Human Sexuality

Defines sex and gender; looks at human sexuality as basis of culture and society; discusses cultural restrictions on sexuality; honor killings and clitoridectomy are two sanctons relating to sexuality.

1. Human Sexuality
The Biological Foundation of
Kinship

2. A Cultural Universal: Sex and its
Cultural Derivative, Gender
If there is a universal among all cultures, let
alone most animals, it is sex.
Because we are cultural beings, gender
differences is everywhere present.
This section looks at the following:
The differences between sex and gender
The range of sexual restriction (sorry, we won’t
look at people “doing it” across cultures)
The incest tabu and explanations of why this
tabu is so widespread in the world’s culture.
The question of gender status
The gender division of labor

3. Gender and Sex
Sex refers to all the physical attributes that distinguish
women and men
They include the reproductive systems and the body
attributes of each sex.
Gender refers to the cultural attributes derived from sex
differences.
The clothing styles that women and men wear is cultural.
The stereotyped personality differences is cultural; the
kind of behavior expected from each gender
The tasks assigned to one gender or the other is derived
from cultural expectations.
And, finally, the question of status between the two
genders is a cultural one. The genders are nearly equal in
status in some cultures and very unequal among others.

4. Where It All Begins: Sex
Characteristics
There are two types of sex characteristics:
Primary sex characteristics are the
reproductive organs.
Secondary sex characteristics are
the body attributes of each sex.
Sexual dimorphism refers to the extent
to which the secondary characteristics are
evident between women and men.
What follows is a refresher on sex
education.

5. 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
The penis transmits sperm to
the vagina when reproducing.
To overstate the obvious, the
male role is brief, measurable in
minutes.

6. A Refresher on Female Sex
Characteristics
Females of our and all species have
Ovaries that produce ova (sing. ovum,
or egg) then send them through the
Oviducts or Fallopian tubes that
convey the egg to the
Uterus, “the “reception area” of the egg
where, once fertilized by the sperm, the
zygote (fertilized egg) is implanted.
Beforehand, the vagina has received
the sperm which goes through the
cervix and into the uterus.
Starting as the zygote, the lifeform as
embryo then fetus develops in the uterus
for the next nine months.
To state the obvious again, the
reproductive role of the female takes
much longer than that of the male

7. Reproductive Process: The Implications of
Cooperation Between the Sexes
The sperm enters the cell wall of the ovum and fertilizes the
nucleus, starting the process of mitosis that will lead to the
embryo, fetus, and infant (upper left)
Of course, there are misconceptions as to the facts of life. . .
(upper right)
In any event, it is clear why conception involves two
constants that kinship has to address.

8. Secondary Sex Characteristics
Definition: Those physical characteristics that define the
two sexes but not directly related to reproduction.
The associated characteristics may be quite pronounced
among some species and barely perceptible among others.
Culture plays a role in defining their importance; nudity is
allowed in some societies (mostly in tropical regions)
whereas it is illegal in our own.
The Yanomamo and other societies in and near Amazonia
allow near-nudity; yet even then Yanomamo males feel
immodest without a penis string. Dani and other Western
New Guinean males wear a namba or penis sheath.
In one sense, this shows that nudity is separated from
sexual behavior; jealousy does occur among the
Yanomamo, as does the incest tabu and mother-in-law
avoidance.

9. Secondary Sex Characteristics:
Animal Species
Sexual dimorphism varies from
barely noticeable to the extreme.
Gibbons: Females and males are
indistinguishable from each other
(top photo)
(Burning question: would a gibbon
buy Playboy or Playgirl—for the
interviews, of course.)
Peacocks: Males have showy
feathers—with functions of sexual
attraction—while females are
neutrally colored
Here, a peacock woos a peahen
(bottom)

10. Secondary Sex Characteristics:
Human Species
»Censored
Human sexual dimorphism falls
somewhere in the middle range
of all animal species
Women have the following
Pendulous breasts for lactation
Wide pelvis for childbirth
Men have the following
Facial hair
Greater grip strength
Larger hearts and lungs
Narrow pelvis
(Censorship courtesy of
Ethnocentrity, Inc. )

11. Gender Characteristics
Gender: the cultural attributes arising from
sex differences
Haviland define gender as the “Cultural
elaboration and meanings assigned to the
biological differentiation between the sexes”
Examples include the following
Gender roles: bread winning among the
men until the mid-20
th
century; child rearing
among women until about the same time.
Behavior: emotional expression (women),
assertiveness (men)
Clothing, ornamentation, make-up were
distinctive in 1940s North America (upper).
Morocco: Both men and women wear
caftans; women’s caftans are more
decorative; and most women also wear the
veil (lower).

12. Rules Governing Sexual Behavior
All societies restrict sexual behavior in one way or
another
Only 5% of the world’s cultures limit sexual behavior to
marriage (including us, despite the “Sexual Revolution)
Of course, how we behave differs from the norm, in sexual
as well as other matters.
Severity of punishment is more widespread, such as the
“honor homicides” in the Middle East (next panel)
Clitoridectomy removes source of sexual pleasure in women
throughout the Middle East and Africa (next panel)
Incest tabus are de facto restrictions, such as tabus in the
family and the wider kin networks.

13. Enforcing Sexual Prohibitions: Honor
Homicides
Honor homicides occur across the Middle
East, usually in stoning the victim, usually
but not always women.
“Offense” is adultery, even in rape cases
where a raped woman at least precludes her
marriage
Upper left: A biblical scene of a mob
threatening to stone Mary Magdalene for
adultery.
This is the scene in which Jesus, on being
asked about stoning her, says “Let him who
is without sin cast the first stone.”
Both men and women could be stoned to
death, as in Afghanistan (lower left)
Here, a man is being stoned to death; the
already dead woman is in the circle.
A question of ethical relativism; do we as
anthropologists suspend our judgment of
this practice?

14. Clitoricectomy and Circumcision
Clitoridectomy is the removal of the clitoris in
women; it eliminates sexual pleasure
Often, the term “circumcision” is applied to
both women and men, but it obscures the
distinction; in men, only the foreskin of the
penis is opened and removed.
Above: Kipsigis girls (in veils) of East Africa
are preparing for clitoridectomy.
Often, parts of the vulva are sewn afterward
to ensure virginity.
Circumcision in males has also been
questioned as a valid practice as well, as
suggested in this political cartoon.
For more information, log on to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sBhTYEE030

15. On Human Sex and Sexuality
No matter the culture, two persons must
always get together to reproduce offspring.
There are restrictions everywhere on
mating.
Some sanctions may be preventive
(clitoridectomy, for example), and others
may be punitive (honor killings by stoning,
to cite an example)
The most universal prohibition is the incest
tabu, which we take up next.