Gender has been one of my favorite topics since my first introductory anthropology course where I learned that gender and sex did not mean the same thing. Similar to our Anth 392 class last week, we had to discuss the difference between sex and gender, which seemed like an easy task until I realized...I didn't really know there was a difference between these two terms and I had been using the words interchangeably. Uh oh. Now that I am in my third year of anthropology I am happy to report that I understand the difference between these terms (I think...) and use them carefully. So what is the difference between sex and gender?
Sex is a biological category and it does not vary between cultures. People are generally born biologically male or biologically female. On the other hand, gender is a cultural category that can actually change in an individual over time and it varies between societies. This means that the number of genders recognized in a culture can vary. I remember the day I learned this. I thought, "What?!?! No way, you are either masculine or feminine. There are no other available options." Apparently I was wrong but I do not think I am the only person to make this ethnocentric assumption. It is easy to do, especially growing up in my culture. From the day that babies are born, we start socializing our children in how they should behave in order to be masculine or feminine. We dress little girls in pink, buy them barbies, and send them off to ballet class. Then we dress boys in blue or some earth tone, buy them GI Joes and put them on an ice hockey team. (Yes I am severely generalizing but you get my point!) What if children stray from the gender norms? Sure it is common and acceptable for girls to play sports like hockey and football and dress in t-shirts and jeans but at the same time they might get called a 'tomboy'. And how might you react if you saw a young boy wearing a floral dress and make-up? You must admit, this would probably stand out to you as being 'wrong'. Some people break the gender rules of how they are expected to act and what they are suppose to wear, eat, and do but when this happens it often stands out because it is breaking a social norm.
Since gender is ingrained in our minds from such a young age, it can be hard to separate ourselves from our assumptions of what is masculine and what is feminine. Furthermore, it can make it near impossible for some people to be able to fully grasp the idea of a culture with more (or less) than two genders (I am guilty of this). I love reading about cultures that recognize a third gender category because it astonishes me. Some well-known third gender categories include the Two-spirited people among some First Nations groups and hijras in South Asia. Two-spirited people are recognized as having both a male and a female spirit and they are often revered: "Being given the gift of two-spirits meant that this individual had the ability to see the world from two perspectives at the same time. This greater vision was a gift to be shared with all, and as such, Two-spirited beings were revered as leaders, mediators, teachers, artists, seers, and spiritual guides. They were treated with the greatest respect, and held important spiritual and ceremonial responsibilities" (http://www.mcgill.ca/interaction/mission/twospirit/). This perspective differs from that of the Hijra. In South Asia, Hijras (see image at top of page) are people who are usually biological males but have feminine roles and identities, wear women's clothing, and tend to have low status in their community (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hijra_(South_Asia)). You can argue that we recognize more than two genders in our culture but I feel that these gender categories are not as well-defined as they are in some other cultures.
So how do archeologists interpret gender? Common ways include body positioning, grave goods, bodily adornment, and costume. These can cause problems though, especially since it is other people who usually plan the funerary rituals. In a specific culture, a body might be buried with a woven basket so maybe we assume the individual is female because baskets are associated with women. But was the basket a personal item or was it added to the burial by a family member or friend? Are there other objects and practices associated with this body that are actually associated with men? Who is making these associations, inferences, and (perhaps) assumptions? Is the deceased individual a member of a third gender that goes beyond masculine or feminine? Identifying a third gender can be tricky, especially if this concept does not exist in your own culture.
For archeologists, it is important to not only understand the difference between sex and gender but also the cross-cultural differences between gender categories. It can be hard to remove yourself from your cultural assumptions, especially when it comes to gender, but it is necessary to do so in order to make accurate interpretations (Ex: Maybe a body buried with a sword is a female who was a warrior or who was buried with her brother's sword). As we talked about in class, you need to understand a person's life-course before you try to interpret their gender because an individual's gender can change over time, just to make things even more confusing. For these reasons, it can be problematic when an archaeologist attempts to identify a skeleton as either male or female based on their interpretation of the deceased individual's gender because if the archaeologist's interpretations of gender are inaccurate in the context, then their conclusions on the skeleton's sex might be wrong too.
So what have I learned about gender over the years? It's complicated.
No comments:
Post a Comment