Chapter 3: Ancestors and Neighbors Social Construction of Gender at Other Times, in Other Places

1. Chapter 3: Ancestors and NeighborsSocial Construction of Gender at Other Times, in Other Places Course Number: Gender Studies 100 Women, Men, and Society Annette Schonder Orange Coast College Division of Social Sciences Department of Sociology

2. Intro What were men and women like 5 million years ago? The caveman/ape-like, club-wielding The cavewoman/mentioned on the side/bearer of children/stirring the pot. This popular theory is being challenged.

3. Bones and Stones: The Archeological Record There is no definitive theory of human origin and evolution: Behavior leaves no fossils Many parts of human life will decay-flesh, plant materials, objects made from biodegradable materials What remains are stone and bone -> origin myths

4. Bones and Stones: Archeologists and Anthropologists have the following account: Man the hunter: 12-28 mill years ago/apes left the tress due to climate changes They adapted with bipedalism: walking upright Bodies changes/pelvis smaller/head larger ->females birthed at earlier stages->became incapacitated taking care of dependent offspring -> male the breadwinner

5. Bones and Stones Men: Breadwinner/ Man the hunter theory Due to spread of indigestible grasses in new savanna habitat -> meat became a central part of the early human diet. Needed to cooperate, banded together -> language/tools Kill was shared/women cooked This division helped in the struggle for survival and procreation Over time men and women developed different personality traits: Women empathic, nurturing, dependent Men daring, unemotional, aggressive

6. Bones and Stones: Man the hunter theory: Very similar to gender relations in industrialized nations: Biased 1. ethnocentrism: to view the world through our cultural lens Such division of gender is not universal, nor consistent through history This implies that our gender relations are correct and appropriate as it appears adaptive and natural 2. androcentrism: male centered Language, tools, competition, cooperation, material technology is seen as contingent upon the hunter role -> women only had children/cooked

7. Bones and stones: Feminist Perspective: Apes came down to expand their habitat/avoid competition Ate a variety of foods/nuts, plants, fruit, seeds, small animals, eggs Bipedalism: was to free the hands for food gathering/finding Yes, due to bipedalism offspring came earlier/were dependent, but this causes women to be more innovative in gathering food, making baby carriers (no longer had fur for baby to cling to), making carriers for food Women not passive childbearing cooks, but inventors of tools and providers ->new gender attribution Who did what with which tools Many tools were interpreted as cooking tools for vegetarian diets -> we might not have been the hunting, meat eating society but gatherers Women the gatherer vs. man the hunter -> Gynecentrism: women centeredness

8. Bones and stones: We need to look at larger question of how labor was divided See that many roles overlapped See women and men as a community See that women also made art Feminists describe men and women not just as gendered, but as active human actors

9. Our Primate Relatives: Primatology: research on living, nonhuman primates We have close genetic ties to chimpanzees and bonobos We try to learn about our history from them Problems: many species, many social arrangements (40% female dominant), many behaviors Most primate groups are matrifocal: life is centered around the mother/female, most are related biologically or socially Chimps and bonobos: leadership shifts frequently Size does not determine dominance Males chimps may try to intimidate female chimps into mating, females typically initiate sexual activity and may chose several mates who must wait for their turn Are omnivorous Females find their own food/feed offspring/sharing does occur

10. Women and Men Elsewhere: Are Western constructions of Gender Universal? • Margaret Mead • New Guinea • Nurturing, timid men • Women aggressive and competitive • All known societies have a division of labor by sex/age the kind of work varies dramatically • In some cultures women building houses/men building houses • Most cultures women cooking, some cultures men do the cooking • In a few societies women do metalwork, lumbering, hunting • Agta/Phillippines women hunt deer and wild pigs w knives/bows/arrows • Some say men more violent/some say women equally aggressive (especially when competitiveness and verbal abuse is considered)

11. Gender Relations in contemporary foraging societies • Hunter-gathering society • Often, men hunt large animals/deep sea fishing • Women primary responsibility for gathering/hunting small animals, cooking, home building, childcare • Most societies have considerable overlap/crossover in roles (no shame) • Wide range in of gender relations • Some society gender relations highly egalitarian • Show group life characterized by cooperation and reciprocity in which both sexes contribute to survival • Many societies had a division of labor without devaluing the roles women played/see each other with same worth • Child rearing and nurturing is socially defined-not just biological destiny

12. Multiple Genders: • We have a gender dichotomy: male vs. female • Other societies have multiple genders: • Berdache of some Asian, South Pacific, and North American Indian societies • Individuals who adopt the gender behavior ascribed to members of the opposites sex. There are female berdaches, but most research has focused on men • Live as members of the opposite sex, often specialists for tasks of both sexes • Mohave: allowed man and women to cross genders. boys who preferred girl behavior had an initiation ceremony at puberty and became alyha. ->feminine names, painted their faces as women id, performed female tasks, and married men. When they married, cut thighs to mimic menstruation, went through the birth of a fictitious stillborn

13. Multiple Genders: Mohave Women: Initiation ceremony to become hwame Dressed and lived like men, hunted, farmed, became shamans-were not allowed leadership and participation in war fare Took paternal responsibility for children No stigma attached to alyha or hwame Zuni berdaches, Ihamana, American Indian nation Cross dressing routine, public, no erotic motives Some were hetero, homosexual or oriented toward other berdaches. Seen as becoming what they are. Small children called child-not boy or girl. Western influence brought shame as their way of life was condemned.

14. Multiple genders: We see the fluidity of gender and the creativity of humans.

15. Gender, Evolution, and Culture Man the hunter theory Feminist theory drawing on archeological records, pimatology, ethnographies studies of pre-industrial societies - gynecentrism -> putting females at the forefront ->new perspective -> balanced view of men and women living cooperatively in social communities as interdependent people Gender is to be seen as socially constructed and fluid.