and do with her what they want
Berdache/ Two spirit
label for native American male to female gender variant ( can be both male and female, or neither, or as separate genders of their own) - said to have unique spiritual powers which provided them with a source of prestige in community *** More important than their sexuality is their occupational/ gender role***
Soft masculinity
not all men live up to masculine ideals; we see evidence of the emergence of alternatives to the hegemonic conception of masculinity in many areas of Asia - New forms of masculinity referred to as "soft masculinity" are emerging Many of these young men are not interested on the corporate work ethic and the norms that say men must dress a certain way and present themselves a certain way
Hybridity
the way of recognizing the inherently mixed characteristic of culture. Cultures evolved historically through borrowings, appropriations, exchanges and inventions
What are critiques of Ortner's nature culture thesis?
women can be seen as cultural but still seen as inferior bc they are polluting, what about trans women
Filial Piety
your parents took care of you so you owe them when they grow old "Repayment" takes the form of: -Difference and obedience -Providing the parent with a comfortable old age -After death, veneration of the parent as a spirit -Producing another generation to continue those duties to ancestors after child's death
