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Chapter Outline

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Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, you should be able to:

1. Distinguish between sex and gender.

2. Distinguish the various ways of defining sex.

3. List some of the common sexual differences in humans.

4. Discuss cultural differences that have existed in gender roles.

5. Explain the concept of third and fourth genders.

6. Discuss the relationships between gender, power, and honor.

7. Analyze and explain the causes of gender inequality.

8. Discuss the nature of sexual orientation and cultural responses to homosexuality.

Gender and Culture 5

5.1 Sex and Gender

• Sexual Differences • Gender

5.2 Diversity in Male and Female Roles

• Socialization of Gender Differences • Common Gender Patterns in the Division of

Labor • Gender Roles and Subsistence

5.3 Supernumerary Genders

• Two Spirits • The Hijra

5.4 Gender, Power, and Honor

• The Politics of Gender Stratification • Patriarchy • The Causes of Gender Inequality

5.5 Sexual Orientation

• Sexual Orientation, Biology, and Socialization • Homophobia

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CHAPTER 5Section 5.1 Sex and Gender

This chapter focuses attention on gender, the social roles that are assigned and learned based on cultural concepts about the nature of sex differences, and their place in social life. In all cultures, gender roles have differed to some degree, but the differences have not always entailed differences in access to social honor and power. This chapter will discuss the difference between biological sex and socially learned gender roles, the conditions on which access to honor and power become differenti- ated by gender, the diversity of male and female roles in the world’s many cultures, and the existence of cultures in which there are more than two culturally identified genders. The biological nature and social roles that pertain to sexual orientation will also be discussed.

5.1 Sex and Gender

The word “sex” is often used as a synonym for “gender” by the public, but anthro-pologists give different meanings to each word. The term sex refers to biological distinctions such as the chromosomal, hormonal, or physical differences between males and females. Gender defines the social statuses and roles into which people are socialized based on cultural concepts about the sexes. In this chapter, we will look at some of the complexities of both sex and gender.

Sexual Differences Humans are biological creatures as well as cultural beings. Biologically, most humans are either male or female. Females and males differ biologically in various ways. Chro- mosomally, women have two X chromosomes, and men have an X and a Y. Because only males carry the Y chromosome, the sex of a child is determined by whether it received an X or a Y chromosome from its father.

Males and females differ in both their primary sexual characteristics, such as genitals and reproductive organs, and the secondary sexual characteristics that develop during puberty, such as breasts in females and low-pitched voices and a broad distribution of body hair in males. Anatomically, males in the human species are, on average, slightly larger than females, a characteristic known as sexual dimorphism. The sexes also gener- ally differ in how strength is manifested. Males typically are able to exert higher levels of energy for short periods, while females tend to have greater endurance and are generally hardier. This distinction can be noticed at all stages of development. For instance, females seem to have a naturally higher life expectancy, although this is counteracted in many societies by social conditions that increase women’s mortality rates. In anthropology, the term sex is reserved for these kinds of biological distinctions.

It should be noted that while most individuals are male or female, this dichotomy fails to capture the actual range of sexual variation within our species. Specifically, there is a vari- ety of types of intersexed persons: individuals whose physical characteristics include both male and female sex traits. About 1% of live births involve some degree of sexual ambigu- ity. The differences fall along a continuum from individuals in whom most of the female characteristics may be present along with a few of the male characteristics to individuals in whom most of the male characteristics are present along with a few of the female traits.

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CHAPTER 5Section 5.1 Sex and Gender

Classic hermaphroditism is a particular case in which both male reproductive anatomy (e.g., a penis and testicles) and female reproductive anatomy (e.g., a vagina and ovaries) are present. There are also individuals in whom no reproductive anatomy develops at all. Intersexed persons may also differ in physiological aspects that do not correspond with their chromosomally defined sex. For instance, there are individuals who, despite having both an X and a Y chromosome (the pattern usually found in males), have a genetic muta- tion that causes their bodies to develop with female rather than male characteristics.

Gender Gender is a social identity that consists of the social roles a person is expected to play because of his or her sex. Whereas we are born with sexual characteristics, our gender is something we must learn. All cultures recognize the existence of at least two genders: Females are typically socialized into the roles that lead them to have a social identity as

“women,” while males learn men’s roles to become “men.” However, there are cultures (discussed below) that recognize at least one additional set of gender roles.

