ANTHRO 104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Transgender Sexuality, Human Sexuality, Asexuality
Document Summary
Gender: review: sex: observable physical diferences between male and female, gender: how these diferences are interpreted and performed within and through culture, in the west, sex and gender are conceived as binaries. Masculine/feminine: cross-cultural analysis reveals more of a coninuum. Wide range of sexual behaviors: variaion in what consituted a sexual behavior. What is natural about human sexuality: 3 approaches: Evoluionist: human sexuality is an extension of animal sexuality. Cultural construcivist: it"s all about people, events, and cultural environment: evoluionist theory doesn"t exactly explain everything. Only 2 other animals have sex for pleasure. Most animals don"t form long term partnerships to raise ofspring: biological approach doesn"t explain why you"re atracted to who you"re atracted to, cultural construcivist approach: best approach to anthropologists. There is very litle that is natural about human sexuality. Culture shapes and creates categories and ways that allow us to make sense of.
