GENDER AND SEXUALITY
Learning Objectives
• Differentiate the terms ‘sexuality’ and ‘gender.’
• Understand terms used in the study of sexuality and gender.
• Describe how sexuality and gender is practiced in different
subsistence strategies and political systems (band, tribal,
Chiefdoms, modern State).
• Understand the concept of “third genders.”
Gender: social construction of masculine and feminine identity,
roles and status
Sex: physical or biological construction (sexual organs) of what
constitutes a man and a woman
Gender division of labor: acceptable roles for women and men
in society
Cisgender: a person’s gender identity matches the sex they were
assigned at birth
male genitalia = male
female genitalia = female
Transgender: people with a gender identity different from their
assigned sex at birth
sexual orientation may be identified as heterosexual,
homosexual, bisexual, asexual, or refuse to identify
Non-binary/Gendergueer: gender identity that is not exclusively
masculine or feminine
outside the gender binary and cisgender
Productive gender roles: labor activities that can potentially bring
wealth to an individual
!
historically associated with men
Reproductive gender roles: labor activities that do not bring
wealth to the individual , but are essential for the smooth
functioning of the household and care of its members
!
historically associated with women (domestic)
• Cooking
• Childcare
• Cleaning
Double Day/Second Shift
Double Day: women are expected to participate in both productive
and reproductive work
men, only participate in productive (paid) work
!
adding together subsistence (productive) with domestic
(reproductive) work, women work more hours/day than do
men
Subsistence Activities
Domestic Work
More by Men
16
Men do Virtually None
51
Equal
61
49
More by Women
23
Men do Some, Mostly
Done by Women
(Kottak 2008: 256-257)
Public/Private Gender Divide
Public (street) = male centered ! political, economic
Home (private) = women centered ! apolitical, “non-working”
• Public spheres are more prestigious than private spheres.
• Men in public sphere speak for their women (wives,
daughters, mothers, sisters).
• Women relegated to domestic activities close to the home.
Gender stratification: unequal distribution of resources, power,
prestige, & personal freedom of men and women in society
Gender stereotypes: oversimplified ideas about the supposed
inherent characteristics of men and women
MEN
strong
analytical
reserved
tough love
WOMEN
weak
emotional
chatty
nurturing
Gender Among Hunters & Gatherers
Men = hunters
Women = gatherers
In tropical regions, women’s gathering contributes more to food
intake than men’s hunting
Public/private gender dichotomy tends not to be as pronounced
as in more complex societies
Relations between genders tend towards egalitarianism
Gender Among Horticulturalists
Varies widely dependent on rules of descent and postmarital
residence
• High women’s status = matrilineal descent
= matrilocal residence
matrilineal descent: descent and kinship relationships traced
through women
matrilocal residence: husband and wife live with or near
wife’s parents
Tend to occur in areas where …
- population pressure on strategic natural resources is low
- warfare is infrequent
Women frequently control food production and distribution
Female deities exist alongside male deities
Women own land and inherit land
• Men’s status high, women’s status low = patrilineal descent
= patrilocal residence
patrilineal descent: descent and kinship traced through
line of men
patrilocal residence: husband and wife live with or near
husband’s parents
Tend to occur in areas where…
- population pressure on resources
- warfare is common
Sharp distinctions between public and private spheres
men’s activities (e.g. hunting) deemed more prestigious
than women’s activities
Often these societies have men’s houses separated from women
Often women’s sexuality seen as potentially harmful to men
Gender in Agricultural Societies
Nuclear family became more common with advent of agricultural
societies
women became more isolated from her kin
Increase in plow agriculture led to greater gender stratification and
decline in women’s status (Boserup 1970)
!
!
male control over agricultural technology
male control over credit
Gender & Colonialism in Latin America
Pre-colonial Latin American gender & sexuality:
men’s & women’s roles seen as complementary to one another
- male and female deities (= gods)
- parallel descent = men transmitting rights, property to
male offspring; women transmitting to female offspring
often premarital sexual unions were acceptable
trial marriages were common in Andes (Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia)
Spanish, Portuguese gender relations in Latin America:
- women viewed as legal minors
- men had legal control over their women (husbands over
wives, fathers over children)
Marianismo: pious woman was virginal, submissive, relegated to
home
Machismo: fearless, dominant male with unquestioned authority
over his women
Gender in Industrial Societies
Industrial societies have sharp distinction between public and
private gender roles
Traditionally women’s place was/is in the home
men = work outside of the home
= income earners
women = domestic labor
= wages seen as supplementary to husbands’
Men’s pay is frequently higher than women’s for equal work
% Female/Male Earnings
JOB
MEN
WOMEN
1989
2003
Management/Business
$60,447
$42,064
61
70
Professional
$58,867
$40,298
71
68
Sales
$39,491
$27,803
54
70
Service
$26,447
19,970
62
76
(Kottak 2008: 266)
Women often hit “glass ceiling” limiting career advancement
Feminization of Poverty
Worldwide, female headed households are poorer than male-headed
and both parent households
survival rates of children in these households are lower
Worldwide, # female-headed households has risen since WWII
- (Buvinic 1995): 20% of South & Southeastern Asia households
- Western Europe: 24% of households in 1980 to 30% in 2000
Female-Headed Households & Poverty in US
(Seager 2009)
Race/Ethnicity
All Families
Female-Headed
Households
American Indian
23%
42%
Hispanic
19%
39%
African-American
22%
36%
Asian
8%
18%
White (non-Hispanic)
7%
24%
Sexuality
Sexuality: sexual desires, sexual practices and sexual orientation
Sexual orientation: arousal and sexual attraction towards other
human beings
• Heterosexual: opposite sex attraction
• Homosexual: same sex attraction
• Bisexual/pansexual: sexual attraction towards both men
and women
• Asexual: lack of sexual attraction towards men or women
(American Academy of Pediatrics, 2004)
“The mechanisms for the development of a
particular sexual orientation remain unclear, but
the current literature and most scholars in the
field state that one's sexual orientation is not a
choice; that is, individuals do not choose to be
homosexual or heterosexual.”
(Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2007)
“Despite almost a century of psychoanalytic and psychological
speculation, there is no substantive evidence to support the
suggestion that the nature of parenting or early childhood
experiences play any role in the formation of a person's
fundamental heterosexual or homosexual orientation. It would
appear that sexual orientation is biological in nature, determined
by a complex interplay of genetic factors and the early uterine
environment. Sexual orientation is therefore not a choice, though
sexual behaviour clearly is.”
Broad Institute (MIT) 2019 Same-sex Study
“An international study finds that same-sex sexual behavior is
influenced by both genes and non-genetic factors…”
“These results do not make any conclusive statements about the degree
to which “nature” and “nurture” influence sexual orientation or
behavior, but indicate that both are likely to play a role.”
(Study data was derived from >470,000 participants in UK BioBank and
23andMe.)
“…there is no “gay gene” that determines whether a person will have
same-sex partners in their lifetime.”
Five Sexes?
(Fausto-Sterling 1993)
Intersexual: individuals with a combination of male and female
genitalia, gonads, and/or chromosomes
US medical data shows that about 1.7% of all births are
intersexual births
Traditionally, surgery was prescribed to change intersexuals to one
sex only (usually male)
Difference of Human Sexual Behavior
with Other Animals
Most mammals engage in public sex; most humans do not
Most mammals engage in sex with female ovulates; humans engage
in sexual activity any time
Human women go through menopause (= lose fertility); other
mammals are fertile throughout adult years
Humans, dolphins, and bonobos are believed to be only mammals
who engage in sexual activity for fun
Heterosexism/Heteronormality: belief than heterosexuality is normal
and all other sexual orientations are abnormal
(In US, homosexuality was considered a personality disorder by the
American Psychiatric Association until 1973)
Homophobia: fear, prejudice, and negative acting-out towards
homosexuals
homosexual adolescents in US have high suicide rates in comparison to
non-homosexual youth (Whitaker 1990)
!
as a result of societal and familia stigma attached to
homosexuality
(Alfred) Kinsey Scale of Sexual Orientation
Sexual orientation of human beings is on a continuum from exclusively
heterosexual (0) to exclusively homosexual (6)
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
exclusive
hetero
mostly
hetero
Hetero w/
substantial
homo exp.
Equal
hetero/
homo
Homo w/
substantial
hetero exp.
mostly
homo
exclusive
homo
Many cultures do not consider same-sex, sexual encounters to identify
someone as being homosexual
In some areas of world, in male-male sexual relations, men retain their
heterosexual identity if they take male role in sexual encounter (penetrate)
In some areas of world, boys begin sexual activity with same sex relations
(with adult men) before they begin heterosexual relations with women
Ritualized Homosexuality:
Sambia, New Guinea (Herdt 1984)
Semen = life force
= source of male strength
Women seen as potentially draining life force from men
!
adolescent boys must engage in fellatio with older males to
nourish and build their strength and vitality
!
sexual
this allows boys to engage later in life in healthy
relations with women in adulthood
Third Genders?
Many cultures recognize more than two genders
In most cases, these are people who are born as biological men who
transform into third genders in adulthood
Often these third genders are believed to have special spiritual
powers
Two-spirit:
Indigenous North America
People who take on culturally defined gender roles of other sex
than their own
Male two-spirit were considered skilled in women’s crafts and
domestic work
women two-spirit sometimes had reputations as superior
hunters and warriors
Frequently had sexual relations with people of same biological
sex, but neither person was considered homosexual
Hijras:
India
Born biological males who through castration become neither
men nor women
Hijras worship Bahuchara Mata = Hindu Mother Goddess
associated with transgenderism
Wear women’s clothes, take feminine names, and only have
male sexual partners
Traditionally perform at marriages and bless children
(particularly boys) when they are born
References
Aulette, Judy Root, Judith Wittner, and Kristing Blakely. 2009. Gendered Worlds. Oxford University Press.
Bolin, Anne and Patricia Whelehan. 2004. Perspectives on Human Sexuality. McGraw-Hill.
Bonvillan, Nancy. 2007. 4th edition. Women and Men: Cultural Constructions of Gender. Pearson Prentice Hall.
Connell, R.W. 2002. Gender: Short Introductions. Polity.
Ferber, Abby, Kimberly Holcomb and Tre Wentling. 2009. Sex, Gender, and Sexuality: The New Basics, An Anthology. Oxford
University Press.
Gilmore, David. 1990. Manhood in the Making: Cultural Concepts of Masculinity. Yale University Press.
Herdt, Gilbert. 1987. The Sambia: Ritual and Gender in New Guinea. Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Hyde, Janet Shibley and John Dlamater. 2008. 10th edition. Understanding Human Sexuality. McGraw-Hill.
Mascia-Lees, Frances and Nancy Johnson Black. 2017. 2nd edition. Gender and Anthropology. Waveland Press, Inc.
Nanda, Serena. 1999. 2nd edition. The Hijras of India: Neither Man nor Woman. Wadsworth.
National Geographic Learning Reader. 2013. Gender Roles: A Cross-cultural Perspective. Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Ward, Martha and Monica Edelstein. 2006. 4th edition. A World Full of Women. Allyn and Bacon.
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