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Concept of masculinity and feminism
Gender roles in certain societies
Social influences on gender roles
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Gender roles, are viewed as masculine and feminine in civilized societies, it is socialist created through behavior, bodily functions, and qualities that govern human beings. However, societal norms are essential for survival in any culture around the world. As a result, gender roles in a primitive society are inherent in the necessity of the existence of one culture. In addition, the dynamic of gender roles creates the illusion of the men being in charge of the society, and responsible to propagate their value. Comparatively, gender roles among the Dobe Ju/’hoansi and the KapuaKu Papuans, both aboriginal population share similarities aspects of manhood. Subsequently, for the most part is the masculine figure who takes the risk of mother nature, and the role of the use of man's strength to perform their duties. Therefore, the feminine performs all the light work in and around the house, including the care of their small children. Conversely, in both societies the male figure resembles one another, particularly in the process of hunting dangerous animals, the subsistence to work, and the creation of tools making. In both tribes is clearly that the hard work performed by the feminine is equal or identical important to the one performed by the adult male. Gender roles have the same traditions among the Dobe Ju/’hoansi and the KapuaKu Papuans indigenous. Identically, in both tribes the practice of the women to support the men in gathering food to sustenance the economy of their households is fairly acceptable, and also foraging is essential to accumulate all the nutrients require for a healthy diet. Hence, the average hours spent by the women's performing her duties are twice longer than the men in the valley floor and in the D... ... middle of paper ... ...older adult male or women that has lived close to the waterhole the longest and name this point after that person. Similarly, the strength and coherence of the Kapauku reside over the nuclear polygamous families. Although, the men possess considerable power, and support more than one family at a time, the cohesion is relatively similar to the one of the Ju/’hoansi. The Kapauku men play an integral responsibility for more than one house at a time, not only the sexual relation, but the social instruction and control of the children. Therefore, is the male figures who are seen as the head of the household and responsible to induce punishment of the wrongdoing of his wife and kids. Also, is the head of the house legally responsible for the offenses perpetrated by his family. There is a small difference in Gender Roles between the Dobe people and the Papuans tribe.
The housing of the Batek is quite simple and consists of a camp-like structure, with each camp consisting of about five to six nuclear families. Thus, nuclear families consist of a father, a mother, and their children. Their economic organization is based on hunting, gathering and collecting forest products for trade, although hunting is the primary mode of subsistence. Due to the theory of equality both men and women in this society produce and share food. The responsibilities of the women is to daily gather vegetable food while the men concentrate on hunting game, although, roles can be reversed. The equal contributions of each person to the food- supply are considered equally important. No rules are set for separating the activities of the sexes in hunting and gathering food, once the plant resources are depleted, they move to another area within their habitat in order to survive and live.
This is clearly not the case.”. She continues with, “Gender, like kinship, does have a biological referent, but beyond a universal recognition of male and female "packages," different cultures have chosen to associate very different behaviors, interactions, and statuses with men and women. Gender categories are arbitrary constructions of culture, and consequently, gender-appropriate behaviors vary widely from culture to culture.” (23). Gender roles are completely defined by the culture each person lives in.
In Machi ritual practices, wholeness or balance is associated with well-being and health, therefore the performative element of gender takes precedence over the concept of gender as associated with sex. In order to achieve wholeness, it is necessary to encompass male and female principles, as well as those of youth and old age. When performing healing rituals, a machi will “assume masculine, feminine and co-gendered identities”, moving between these identities or combining them (Bacigalupo, 2007, p. 45). These co-gendered identities are fundamental to machi ritual practices. Because of the performative aspects associated with the taking on co-gendered identities, male machi will dress in traditional women’s clothing. This allows them to perform and embody the feminine aspects associated with healing and fertility. Altered states of consciousness such as dreaming, visions and trance states are also considered feminine characteristic By the same token, female machi have the ability to on the masculine aspects associated with warfare, aggression and hunting, although they do not dress in male clothing.
Amongst societies, there is a great variety of means of survival, all of which are dependent upon factors influencing the community—geographical location and structure of authority, to name a few. Such factors and the community’s ways of survival create the underlying basis of other complex issues, including the relationship between the sexes. Many anthropological papers that concentrate on the modes of production of specific groups of people have shown a connection between the modes of production and the presence or absence of gender inequality. Futhermore, there is also evidence of a further causality between the two: as a society adopts a more complex mode of production, the more distinct and apparent the sexual division of labor will appear.
Ehrenberg, Margaret. 2009. ``The Role of Women In Human Evolution``. In Gender in Cross-cultural Perspective, 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
In many countries, there are distinctive gender roles. For almost every culture, there are male and female “traits and roles”. Men are usually seen as masculine and complete all the hard work. On the other hand, women are seen as fragile and meant to stay home and tend to the children. An example of this is in Indian culture.
