Universal Power by Desirée Delgado licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic (I wanted to stick to this image)I left the most exciting part to latter posts! Have a look at this! I couldn't believe what I was reading... This is from the same article as the one in my 11th post.
"In many West African chiefdoms and states, women themselves could pay bride price and "marry" other women." (p. 233)
Amazing isn't it? It continues:
"A female husband builds a house for her "wife" and arranges for a male consort to get her pregnant. By taking a wife, a woman assumes the status of head of household. By paying bridewealth for several such "wives", an ambitious West African woman could become the "father" of many children, establish control over a busy compound, and become rich and powerful." (p. 233)
Now do you still think power belongs only to men?
Harris, M. & Johnson, O. (2000). Cultural Anthropology. (Location not known): Ally and Bacon.
(the anthology doesn't indicate the location)
Like the things work in nature,(a kind of female spider eats her male one up after they've paired.)also In some cultures women were the powerful figures in societies. Like in old Turkish tribes when a woman come to a marriage, she first wrestle with her partner and if the man doesn't as strong as the woman then he wouldn't be marry unless he will find another woman whom he can beat up...Interesting huh!!
ReplyDeleteHoly cow, that is fascinating stuff! I think this clearly counters certain students' insistence on biological determinism and emphasises the idea of gender as a social construct.
ReplyDeleteI think it certainly reveals a lot about the state of Turkish society that students immediately refer to men's "animal instincts" and so forth (I'm referring to what I'm reading on the blogs). If men don't behave like that in other societies, then what does that argument imply about this country? That only Turkish men are biologically driven? Really, it has become very entertaining... :)