Marriage (ANTH 1103 Lecture) PDF

**Marriage (Text: Chapter 8 (I))** Sex Is Biological and Gender Is Cultural: Male & Female = Biology Female =/= Woman - Gender refers to cultural ideas concerning the way members of two sexes are perceived, evaluated, and expected to behave. **Homosexuality:** - Homosexual behaviors are...

**Marriage (Text: Chapter 8 (I))** Sex Is Biological and Gender Is Cultural: Male & Female = Biology Female =/= Woman - Gender refers to cultural ideas concerning the way members of two sexes are perceived, evaluated, and expected to behave. **Homosexuality:** - Homosexual behaviors are common worldwide, but the definition varies cross culturally. - In Western cultures, homosexuality is defined as the desire to have sexual relations with someone of the same sex. - Among the Navaho, homosexuality is based more on gender roles than on biological sex; referred to as "two-spirited" - In many cultures, homosexuality is seen as natural and expected. - Alternative genders or transgenders have been identified in many cultures. - **Read: 7.7 p. 115 -- p.117 (NEXT MIDTERM QUESTIONS)** this is just about LGBTQ+ community, and how third-gender is regonized now in some countries. **Rules of Sexual Access: Marriage** - A relationship between people recognized by society that provides a continuing claim to sexual access. - Universal concept- The ideas of marriage. - Conjugal bond: biological male and female - Affinal kin: those acquired through marriage (in-laws) - Sanguine- blood related. - Ensanguine- Not blood related. The Incest Taboo: - Prohibition of sexual relations between individuals - Unacceptable by certain cultures - Explanations for incest: - Psychoanalytical: those we live with are not attractive to us (family). - Inbreeding theory (Genetic): fear of deformity (genetic compromises) - Family disruption theory (Social): intrafamily relations would disrupt harmony. - Oedipus complex- boys have a late sexual attraction to moms, girls have a late sexual attraction to dads, therefore; they needed to be suppressed. - Cooperation (expanding social alliances): expand your connection to other groups via marrying outside yours. - Creating the patrilineal society. - Hardest to refute. Endogamy and Exogamy - **Endogamy**: marriage within a group (not encouraged). - **Exogamy**: marriage outside a group - What is classified as a group (how big or small), is dictated by the cultural group itself. - Example: Canada doesn't allow you to marry lineal but allows 1^st^ cousins, where states doesn't allow lineal or 1^st^ cousins *Cooperation explanation*: forcing people outside their familial unit. **Forms of Marriage** - Monogamy: to one person at a time - Serial Monogamy: to one person at a time, however many marriages have occurred (death of spouse, divorce etc.) (sequence of marriages, but 1 marriage at a time) - Polygamy - Polygyny: one man with many wives at the same time - Polyandry: one woman with many husbands at the same time - Example: Dynamic Anthropology Text Box (Bountiful, BC) - Polygyny practiced in Bountiful, British Columbia - They got him with sex with a minor, instead of polygamous. - It is a cult group there. - Illegal in Canada under the Criminal Code **The Levirate and the Sororate:** - Levirate: - widow (female) marries the brother of the dead husband. - provides social security of the widow. - Preserves previously established relationship. - Sororate: - Widower (male) marries the sister of the dead wife - Preserves previously established relationships. Only called these when it is cultural expected that a widow must take this step of remarriage. Choice of Spouse: Arranged Marriage - Marriage often too important to be left to the decision of young people - Involves a transfer of rights between families: bride-wealth, dowry - Tends to be for the economic and political advantage of the family unit - The main goal is to break even on inheritance and enhance the image and economics of the family. **Marriage Exchanges:** - Marriage can be formalized with some sort of economic exchange. - Bride-price or bride wealth: wealth a man or his family pay to a woman's family so that their son can acquire her as his bride (very common in Africa) - Bride service: those men without money work for their prospective bride's father, indenture labor for time. Free labor but to work and the man's time is a form of compensations. - Dowry: money a woman's family give to a man's family to marry her, (traditional in India). Compensation for the new family to be taking care of the women in their family. Send the women with the items. Divorce - Variability in difficulty: very difficult in arranged marriages as father's have arranged them. Due to bride wealth is a result of this, it ensures good treatment of the bride. - Variability in reasons: granted in arranged marriages if wife is abused or cannot bear children **Types of Cousins Marriage:** Generic Kinship Diagram Parallel Cousins: Father's brother's children (13 & 14) and Mother's sister's children (15 & 16) Cross-Cousins: Father's sister's children (11 &12) and Mother's brother's children (17 & 18) No genetic differences between parallel and cross-cousins. EGO is 'me,' lines are biological connections. = mean marriage, circle is female, triangle is male. The straight lines are the generations, top is oldest. *[Matri]lateral (mothers' side) cross-cousin marriage*: - Marriage of a man to his [mother's] brother's daughter or women to her mother's brother's son *[Patri]lateral (fathers' side) cross-cousin marriage*: - Marriage of a man to his [father's] sister's daughter - Women to her father's sister's son. **Read: Honor Killings in the Netherlands (posted reading on D2L)**