The masculinity and femininity are terms that basically defines what is girly and what is manly. However the character of what defines being girly and manly are just things that society socially has categorize into these terms. If I was to describe a person as someone who has the hobbies of fishing, golfing, grilling, and sports, many people would expect this person to be a male. Because these are the activity that are "suppose" to be masculine and things that men like. In many ways, it is society that constructed these masculine and feminine activities/traits and which ever has the dominant in power is the one that will have hegemony other the other.
In contrast to what we are used to use to seeing, there are some parts of the world where there is a female dominance on the male. In these tribes, the women will be the ones that are more aggressive and act in ways that we consider to be "masculine." These women would be the ones that hunt, and make decisions, while the make would put time in trying to look good, gossip, and do housework. In this kind of society the gender roles that are assigned are switched and therefore the hegemony would be usually be dominated be the roles of the women.
A prime example of how society effects gender roles would be to look at Marget Mead studies as a cultural anthropologist. In her study "Sex and Temperament" he discovers 3 different types of cultures that has is very different to the one we have now.
Here is a link to her findings regarding the subject.
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/mead/field-sepik.html
No comments:
Post a Comment