Gender and Sex Distinctions in Anthropology - Essay Example

GENDER AND SEX DISTINCTIONS IN ANTHROPOLOGY By and Gender and sex distinctions in Anthropology Introduction In the long past gender and sex were used interchangeably and implied the same aspect of people and human life. As such, there was little emphasis on the two issues in defining activities of people and the nature of society.1 In the modern society, however, the topic of gender has become very common than ever before and has implications in shaping the present life. The two have been distinguished in meaning and application in various such as anthropology. Anthropologists study about human beings in the past as well as the present in order to contribute to practices of enhancing human development. These specialists apply the aspects of biological, social, humanities as well as physical sciences that present differences between males and females. The evolution of anthropology has played role in the present use of the topic, although there are shifts on traditional anthropological concepts of gender and sex.2 This paper will discuss about how the distinctions between gender and sex are used by anthropologists as well as how it has been challenged. This discussion would be important in ensuring the practices based on gender and sex promotes human development rather than inflicting retrogressive impacts. Discussion Sex and gender are defined differently in anthropology, which influences the ways through which the concepts are applied in the field.Sex in anthropology is based on perceived biological and physical differences between men and women.3 These include the sex chromosomes, hormones and reproductive organs as well as other secondary characteristics derived the primary ones.4 On the other hand, gender involves broad dimensions and concerns the socio-cultural constructions seen, carried out, and understood from any specific society such as behaviours and traits.Normally, these constructions are based on the biological differences perceived on men and women. From these definitions, sex is applied from biological concepts while the gender focuses on the social differences and is rather regarded as a social construct.5 Following this, there is a difference between the human lives described by concept of sex and would be expected in every society, whereas the gender concepts show differences in human life across different social settings involving men and women. However, the descriptions of genders have evolved over time from the traditional perception that considered gender in the scope of kinship or family relationships and in the present goes beyond to varied societies all over the world. The distinction between sex and culture is applied in the anthropology of the roles of men and women in the world.The roles of men and women defined from the grounds of their sexes would vary from those defined through concepts of gender. The roles from sexual concept are derived from the biological perceptions of men and women such as the body structures and strength.6 The women have the capability of getting pregnant, giving birth to children, and suckling them that are not possible among men. Following, this biological perceptions place primary roles of taking care of the children on the women. On the other hand, men are generally stronger than women and able to carry out activities that require lot energy.7 As a result, men would perform roles such as constructions in the family set up. The roles of taking care of children are and constructions are determined due to biological capabilities. Gender roles focus on a wider scope and involve exploration of the roles played by people in different societies based on their culture.8 Different communities have varied cultural practices defining roles for men and women. Anthropologists study these differences and would categorize the roles from the perception of gender. As such, in some communities,the women are involved in construction and men could take care of children. Consequently, based on gender perception, both men and women would have roles in taking care of children as well as construction in such societies. The development of gender roles in the global society has led to many changes, especially for the female sex. The roles of women in developed countries vary from those in the developing nations and whereby the former play more and high social roles.9 The anthropologists have led to increased adoption or high roles western female roles in developing countries through the creation for awareness of global gender roles. Anthropologists have helped in the development of women’s empowerment activities to enable them take more and high roles in the society.10 Consequently, more women are involved in roles such as leadership and politics as well as in varied occupations that were not assigned to their sex. More countries consider women and men as equal and able to take perform roles traditionally assigned to the opposite sex. In addition, the status of women has from holding high roles in the society that has helped overcome challenges they faced such as sexual violence primarily inflicted in women because of their sex.11 There are increased female gender empowerments in the societies and women in future would hold high roles that promote their status as considered by men. This development in female gender has, however, attracted criticism from the male gender and some other groups all over the world. The men are compelled to perform lower roles such as in the family set up especially due to the enactment of gender laws advocating for equality in gender roles even in the families. The gender role empowerment is also criticized for promoting difficulties in families due high power accorded to women. The differences between sex and gender are seen in the anthropology of human