Gender and Sex

Sex, sex as foundation of kinship, sexual behavior, sexual restrictions, gender, gender roles, gender division of labor, and gender status.

1. Gender and Sex
The Biological and Cultural
Foundations of Kinship

2. Gender and Sex
•Sex: Refers to all the physical attributes
separating women and men
•Gender: Refers to the cultural attributes
derived from sex differences.
•This section will
•Elaborate on these differences
•Discuss restrictions on sexual activity,
especially the incest tabu
•Describe gender roles
•Look at gender status

3. Where It All Begins: Sex
Characteristics
•Sex: physical characteristics of
sexes
•Primary sex characteristics:
reproductive organs
•Secondary sex characteristics:
the body attributes of each sex

4. A Refresher on Male Sex
Characteristics
•Males of our and all
species have:
•Testicles that produce
sperm
•Sperm that fertilizes the
ovum
•And contributes half the
genes
•Penis transmits sperm to
the vagina when
reproducing

5. A Refresher on Female
Sex Characteristics
•Females of our and all species
have
•Ovaries that produce ova (sing.
ovum, egg)
•Oviducts or Fallopian tubes that
convey the egg to the
•Vagina, the “reception area” of
the sperm
•The Uterus, where the egg is
fertilized and then implanted
•And where the embryo/fetus
develops the next 9 months

6. Secondary Sex
Characteristics: Mammals
•Sexual Dimorphism:
Differences in secondary
characteristics
•Gibbons: Females and males
are indistinguishable (top)
•Peacocks: Males have showy
feathers
•Females are neutrally
colored
•Here, a peacock woos a
peahen (bottom)

7. Secondary Sex
Characteristics: Human
–Ce
ns
ore
d
•Human sexual dimorphism
falls somewhere in between
gibbons and peacocks
•Women:
•Pendulous breasts for
lactation
•Wide pelvis for childbirth
•Men:
•Facial hair
•Greater grip strength
•Larger hearts and lungs
•Narrow pelvis
•(Censorship courtesy of
Ethnocentrity, Inc. )

8. Gender characteristics
•Gender: the cultural attributes
arising from sex differences
•Haviland: “Cultural elaboration
and meanings assigned to the
biological differentiation between
the sexes”
•Examples
•Gender roles: bread winning,
child rearing
•Behavior: emotional expression,
assertiveness
•Clothing; ornamentation; make-up
(50s North America, Moroccan
caftans, veil)

9. Rules Governing Sexual
Behavior
•All societies restrict sexual behavior in
some way
•Only 5% confine sexual behavior to
marriage (including us)
•Severity of punishment is one case of
control (honor homicides)
•Clitoridectomy removes source of sexual
pleasure
•Incest tabus are de facto restrictions, such
as village-level tabus

10. Enforcing Sexual Prohibitions:
Honor Homicides
•Honor homicides occur
across the Middle East
•Offense: adultery, even in
rape cases
•Upper left: Scene from
threat to stone Mary
Magdalen for adultery
•Both men and women could
be stoned to death, as in
Afghanistan (lower left)
•A question of ethical
relativism

11. Clitoricectomy and
Circumcision
•Africa, Middle East:
Clitoridectomy removes sexual
pleasure in women
•Above: Kipsigis girls preparing
for clitoridectomy
•Often, parts of vulva are sewn
afterward to ensure virginity
•Circumcision is questionable as
well
•As suggested in this political
cartoon from Australia

12. Incest Tabu
•Definition: A rule that forbids copulation
between two persons of defined
relationships
•Incest is often confused with marriage
•Exogamy: a rule that forbid marriage
between persons of defined relationships

13. The Emotional Power of the
Incest Tabu: Lot’s Daughters
•Story of Lot’s departure from
Sodom/Gomorrah
•Wife looks back and turns into
pillar of salt
•Believing they are the only
humans alive,
•Lot’s daughters induce him (with
wine) to impregnate them
•Older daughter founds Moab
•Younger daughter founds the
Ammonites
•Incest is one justification for
Israelites to exterminate both
peoples
•Could this be a patriarchal
interpretation? Perhaps

14. Incest Tabu: Primary Kin
•Primary kin: parent-child,
siblings
•Father-daughter
•Mother-son
•Brother sister
•Exceptions: Egyptian,
Inca, Hawaiian
•Allowed only in royal
line: “purity”

15. Incest Tabu: Secondary
Kin
•Definition: All kin other than
immediate family
•Tabu varies by culture
•Anglo-Americans: first cousins
•Scene from Ararat: Step-siblings
(upper right) are in gray area
•Navajo: all people of the same
clan
•Yanomamo: one’s own lineage
•However, cross-cousin marriage
is prescribed (lower right)

16. Incest Tabu and
Exogamy: Differences
•Incest tabu: prohibits sexual relations
between persons of defined relations
•Exogamy: prohibits marriage between
persons of defined relations
•Arunta of Australia:
•Marriage to mother mother’s brother’s
daughter’s daughter
•Marriage exogamous: involved 2
patrilineages
•Sexuality: allowed outside primary kin

17. Incest Tabu and
Exogamy: Significance
•Reasons for incest tabu tend to be
biological or psychological
•Inbreeding theory
•Lack-of-interest/revulsion theory
•Sexual competition theory
•Reasons for exogamy:
sociological/political
•Marriage creates alliances
•Marriage cements intergroup ties

