Economic Change  Neolithic- shift to cultivation and domestication of plants and animals 8000 B.C.  Why switch from collection to production? –Population growth in plentiful areas –Greater season variation

 Population increased due to greater diet  Development of the State –Centralized decision making group  The development of subsistence to cash crop –From cash crop to barter and trade –Taxes to support the state

Chapter 7 Sex and Culture

Sex Differences  Physique and Physiology –Sexually dimorphic  Males and females of ours species exhibit fairly marked differences in size and appearance –Aerobic Work capacity  Males have a greater hearts and lungs giving them a greater maximum uptake of oxygen

Sexual Dimorphism

Social Roles  Productive and Domestic Activities differ by male and females

Possible explanations for job differences  Strength Theory –The greater strength of males  Compatibility-with-child-care theory –Women's task tend to be the ones that can be performed while taking care of children  Economy of effort –Explains the more random seeming patterns like men and musical instruments –Because they collect the materials they are more familiar with them and it would be advantageous for one sex to perform the task  Expendability Theory –Less men are needed for reproduction

 Strength Theory –The greater strength of males

Relative Contributions to Subsistence  The United States has busted the stereo type of husband as the bread winner

Men usually contribute more  Women are almost always occupied with childcare responsibilities  Hunting, fishing and herding are usually done by men

 Tchambuli of New Guinea –women contributed almost everything to the economy

 Why does this differ?  More labor (plow) = more male input?  More weeding = more female? (interruptible) In society with agriculture or horticulture – women sometimes do most of the work

The Toda of India  depend almost entirely on the dairy products of the water buffalo, women were not allowed to have anything to do with the buffalo

Political Leadership and Warfare  In approximately 85% of the surveyed societies, only men were leaders –Women leadership is usually outnumbered by men Pelosi is 1st Woman Speaker

 Nearly universal dominance of men in Warfare –In 88% of societies women never participate actively in war

Matrilineal societies  Men still occupy political positions –ie. The Iroqois  Why have men almost always dominated the political arena? (possibilities) –Warfare controlling weapons –Strength theory, child care theory –Height of men – taller people are most likely leaders –Men go further abroad through war

Women lose control when  Patricia Draper In Kung! Bands where women no longer engage in long-distance gathering, they have lost much of their influence in making decisions  Kayapo of Brazil, Dennis Werner –Women with heavy child-care burdens are less influential

The Relative Status of Women  Why do women have few rights and little influence in some societies? –Purdah – Islamic women, stay mostly in their house

Personality differences  Margaret Mead said no universal personality differences  Six cultures projects –children as young 3 begin to exhibit different traits –Boy exhibit greater aggression –They have more testosterone –Girls tend conform to adult expectations  Desire emotion support –Boys stand further apart than women do

Parents teach differences  Parents give girls and boy different chores  They treat them differently  Give them different types of praise

6 culture study  Girls and boys both seek help –Girls seek help and contact –Boys seek attention and approval  No reliable difference in sociability  Boys play in larger groups  Boys are more aggressive yet, girls are not necessarily passive

Sexuality  All societies seek to regulate sexual activity to some degree –Some allow premarital sex, other forbid it –Restrictiveness or permissiveness may change through the life span

Premarital Sex  The degree to which sex before marriage is approved or disapproved varies greatly –Trobriand Islanders – approve of and greatly encourage premarital sex  Preparation for marriage  Both boys and girls were given complete instruction in ALL forms of sexual expression –ILA speaking people of Africa, also approve  Girls are given houses of their own where they could play at being wife with the boys of their choice

Discouraging premarital sex  Tzepoztlan Indians of Mexico, –At the time of the first Menstruation the girls is “cribbed or confined” –Speaking or talking to boys is disgraceful  The Language in the US shows that women are more restricted then Males

Sex in Marriage  Some form of face-to-face coitus is the usual pattern  Most cultures prefer privacy – even in cultures where there are multifamily dwellings  Night is often preferred for sex, some opt for day –The Chenchu believe that children conceived at night might be born blind.

Abstaining from Marital relations  During menstruation,  during part of pregnancy,  and immediately after child birth  Before hunting, fighting, planting, brewing and iron smelting in some societies  The U.S. has some of the least restrictive Marital restraints

Extramarital Sex  Hopi – have a “private” wife  In 69% of societies men have extramarital sex  In 57% of societies women do  Only 54% say they allow extramarital sex and only 11% allow it for women

strategies to curtail activity  Even in societies where extramarital sex is allowed men and women try to restrict it  Men are more likely than women to resort to physical violence against their wives  Women are more likely to distance themselves from their husbands  Gossip may be employed to shame the relationship  Men and women usually consider extramarital sex inappropriate even in societies where it is permitted

Homosexuality  Some societies have different concepts of gender  The meaning of homosexuality may differ in other societies –Fafafine- not homosexual instead gender  Navajo of the American Southwest traditionally recognize four genders

Restricting Homosexuality  Lepcha of the Himalayas –A man was believed to become homosexual if he ate the flesh of an uncastrated pig –Homosexual behavior is almost unheard of and is viewed with disgust  Because restrictive societies deny the existence little is known of the practices

Permissive homosexuality  Some societies permit it but limited it to certain times and to certain individuals –Papago of the southwestern U.S. there were “nights of saturnalia” in which homosexual tendencies could be expressed  They have many male transvestites

Berber-speaking Siwans of north Africa  Expected male to engage in homosexual relations  Fathers made arrangement for their unmarried sons to be given to an older man in a homosexual arrangement  Custom limits a man to one boy  Fear of the Egyptian government made this a secret matter after 1909  Almost all males admitted to engaging in homosexual activities as boys, almost all marry women.

Pro-homosexual Etoro of new Guinea  Preferred homosexuality to heterosexuality  Heterosexuality was prohibited as many as 260 days of the year  Forbidden in or near the house  Male homosexuality is not prohibited at anytime  Men were expected to marry women

Reasons For Restrictiveness  Societies that restrict one form of sexuality tend to restrict others –If they restrict premarital they often restrict extramarital –Tend to insist on modesty in clothing and constrained in their talk about sex –However if they restrict heterosexuality they do not necessarily restrict homosexuality

Homosexuality and restrictiveness  Societies that restrict homosexual sex also restrict abortion and infanticide –Often found in societies that want to increase population  Famine and shortages of goods –Allow homosexuality and birth control

Restrictiveness in heterosexuality  More complex societies are more restrictive  Premarital sex may cause a strong bond outside the family