Ch.11

Question 1

Briefly describe how feminist struggles in their own societies prompted some anthropologists to rethink many long held assumptions about the contributions of women to human culture.

Answer 1

Noted that most ethnographies including, those written by women, or based primarily on the views of male informants, even concerning matters pertaining to women. Thus, most discussions of the culture of a group, in fact, portrayed culture from the viewpoint of men (often high status men).

Question 2

Distinguish between sex and gender

Answer 2

Sex- To refer to the physical characteristics that distinguish males from females, for example, body shape, distribution of body hair, reproductive organs, sex chromosomes

Gender- to refer to the culturally constructed world, assigned to males, or females, which varied considerably from society to society.

Question 3

What did the sex/gender distinction seem to take for granted?

Answer 3

That, even if there seem to be at demonstratable lack of correlation between physical sex, and the Contant and gender roles, all societies universally distinguish women from men. Such a dual categorization has been called a gender binary.

Question 4

What did Strathern challenge in her publication The Gender of the Gift (1988)?

Answer 4

She argued that by imposing western ideas on Melanesian, cultural practices, western anthropologist, had misunderstood, Melanesian gender relations

Western ideas being - English to communication, marriage, negotiations, and economic transactions were all forms of exchange controlled by men. Women with the most valuable exchange good of all (ideas of Claude Lévi-Strauss)

Question 5

Briefly describe what western anthropologists assumed and how Melanesians are best described as androgynous

Answer 5

Western notions of individuality for universal; that is, that in all human societies, every human individual comes into the world is a self-contained, autonomous being with a unique identity.

Each Melanseian person is seen as being made up of parts, contributed by relatives, who are responsible for their coming into the world.

These components persist and continue to connect with them to their kin over a course of a lifetime. Importantly, the kin are both male and female, which means that every one had some male parts, and some female parts, = their best understood as a androgynous

Question 6

How have individuals who possess ambiguous genitalia been called?

Answer 6

Intersex/ disorder of sexual development

Question 7

How do many prefer to describe their condition?

Answer 7

Prefer to describe their condition as a result of a disorder of sexual development

Question 8

What does sexuality refer to?

Answer 8

The ways in which people experience in value, physical desire and pleasure in the context of sexual intercourse

Question 9

Why do anthropologists use the (plural) term sexualities?

Answer 9

To acknowledge the many ways, in which sexual desires and pleasures have always been shaped historically by culture, social, and political structures of the larger societies in which people live

Question 10

Briefly describe heteronormativity.

Answer 10

The view that heterosexuality intercourse is (and should be) the normal form that human sexual expression always takes

Question 11

When did the word homosexuality first appear in print?

Answer 11

David Halperin observes that the 1st appearance in print in 1869, in German, in a pamphlet urging the German government, not decriminalize homosexual relations between men

Question 12

What did the sexologists turn the term homosexual into?

Answer 12

They turned into a clinical term, designating a particular variety of sexual deviance. The term gay. which may be applied to any person who is sexually attracted to someone of the same sex, but more commonly abused in reference to gay males

Question 13

What is the most enduring relationship for Muslim Mombasa women?

Answer 13

It is between mothers and daughters, mirrored in the relationship between an older married sister, and younger unmarried sister.

Question 14

How are relationships between mothers and sons, and sisters and brothers viewed?

Answer 14

It is more distant. Except in the case of young, modern, educated couples, the relationship between husband and wife is often emotionally distant as well.

Question 15

Would individuals in Mombasa be seen as either “homosexual” or “heterosexual”? Explain.

Answer 15

Neither, they would shift between the two throughout their lives.

Both men and women were open about their same sex relationships, and nobody would dream of suggesting that there’s a choices had any effect on the work capabilities, reliability, or religious Piety

Question 16

When could women choose other women as sexual partners?

Answer 16

Women were allowed to choose other women that sexual partners only after they had been married, widowed, or divorced.

