In our discussion of Levi-Strauss’ binary opposition, we
defined the binary as two things that are opposed. In looking at specific
examples of opposition we looked at the basics such as; up and down, light and
dark, and left and right. We also said that the binaries that we come up with
are actually taken from one’s culture. We then looked at the concept of myth
and how with the use of the binary theory, we can look beyond the surface of
the narrative to understand the underlying meaning of the plot.
When looking at the binary theory and opposition, the idea
of gender is one that stuck with me. How can we apply Levi-Strauss’ theory in
such a way that would allow everyone to grasp the concept? By looking at
gender. Gender is a social construction that comes from the division of males
and females based on sex or biological differentiation. In our culture (and by
this I mean broad American culture) the division of gender is pretty cut and
dry, despite the growing arguments that say there are more than two gender
categories. You are either a female or a male. Well that’s a fairly easy
concept to understand, but similar to the plot of a myth, is there something
deeper than just sex that makes for such an opposition? Yes. As humans we
naturally like to categorize things and organize our lives (for example the way
we organize time; years, months, days, hours, etc.) and just as we categorize everything
else, we must categorize ourselves.While thinking about the many aspects of life
that traditionally would be
considered gender specific I included the following:
Despite the fact that we are all human, we allow our biological
distinctions to separate us into gender. Looking at the biological differences
we see that for example, only females have the ability to become impregnated while
males are the only ones who can impregnate the female. These roles in child
reproduction add to our biological grouping into the female and male genders.
However, we can look beyond the biological and deeper into the early social
organizations of man to see greater organization. Based on the biological
grouping of males and females we begin to see patterns of behavior that distinguish
one from the other. We can look at the basic necessities of any living thing
and I think we can agree that above all they are food and shelter. Since the
beginning of time, and more specifically in the United States, the female
gender can be traced to providing one of the two basic needs; shelter. She
keeps the household together, she raises the children, etc. Males take on the
other essential, food. Whether they are out foraging for this food, or working
a 9 to 5 to bring home the bacon, they are fulfilling this role. This
organization of gender to roles tends to be universal (for the most part)
among all living things, not only humans.
It seems that the association of gender roles with the
organization of gender, fulfills a deeper need for us to categorize life
essentials, for example food and water. It allows us to greater categorize everything
else in our lives and helps answer the questions of how things got this way and
why. Similar to the plot of a myth, the gender binary makes for a better
understanding or underlying meaning to our roles as female and male in our own society.
Though at times it may seem overly traditional or even antiquated, the idea of
the gender binary makes for an easy way of understanding binary theory.
Markecia,
ReplyDeleteI like your post, and it has caused me to think a lot. I like how you began with an over-arching binary and then dove further into other binaries that were created due to the presence of that binary. I really enjoyed reading your post and following the idea that one binary can cause the creation of other smaller interrelated binaries. However, I think it would make your argument stronger and more applicable if instead of beginning with the gender binary it would help your argument to begin with the sex binary: biologically man and woman. Genders are culturally conceived, and in order for your binary to apply cross culturally you could use the biological difference of a man and a woman. Then look further into the binaries created in the social world through the biologically different categories of male and female. Such as the role of the man and the role of the woman in the family. The idea of genders, as of late is a sticky discussion due to transgender and cross gender. Not just in America, but in other cultures there are sometimes three or five different genders that are present in the culture. Take for example the Navajo culture has a recognized and revered gender known as nádleehí, which is the idea of a person with both male and female gender.
Great post! I really enjoyed reading it!
Markecia and Mary Helen are taking us into important territory. We need to be very cautious of overgeneraalization here, though -- not only can we not say that females are responsible for " shelter" among all living things, anthropology shows us that we can't even say this universally about humans.
ReplyDeleteBut good distinction between sex and gender and acknowledgment of the fluidity of gender in the face of the human urge to classify.
ReplyDelete