Gender:
- gender:some cultures hold that children are born (physically) androgynous and ritualized into gender, usually by physical changes
- reinforce ideas about status of males and females
- help shape individual into culture's ideal male or female
- Establish links between peers and elders
- provide practical instruction for adult roles
- provide instruction about belief system, values, rules of behaviour
Types of Gender Rituals:
- birth, rebirth : male children ritually reborn of males
- naming after relatives
- birthdays and age holidays
- circumcision (excision, infibulation), subincision
- all known cultures which c. females c. males
- many cultures c. males but not females
- excision: part or all of clitoris is removed (becasue clitoris is seem as similar to a penis)
- feminist agrument: reduces woman's enjoyment of sex
- infibulation: lips of vulva are stitched closed, leaving a small opening (drinking straw sized)
- upon marriage, scar tissue is cut away
- some cultures may re-in. during nursing or after birth
- a few times infib. was practiced in war to discourage rape
- infib. causes many health problems
- chart in CP (p 111) of common views on female/male circumcision
- uncleanliness -> marriagability
- approx 20% of male population is circumscised worldwide
- coming of age
video clips narrated by zoologist Desmond Morris of Oxford
Yemen
- male birth celebrated, female birth basically ignored
- small sums of cash donated (tucked in blanket)
- male dominated society
- defines social importance of male gender
Kameroon
- infant is purified by oils applied by shaman
- reborn by male healer
- def. social importance of male gender
Greece (Orthodox)
- christening with holy oil
- symbolic rebirth
- male name
- immersion
- purifies baby from animalistic birth
- hair cut is form of cross
- boys taken into sancutary, girls not allowed inside
- women unclean, cannot enter santuary until menopause
- differntiates genders
Malta
- oochia?: one year birthday
- minor divination: comb (hair dresser), rosary (nun), needle thread (seamstress)
- establish gender
- define gender roles (career)
US co-ed primary school
- gender separation -> incest avoidance
- opposite sex will be re-met after puberty
- siblings will retain non-sexual identity
Turkey
- boys' shared ordeal: circumcision
- from Egyptian immortality fixation / snake shedding skin
- snake worship forgotten, but "spurious medical reasons were invented to keep the practice going"
- enforces social order and rules(class)
- differentiates from parents
Thailand
- in youth, every boy must spend a year as a monk
- rise at dawn, pray to Buddha, beg for food
- rites seperate boys from girls and from their families
- "Women during menstration should not enter the temple."
- enforce difference between genders
Wyuu
- girls isolated in a hut for up to 3 years to weave hammocks
- instructed by female family members
- uncleanliness, secrecy, social rules, gender dominance
trad. Islam
- girls: veils from puberty on
- first veil marks great change in life
- gender dominance
Yemen
- boy wears large dagger (jambir)
- replaces child sized dagger
- gender differentiantaion
Latin American
- 300 y old ceromony ("") false wedding
- vows of chastity until marriage
- switches children shoes for adult ones
- dances with her father
Britain
- ettiquette and social conduct
- entering and leaving rooms
- sports cars
Bundu
- settles elders and peer groups
Nigerian
- settles elder and peer groups