behaviour. Different communities have developed behaviours expected of individuals based on their sex. These are taught in cultures since childhood as a person grows. In most communities the boys would learn about their expected behaviours from their fathers or other men while the girls would learn about their expected behaviours through mothers as well as other women.12 As one grows up, they become knowledgeable besides practicing these behaviours as set out in their communities. A larger society such as a country or region would thus be made of people acting in many cultural behaviours defined on their sexes. These behaviours would vary or even conflict and which may lead to problems of co-existence. Anthropological studies develop a set of behaviours for people in a large society derived from the diverse cultural backgrounds. These studies focus on the behaviours of men and women in different cultures and bring them together to form set of behaviours for the entire community.13 Following this, women in a community would be described through similar traits and the same carried out by men. Men and women applying these gender behaviours would demonstrate traits of their culture and also those set out by other cultures. As a result, the individuals in a large community would have similar behaviours that promote growth and developments. Despite these achievements, gender based behaviours are criticized for the destruction of traditional cultural values which has increased moral deterioration.14 For instance, where gender behaviours are developed from the entire world, extreme cultures such as from western countries negatively influence the cultures of conservative societies in other regions. Gender and sex distinctions are also seen in anthropologies focused on human communities, specifically the organization of social relations and other activities that follow orientations of sex.15 Social relations are part of human life and people all over the world are involved. This could be through kinship, communal or national structures. Many social relations involve people of with kinship relations since families are the fundamental basis for any community. The organization of activities and relations in families has great influence on the formation of other social relations. People would organize the aspects of social community with the basis of how they organize family relations. According to Callan, Street &Underdown, kinship provide the principles governing feelings between people in a family as well as to the entire organization of relationships in politics, economy as well as the religion.16 The kinship relations are organized following differences between the sexes of the people involved. This is observed through roles assigned to members in a kinship relation where differences are notable between men and women. These practices are replicated into the other social organizations and hence gender influences are not observable. Nevertheless, the roles identified by the gender are grounded on the biological differences of sex. The distinction of gender and sex has been criticized through various implications for the society. It has been seen as just a way of differentiating what is determined by nature for people from that formed due to culture. Gender is culturally induced while sex is naturally induced. As such, the critics see the efforts of gender to redefine the society as retrogressive because it has caused issues which were not initially there. In addition, poststructuralist thinkers claim that the gender only attempts to give sex a meaning which is not highly beneficial.17 For instance, the need to recognize gender from birth since some anthropologists indicate that gender begins at birth. Conclusion This paper has discussed about the distinction between gender and sex as used by anthropologists while giving criticisms developed. Anthropologists apply gender and sex differently as implied in their meanings. Sex is defined based on biological differences between men and women while gender focusses on social attributes observed based on the biological differences. The distinction is observed through the development of gender based roles that may not align with sex roles. Through this, women have taken roles that were meant for male sex and their statuses are improved. However, gender roles are criticized for fueling family problems. Gender-sex distinction is also seen in the development of conventional gender based behaviours, though have been criticized for eroding cultural practices and morality. Gender and sex have also been distinguished in the formation of social relations that follow the orientation of sex although this set organization for gender roles. The differences created by anthropologists have been criticized as unnecessary since seem to distinguish natural and cultural aspects of people. Reference List Bakersfield College.(2011). Sex and Gender.Side Share. Available at http://www.slideshare.net/natalie_thompson/lecture-11-sex-and-gender Bancroft, J. (2009). Human sexuality and its problems. Edinburgh, Churchill Livingstone. Available at https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=bI-Jau14aLAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=isbn:0443051615&hl=en&sa=X&ei=HPNVVcnUB6ev7Aa-0YLIAg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false Burgett, B. (2014). 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Available at https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=-unSBAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=isbn:3319058703&hl=en&sa=X&ei=mPJVVdfqCNCQ7AbBh4OAAQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false Upton, R. L. (2012). Gender.Oxford Bibliographies in Anthropology. Available at http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199766567/obo-9780199766567-0009.xml Read More