Question 17

Briefly describe the practical reasons that may lead women into sexual relationships with other women.

Answer 17

Women with little money, or unlikely, to marry men who could offer them, jewelry, shoes, new dresses, status, or financial security, but it will be a female love for a good offer them all these things.

Also, a poor young woman in an unhappy marriage, might have no way to support herself if she left her husband unless she had a lesbian lover to rely on.

Question 18

Briefly describe how the wealthy partner in a female same-sex relationship is free of the typical constraints of a marriage with a man.

Answer 18

According to Islamic law, the shepherd was told, a wealthy, high-ranking Muslim woman can only marry a man who is her equal or superior. A marriage of this kind would bring a great deal of seclusion, and her wealth would be administered by her husband. The wealthy partner, in a female, same sex relationship, however, would be free of these constraints.

Question 19

In the late 1990s, the presidents of Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Namibia declared that homosexuality is “un-African”: What does the ethnographic evidence say?

Answer 19

Says that homophobia is un-African.

South Africa is a striking exception to the homophobia. South Africa constitution specifically, condemns discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation

Question 20

Why was Najmabadi intrigued by discussions of “the ‘Trans’ phenomenon” in Iranian and International media?

Answer 20

Because she knew that in the decade prior Iranian physicians had become involved in hormonal and surgical treatments for persons, wishing to change their sex.
Yet journalists seemed but surprised and puzzled, that the sort of progressive treatment could be possible it in an Islamic state.

Question 21

At the same time, how were same-sex relations viewed by the Iranian state?

Answer 21

Had ruled, same-sex sexual relations, to be illegal, often equating them with sodomy, which was punished with the death penalty.

Question 22

What do Iranian physicians link “trans” identity with? Briefly explain.

Answer 22

Linked trans identity, with that of intersex, which itself was associated historically with the category of hermaphrodite recognized in Islamic law.

Just like infants, born with ambiguous, internal genitalia, therefore, persons who believed that their, inner soul or psyche, was missmatched with their outer autonomy were considered to be entitled to hormonal and surgical interventions. That would clarify their true sex/gender.

Question 23

Najmabadi was surprised when trans activists told her that they did not want to “politicize” their cause. What did the activists mean by this?

Answer 23

That they did not want to turn their activism into a human rights issue that would involve the Iranian parliament, passing legislation.

Question 24

What were the foci of their activism?

Answer 24

They wanted to make sure that civil servants and others knew who they were, and would continue to work with them, regardless, of which political faction was in power. Their activism was intended to gain official awareness of the needs of trans people; to remove a series of medical, legal, and religious barriers, and to get support and protection from harassment, in order to make liveable lives for themselves.

Question 25

What was the real goal of the Iranian authorities concern that applicants were genuinely “trans”?

Answer 25

Their goal was to detect and exclude candidates for trans status, who did not experience gender dysphoria but who, in their view, were trying to mask their sexual attraction to members of their own sex/gender.

Question 26

Briefly describe the Iranian marriage imperative and how this may influence non-heteronormative Iranians and their relationships.

Answer 26

It is the “ the adulthood of everyone is bound to marriage. It is almost incomprehensible that someone would wish not to marry.”

Sometimes lead non-heteronormative, Iranians, who usually described themselves as gay or lesbian to wonder if they might be trans and ought to consider changing sex.

Such thoughts were often prompted by the partners, who wanted to regularize their relationship and who might threaten to leave them if they did not agree to undergo sex change.

Najmabadi Found attitudes amounting to homophobia among some non-heteronormative couples, who insisted that they were not same sex players, and who strove to interpret their relationships with their partners, in ways that did not violate hegemonic Iranian understandings of sex/gender/sexuality.

At the same time, some persons who obtained trans certification did not always go on to complete their transition. Maybe because they could not afford to pay for the surgeries. Might also be, because even though they believe that they truly were trans, they also knew that their families and neighbours would never accept them as such.