Other Ways of Conceiving Gender/Sexualities

other ways of conceiving gender/sexualities first, I want to underscore the point that not only are identity categories oversimplified, individual identities are not necessarily stable — may not plot on graph as single dot this is why anthropologists like Weston talk about the uses of gender, gender-typed qualities: men and women make use of both femininity and masculinity does it make sense to speak in similar way about sexuality? uses of sexuality, sexualitytyped qualities? readings for today: different articulations between categories of gender and of sexuality Gilbert Herdt well-known anthropologist, studied Sambia in Highlands of Papua New Guinea in 1970s, with return trips throughout the 1980s; now heads Human Sexuality Program, San Francisco State U. his work addresses 1) the role of ritual in gender/sexuality 2) the multiple ways gender/sexuality can be interrelated 3) distinction b/w sexual acts and “orientations” (as identity) according to Herdt, the Sambia can be said to have a sex/gender system — strong binary oppositions between male and female, accompanied by a strict gender division of labor — but they do not not have an equivalent sexuality/gender system instead, male sexuality and female sexuality not equivalent categories female = natural and heterosexual (orientation, acts) male = cultural and sequentially bisexual (first homosexual, then heterosexual) first, notable that they regard females as more naturally “complete” — less in need of ritual elaboration (seemingly different from European traditions) why? “ritualized male homosexuality” — secret rites, hidden from women (they don’t know) if blood makes femaleness, semen makes maleness and must be ingested, culturally acquired through initiation rituals FILM CLIP for all he narrates rituals as “men making men” or “masculinizing men” there’s quite a bit of feminine imagery! 1 indeed, sex-segregated initiation rites and male homosocial/homosexual events are infused with feminine elements — gender isn’t absolute difference in ideology here semen = mother’s milk (“when the semen falls into my mouth, I think it’s the milk of women” — easily identified as homosexual experience?) penis = flute; breast = flute flute is animated by female spirit [male body is vessel; again, seeming inversion] and the ritualized insemination necessary to make “real” men prepared to survive heterosexual encounters with women for procreation! ritual embodies contradiction (ideology is never seamless) ultimately, what’s ritualized here is male prestige, rather than sexual orientation or essential gender differentiation Annick Prieur’s Mema’s House let’s get a handle on the terminology: joto = (passive) homosexual, prefers men exclusively and usually passive role jota = feminine passive homosexuals (“queens”) vestida = jota who consistently dresses as woman core of these definition is preferring passive role, in keeping with feminine presentation — ideological link b/w position and appearance femininity in man suggests wants to be penetrated masculinity suggests wants to penetrate mayate = masculine men who penetrate jotas + also have sex with women (external label — they would simply call themselves ‘men’; acts ≠ identity) tortilla = mayate sometimes takes passive position with men, sometimes active bisexual = tortilla = internacional = alternating active/passive roles [implicit — if take active role with men, then will also have sex with women] buga = term used by homosexuals who designate men they think only have sex with women; only penetrating role; also used to describe manly men, macho 2