It is not surprising that the aver- age differences between males and females figure into gender stereo- types, preconceived ideas about how women and men differ in their personality traits, behavioral skills, and predispositions. However, it is a mistake to believe that biology is the cause of gender differences. In the first place, biological differences are average distinctions between males and females as groups, but there is a range of individual differences

within both sexes, and they overlap more than they differ in most characteristics. Thus, some males may have greater endurance than most females, and some females may be able to exert more strength than most males. If biology caused gender differences, then they too would be merely statistical averages between what males and females did socially. But gender differences do not simply arise out of our personal predispositions to play various roles. Rather, gender stereotypes are cultural guidelines that tell us how we are expected to act. It is our culture’s gender stereotypes, not biology, that most directly channel us into our different gender roles. Sometimes gender stereotypes become so important that people refuse to acknowledge that individuals of one sex are capable of playing roles usu- ally expected of members of the other sex. Rigid enforcement of gender stereotypes that prevents individuals from playing roles that are not typically assigned to their own sex is called sexism.

As is true of other kinds of stereotypes, gender stereotypes can be wrong and stifling to those whose characteristics do not fit them, but they sometimes reflect common (though not universal) differences between the sexes. Some studies have pointed to typical

Digital Vision/Thinkstock Culture defines masculine behavior, and that definition can vary among and within cultures.

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CHAPTER 5Section 5.2 Diversity in Male and Female Roles

psychological differences between the sexes that conform to some traditional Western ste- reotypes. For instance, Beatrice Whiting and John Whiting (1975) carried out an in-depth study of children in six different societies, where they found a number of psychological characteristics that cross-cut cultural boundaries. For instance, boys and girls both showed dependence, but expressed it in different ways: Girls tended to seek help and contact, while boys sought attention and approval. They found no differences between boys and girls in seeking and offering friendship to others, and they found that girls behaved as actively as boys. Some differences in the behavior of boys and girls in the six societies, however, were also discovered. Boys played more aggressively and in larger groups than girls did, and older boys were more likely to respond to aggression with aggression. Twenty-five years later, another team of researchers studying children in four different cultures reached related conclusions with regard to aggression. The boys they observed exhibited aggres- sive behaviors in about 10% of their interactions with their peers, whereas the girls did so in only 6% of their interactions. This was a small but statistically significant difference (Munroe et al., 2000). Thus, there appear to be some general psychological characteristics that distinguish the sexes even in childhood and even across cultures. The way in which gender stereotypes can become problematic, then, is when they are treated as mandates or as necessarily valid for every individual, and when the alleged attributes of one sex are socially privileged over the attributes of the other sex.

5.2 Diversity in Male and Female Roles

Gender is culturally defined, and there are significant differences from culture to culture in the specific roles of men and women. What is thought of as masculine or feminine behavior in one culture may not be thought of in the same way in another culture. Such differences are influenced by many factors such as environmental resources, economics, kinship, politics, and religion. In this section, we will explore diversity within gender.

Socialization of Gender Differences Anthropologists have noted that in every society there are socialization practices through which children learn what it takes to be a male or female participant in their society. Socialization can occur both directly (e.g., parents teaching their children how to behave in certain circumstances) and indirectly (e.g., children observing what other adults and children do). There is much at stake in socialization practices. For example, the “incom- plete” socialization of children can be problematic: In some societies, people fear child soldiers or street children because they are said to be unsocialized and thus immoral and threatening to the status quo (Honwana, 2007; Kovats-Bernat, 2006).

In 1950, the well-known anthropologist Margaret Mead did fieldwork among three New Guinea societies in which people are socialized into gender roles that are quite different from the typical roles we find in North America. Her descriptions of the Arapesh, Mundu- gumor, and Tschambuli (now called the Chambri) make it clear that how people think about being masculine or feminine is highly variable and determined by culture rather than by any absolute dictates of biology. Although there were gender role differences among the Arapesh, no basic temperamental differences were thought to exist between

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CHAPTER 5Section 5.2 Diversity in Male and Female Roles

males and females. Neither men nor women were believed to be driven by spontaneous sexuality, and violence, though tolerated, was not linked to either sex. Men were expected to be gentle, unacquisitive, and cooperative. Women were taught to accept anything out of the ordinary without curiosity. From childhood on, they were actively discouraged from asking questions about anything unusual and from engaging in speculative thought, which was encouraged in boys.