Transcript Gender Relations and Patriarchy

Early Indian Civilization
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Indigenous (pre-Ayran) Indian cultures
Indo-Ayran migration
Sanskrit
Vedas
Upanishads
jati (caste)
dharma
Bogus
“Aryans”
Real
Aryans
Greece
Mesopotamia
Egypt
Indus
Ganges
Greece
Mesopotamia
Egypt
Indus
Ganges
Gender
Relations
and
Patriarchy
• What was the “original” male-female
relationship?
• Gender roles
– biologically determined?
• When does “social construction” become
important?
• Does religion require or reflect/reinforce ?
• Evidence:
– Hammurabi
– Leviticus
– Indian culture
• Kama Sutra - sexuality embraced
– Greek culture
• Homophrosyne
• Helen vs. Penelope
• Why are gender relations a problem?
– Eros = potential chaos
– Gender roles need to be clear and understood
• Prohibitions against homosexuality
• Female “circumcision” (FGM)
• Eros biologically determined.
• Gender socially determined.
“Genderbread Man”
“Genderbread Man”
Socially
Determined
Biologically
Determined
Socially
Determined
Biologically
Determined
Ancient Greece and
the Modern GLBT Movement
• Sappho of Lesbos
Lacedaemon
Kore
Kouros
Aphrodite of Cnidus
by Praxiteles
400 - 323 BCE
What was the real nature of malemale friendship in Ancient Greece?
• Homosocial environments
• No reference to male-male sex in the Iliad or
Odsessy
• But . . . What was the
nature of the friendship
between Achilles and
Patroclus?
By c. 500 BCE
• The “lover” and “beloved” relationship
Harmodius and Aristogeiton
assassinated
Hipparchus in 514 BCE
Harmodius
Aristogeiton
Alcibiades (450–404 BC):
“In his adolescence he
drew away the husbands
from their wives, and as a
young man the wives
from their husbands.”
Diogenes Laeurtius
“The noble lover of beauty engages in love
wherever he sees excellence and splendid natural
endowment without regard for any difference in
physiological detail.”
Plutarch (46 – 120 CE) Erotikos (Dialogue on Love)
Sex was less the
problem than
what a specific
sex act says
about gender.
Moderation
• Hesiod
– “Observe due measure, moderation is best in all things.'
• Euripides
– “Moderation, the noblest gift of heaven”
• Plato
– “We should pursue and practice moderation.”
Ancient China
• How is development in ancient China the
same as that in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and
India?
• How is it different?
• Geography?
• Political and social organization?
• Religion?
Chinese Dynasties
• “Three Sovereigns and the Five Emperors”
(“Culture Heroes and Sage Kings”) 2852 – 2205 BCE
• Xia
2070–1766 BCE
• Shang
1766 – 1122 BCE
• Zhou
1122 – 481 BCE
“Mandate of Heaven”