The Traffic In Women Summary

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Sex & Gender System
In anthropologist Gayle Rubin, “The Traffic in Women: Notes on the “Political Economy” of Sex,” she analyzes the position of women in society as well as the oppression of women in culture. Using other theorist views on gender roles and how these play into the oppression of women, Rubin explains what she means by the Sex/Gender System. Rubin claims it is the dynamic of this system that explains why women tend to play an inferior role to their male counterparts. Examination using theories from Marx, Levi-Strauss and Freud, allows us to see exactly what Rubin means by the Sex/Gender System and its application to the the position of females in society. Firstly, discuss Rubin application of the theory to Marxism. That women serve a role as a reserve labor …show more content…

Using examples from Levi-Strauss “The Elementary Structure Of Kinship,” show how the Sex/Gender System is applied in sexual relationships of society. The structure which women are gifted in order to form offspring between families is important for relationships. This also touches on the incest taboo, as relationship wouldn’t develop between families if brothers could marry sisters. Lastly, using Freud’s Psychoanalysis explain how this Sex/Gender System is developed in a child during the pre-oedipal period. That solving the Oedipal complex shows to a child the Sex/Gender System plus, their gender roles. That the males have the phallus while women do not, being inferior to males. A preliminary definition of the Sex/Gender System is a set of arrangements by which a society translates biological sexuality into a product of human interaction and which all sexual needs are satisfied. The main purpose of this essay is to arrive at a more fully developed understanding and definition of the Sex/Gender System. Ending with an example of the Sex/Gender System and how it plays a part of the yearly SinBowl, in which prostitutes and their pimps flock to wherever the Superbowl is to be

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