18. Why Incest Tabus?
•Short answer:
•No one really knows
•All explanations have some defect
•Other animals species also avoid
inbreeding those that are large,
slow to mature, long-lived, and
intelligent
•Counterexamples: brother-sister
marriage in Roman Egypt

19. Biological (Genetic)
Explanations:
Background
•Background to explanation
•Mating: each parent contribute
half of genes
•Variation of a gene: alleles.
•Alleles are dominant or
recessive

20. Biological (Genetic)
Explanations
•Dominant gene appears in
phenotype
•Deleterious alleles
•Definition: those alleles that are
harmful, even fatal
•When 2 recessive deleterious
genes come together
•The deleterious allele appears
in lifeform

21. Biological (Genetic)
Explanation
•Fears of inbreeding deters incest
•Birth defects: Mental and physical
disabilities (Charles II of Spain)
•Lower intelligence (e.g. Down
syndrome)
•Anomalous characteristics
(Mohammed Kalid, Lebanese)
•Parallel Cousin Marriage common
in Middle East
•Assumptions:
•Individuals have facts of life
straight
•Defect attributed to inbreeding
•No close marriages

22. Biological (Genetic):
Shortcomings
•Connection between copulation
and childbirth often not made
•Rapan (Easter) Islanders: woman
is fertile during menstruation
•Other explanation may explain
childbirth (witchcraft, evil spirit in
womb)
•Tarahumara women avoided this
man, a shaman thought to prevent
births
•Defect may not show up for
generations
•Widespread cross-cousin marriage
also entail inbreeding: evidence is
mixed

23. Lack-of-Interest
Explanation
•Close kin do not mate for
lack of interest or revulsion
against idea
•Familiarity breeds
contempt--or boredom
•Example: Israeli kibbutz
(collective farm)
•Spiro: observed marriage
rarely occurs in kibbutz
•Attribution: lack of interest
in long-familiar cohorts (e.g.
these children in 1936)

24. Lack of Interest
Explanation:
Shortcomings
•Counterexample: Israeli kibbutz
•Most late teenagers leave kibbutz
to join army--both males and
females are drafted (left)
•Marriage occurs when they have
left kibbutz
•Exceptions need explanation:
brother-sister marriage in Roman
Egypt
•Logic: Why a tabu for something
that no one would engage in
anyway?

25. Sexual Competition
Explanations
•Sexual jealousy disrupts family
relations
•Freud: Oedipus/Electra complex
•Rivalry between child and same-
sex parent
•Can assume jealousy without
Freudian baggage
•Shortcomings
•Multiple marriage: polygyny
(upper left) and polyandry
•Fraternal polyandry (lower left)
and sororal polygyny mitigate
tension

26. Sexuality: Some
Conclusions
•Kinship Starts with the facts of
life themselves
•Sexual behavior has limitations
everywhere
•Examples of sanctions: honor
homicide, clitoridectomy
•Incest tabus and their
explanations

27. Gender Division of
Labor: Definitions
•Definition: An arrangement whereby
men perform some tasks and women
others.
•Three basic questions
•Does every society have different
work for males and females? Yes.
•Do they divide work in similar ways?
Depends
•What explains these differences?

28. Gender Division of Labor:
Gender-Exclusive Tasks
•Men generally
•Handle heavier tasks
•Handle dangerous tasks
•Engage in warfare
•Exercise political leadership
•Women generally
•Handle domestic duties
•Rear children
•Fetch water

29. Gender Division of
Labor: Shared Tasks
•Either or both genders
•Perform handicrafts: weaving,
leatherworks, pottery, basketry
•Milk Plant, tend, and harvest
crops
•animals
•Preserve meat or fish

30. Gender Division of
Labor: Explanations
•Main explanations
•Strength Explanations
•Compatibility-with-Child-Care
Explanations
•Male Expendability
Explanations
•All do not apply to all places

31. Strength Explanations
•Ability to mobilize strength in
quick bursts of energy
•Matches most task done by
males (slash and burn)
•However, women handle tasks
involving heavy labor (!Kung)
•Fishing (Yahgan)
•Herd large animals (Maasai)
•Clear land
•Carry heavy loads while
cultivating (Nepal)

32. Compatibility-with-Child
Care Explanations
•Women handle tasks
compatible with child care
(especially at breast-feeding)
•Tasks are interruptible to
tend to child
•Tasks do not take them away
for long
•Tasks do not place children
in danger
•However, main marketers are
women, who spend long time
away from home (below)
•Child care is often
exchanged with others

33. Male Expenditure
Explanations
•Men usually engage in
dangerous work (or warfare)
•Loss of men less
disadvantageous to society’s
survival
•Than loss of women, who have
reproductive power
•Shortcomings: Women also
take on dangerous tasks
•Atga (Philippines): Women hunt
(lower left)
•Yahgan: fish in rough seas

34. Status of Women
•Warfare tends to maximize male
dominance
•Maasai: warlike until British
invasion; residence patrilocal
•Where women own property,
tend to dominate, though
indirectly
•Iroquois were cultivators,
owned property, had much
influence in tribal affairs
•Foraging: !Kung women
contribute most of food, have
greater say in band.

35. Conclusion
•Sex is the first organizer of human
society
•This is filtered culturally through
gender
•Gender labor and status depends on
cultural factors
•Explanations for these differences
continue to be advanced