SMC Anthropology Gender and Sexuality Discussion

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Santa Monica College

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If a person from a culture or country that has a different set of sexuality and gender categories travels to the US, which sexuality and gender categories should people in the US use to classify them?
• If you travel outside of your culture or country to another culture or country that has a different set of sexuality and gender categories, which sexuality and gender categories should be used by the people of this culture or country to classify you?

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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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Anthropology discussion
Part one
Difference in culture causes a cultural clash among people. Anthropologists in the past
have suggested that humans are classified into two known genders, male or female. A person
who moves to the USA for the first time is likely to be referred to as binary gender. This is
because America allows people of either gender to identify as the other gender. A person may
choose to identify with the male gender if they need to. An anthropologist Ruth Benedict
i...


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