“Turns out you gals are useful after all!” “You mean a woman can open it?” The messages portrayed in the classic fifties housewife ads are no new phenomenon. But while society today views them and scoffs, the way traditional gender roles are perceived hasn’t improved much. Traditional gender roles can be perceived in many different ways, though always reveal the same underlying qualities. Men are thought of as the breadwinner, while women are seen as the caretakers and homemakers. While this seems like an outdated view of gender roles, it is still extremely prevalent in our society and they are stopping development. According to Planned Parenthood these “Stereotypes about gender can cause unequal and unfair treatment because of a person’s gender”(Planned
1A) The eight rules of gender define the natural attitudes of our culture towards gender. I learned theses gender rules from family, friends, and social media. One specific experience that I remember is when I was ten years old and I told my mother I like girls. She went ballistic and I got grounded. She and my dad were so upset they told me girls don’t like girls that was not how things worked. Told I would go to hell if I kept having those disgusting thoughts. When I would do anything tomboyish my parents would tell me not to do that again and get grounded or smack. My Friend remembers when she went to go visit her grandfather. She was a tomboy and he didn’t like it or liked her clothes so he took her to the store to buy dresses. He told her it was not allowed to dress like a boy because she was a girl. He was so upset that her parents were allowing her to dress like a boy. Thanks to him her parents bought her new girl clothes and she was not allowed to dress like a boy or hang out with them. She said it sucked and it lasted till about high school when her parents split and stop caring how she
Stasch, R. (2003). Separateness as a relation: The iconicity, univocally and creativity of Korowai mother‐in‐law avoidance. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 9(2), 317-337
In the Trobriand Islands due to their matrilineal society, they believe that men don’t play a role in the conception of a child. This is quite different than in our bilateral lineage descent which often states that women have eggs, but it’s the men’s sperm that does the work and fertilizes the egg. Therefore the power and functions of the family are transmitted through women. Even though the power is entrusted to men in doing so woman don’t lose power or become oppressed.
‘Boys will be boys’, a phrase coined to exonerate the entire male sex of loathsome acts past, present, and potential. But what about the female sex, if females act out of turn they are deemed ‘unladylike’ or something of the sort and scolded. This double standard for men and women dates back as far as the first civilizations and exists only because it is allowed to, because it is taught. Gender roles and cues are instilled in children far prior to any knowledge of the anatomy of the sexes. This knowledge is learned socially, culturally, it is not innate. And these characteristics can vary when the environment one is raised in differs from the norm. Child rearing and cultural factors play a large role in how individuals act and see themselves.
The roles of men and women are not the same in all cultures, especially for the Ibo and First
In all these chores, anything that would make the females expose the private parts of their bodies to outsiders is avoided and assigned to the males” (228). This shows that sometimes the women get out of doing certain chores because their private parts are not to be shown to any outsiders under any conditions. “Naturally, women are the birth-givers, as a result, musical practices around child birth; weaning and other related activities are the sole responsibilities of women. Similarly, there are roles which embody information or knowledge that men wish to pass or make exclusive to themselves” (Ibekwe 138). The women are the child bearers and are the ones that are fully responsible for
The transition of a boy to a man is very important to the Sambia, of New Guinea. This transition consists of an initiation ritual, which has 6 stages and takes between 13 and 20 years to complete. The first 3 stages are collectively focused, which I will discuss, and stages 4 through 6 are individually focused. This ritual helps to introduce the boys to male society, prepare them for adult responsibilities and is used to transmit culture (Nanda 2002: 132). The beliefs of the Sambia show a “warriors conception of manhood where men should be strong, brave, and unyielding in the pursuit of all tasks” (Herdt 1981: 50).
Female to Male as Nature is to Culture Gender relations form an integral part of human social interactions and are of great interest to anthropologists. Since the feminist movement in the late 1960s, one question that has been discussed is to what extent the opposition between women and men can be thought of in terms of the dichotomy between nature and culture and what implications this has for the position of women in society. This structuralist perspective was first formulated by Ortner (1974), drawing on Levi-Strauss and de Beauvoir, but has since been criticised for being simplistic and ethnocentric. I will delineate Ortner’s argument and look at its application to male and female roles in childbirth before examining the ways in which her line of reasoning has been found wanting. The universality of the opposition between nature and culture is questioned, and the cultural specificity and complexity of gender, power relations and sex is explored before concluding that the parallel dichotomy of nature / culture and female / male is a relatively recent Western concept which does not necessarily help us understand other societies’ gender relations.