1a.Supplementary lecture material. Sex, Culture and Society. 2012.

ANTH2005 SEX, CULTURE AND SOCIETY

2013 PROFESSOR ROBERT THORNTON ANTHROPOLOGY

15/01/12

ANTH2005 SexInstitutions+Hijra

QUESTIONS � What is sex? � Why does it matter? �  Is sex ‘biological’? ‘cultural’? ‘social’?

‘historical’? How? � Are people ‘like animals’ when it comes to

sex? � What’s love got to do with it? � What is sex, anyway??? � Really? Serious?

15/01/12


WHAT IS SEX AND WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH CULTURE AND SOCIETY? � Sex itself is social, political, cultural, and historical � Marriage, family, children, homes and households; � Divorce, ‘broken’ and different kinds of family, ‘unstable

households’ � Violence (domestic violence, sexual violence), jealousy,

protection, aggression, warfare … � Love (often seen as the problem of the relation between

‘love’ and ‘marriage’ and ‘sex’)

15/01/12


Sex. You know it when you see it, but… �  It is not so easy to define it! � Sex, sexual acts, action or behaviour is

variable � Moral and religious positions on sex are often

absolute but �  In reality, everything about sex seems to be

on a continuum with no clear boundaries, and

� Everything depends on context

15/01/12


CAUTION

� This course is about � reality, not fantasy � Sexual ethics, but not restricted to

religious morality � What real people actually do, rather

than what some people think people should do

15/01/12


SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE � Media: radio, TV, books, publications � Religious teachings; Bible, Qur’an, Bhagvad

Gita, or other religious texts � Courses such as this; school and other

educational experiences (e.g. initiation) �  ‘Culture’, public knowledge, peers, friends,

family, � Actual experience � Anthropology, archaeology, history

15/01/12


We ‘already know about it’ � Sex is perhaps one of the most difficult areas

of social science to study because � Most people think they ‘already know’ �  Ideologies are deeply ingrained, literally

embodied � Sexual knowledge is validated as moral

knowledge, prescribed by religion, legitimated by legal systems

15/01/12


Nevertheless … � Sex, & sexuality are not confined to ‘acts’,

thoughts, practices, institutions, � But pervade and inform most parts of human

life, and � Are more variable and complex than many

other kinds of transactions. � Anthropology and archaeology, rather than

popular culture, are the most important sources of knowledge

15/01/12


Categories and continuums � Desire �  Identity � Gender � Drive/motivation � Sex acts—a range of choices, some personal,

some cultural

15/01/12


“Enter the tunnel safely” — A condom advert

15/01/12


The Moche culture in ancient Peru—100 AD to 500 AD—show a different preference Most commonly represented are: Anal sex, Masturbation Fellatio Vaginal penetration is very rarely represented

15/01/12


Moche ‘sex pots’

•  The anally penetrated woman is most often shown with a baby at the breast.

•  Local sexual beliefs equate breast milk with semen

•  By anally inseminating the woman, she passes this on to the child, ensuring family unity and continuity

15/01/12


Really? Eeuuu. � “It is the violation of this fundamental

opposition that disconcerts us on the Moche pot, where the same woman enacts sex and motherhood simultaneously.” [Marilyn Weismantel, Moche Sex Pots: Reproduction and Temporality in Ancient South America. Am Anthr. 106(3): 495-505]

�  The Moche understanding of sex involved a process of feeding or nurturing over a long period, and over generations. Milk and semen are ‘nutrition’ that grow the baby, the woman, the man and lineage or family

Nasty! 15/01/12


The Moche and Peruvian ideology of sex and reproduction �  “the focus is on the body s capacity to generate,

store, and transmit life-giving reproductive substances-including semen, menstrual blood, and breast milk, all of which are perceived as transformed versions of a single essence, at once material and spiritual in nature. Exchanges of these nurturant substances, circulated among young bodies and regulated by elders, lie at the heart of reproduction and of social and spiritual life. This process is not limited to specific orifices, members, or actors but in- volves multiple bodily acts.”

15/01/12


Journal articles: e.g. Sexualities, October 2011

Kerman Calvo and José Ignacio Pichardo Sexualities transformed? Inside visions of sexual, social and political change in Spain Raquel Osborne Good girls versus bad girls in early Francoist prisons: Sexuality as a great divide Oscar Guasch Social stereotypes and masculine homosexualities: The Spanish case José Ignacio Pichardo We are family (or not): Social and legal recognition of same-sex relationships and lesbian and gay families in Spain Kerman Calvo and Gracia Trujillo

Fighting for love rights: Claims and strategies of the LGBT movement in Spain Fernando Villaamil and María Isabel Jociles

Risk and community: The impact of HIV among gays in Madrid. The case of sex clubs

Raquel Platero The narratives of transgender rights mobilization in Spain Harvey Molotch Book Reviews: Sheila L. Cavanagh. Queering Bathrooms: Gender, Sexuality, and the Hygienic Imagination. 2010. Toronto and Buffalo, CO: University of Toronto Press

Tom Shakespeare Russell Shuttleworth and Teela Sanders (eds). Sex and Disability: Politics, Identity and Access. 2010. Leeds: The Disability Press.

Matt G Mutchler Benjamin Shepard. Queer Political Performance and Protest. 2010. New York: Routledge.

15/01/12


Research methodology � Questionnaires, interviews, Internet � Popular surveys (e.g Cosmo, FHM, Condom

manufacturers such as Trojan) � Ethnography, observation � Literature, texts (e.g. Bible, Kama Sutra) � Physiological and medical studies � Theory, philosophy,

15/01/12


And on Islam & sexuality—recent books Afary, Janet. 2009. Sexual Politics in Modern Iran. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Babayan, Kathryn and Afsaneh Najmabadi (eds). 2008. Islamicate Sexualities: Translations across Temporal Geographies of Desire. (Harvard Middle Eastern Monographs) Cambridge MA and London: Harvard University Press. Ilkkaracan, Pinar (ed.). 2008. Deconstructing Sexuality in the Middle East: Challenges and Discourses. Aldershot and Burlington VT: Ashgate.

15/01/12


1a.Supplementary lecture material. Sex, Culture and Society. 2012.

Documents

Transcript of 1a.Supplementary lecture material. Sex, Culture and Society. 2012.