12.4 Sexuality and Queer Anthropology

Sexuality and Culture

Sexuality does more than shape personal relationships. It influences how entire societies organize themselves, from who holds power to what counts as a "normal" family. Anthropologists study sexuality cross-culturally to understand how something often assumed to be purely biological is actually deeply shaped by culture.

Sexuality's Influence on Culture

Sexuality touches nearly every domain of social life. It determines what behaviors are expected, who gets access to resources, and how institutions maintain control.

Shaping norms and expectations:

• Sexuality defines gender roles and what counts as appropriate behavior. In many Latin American communities, machismo ties masculinity to sexual dominance and authority within the household.
• Marriage customs and family structures reflect cultural attitudes about sexuality. Arranged marriages in parts of South Asia, for instance, prioritize family alliances over individual romantic desire.
• Rites of passage often incorporate sexuality. Female genital cutting in parts of East and West Africa is tied to ideas about sexual purity and readiness for marriage.

Influencing power dynamics:

• Access to resources and opportunities can depend on gender and sexual orientation. The persistent wage gap between men and women reflects how sexuality-linked gender roles translate into economic inequality.
• Political systems may privilege certain sexual identities. Over 60 countries still criminalize same-sex sexual activity, concentrating legal power around heterosexual norms.

Regulated through institutions:

• Religious doctrines define acceptable sexual behavior. The Catholic Church's prohibition on artificial contraception shapes reproductive choices for millions.
• Legal systems govern sexuality through laws like age of consent statutes or marriage regulations.
• Education and socialization reinforce these norms. Abstinence-only sex education programs, for example, transmit specific cultural values about when and how sexuality should be expressed.

Same-Sex Relationships Across Societies

Same-sex relationships are not a modern phenomenon. They've been documented across cultures and throughout history, though their meanings and social functions differ enormously depending on context.

Historical and cross-cultural presence:

• In ancient Athens, pederasty (relationships between older and younger men) was an accepted part of elite male social life, tied to mentorship and education.
• Many Indigenous societies in the Americas recognized two-spirit individuals, people who embodied both masculine and feminine qualities and often held respected social and spiritual roles.

Different social functions:

• In modern Western societies, same-sex partnerships are increasingly understood as egalitarian relationships based on mutual affection, reflected in the legalization of same-sex marriage.
• In some cultural contexts, close same-sex bonds serve primarily as mentorship or social bonding rather than being understood as "sexual orientation" in the Western sense.
• Certain gender-diverse roles, like hijras in South Asia, fulfill spiritual and ritual functions. Hijras are often invited to bless weddings and births, though they also face significant social marginalization.

Varying cultural attitudes:

• Some societies accept same-sex relationships as part of human diversity, as seen in countries that have legalized same-sex marriage.
• Others tolerate them only if they remain private, as with former "don't ask, don't tell" military policies.
• Still others actively persecute same-sex relationships. Several countries maintain criminal penalties, including imprisonment or death.

An important anthropological point here: categories like "gay" or "straight" are themselves culturally specific. Many societies organize sexuality around different categories entirely, which is why anthropologists are cautious about projecting Western frameworks onto other cultures.

Ritualized Sexuality and Transgender Roles

Ritualized Sexuality

Ritualized sexuality refers to sexual practices that are embedded in religious or spiritual ceremonies. These aren't just "about sex." They carry deep symbolic meaning within their cultural contexts.

• Fertility rites and harvest festivals in many agricultural societies link sexual acts to the renewal of nature and continuity of life.
• In ancient India, devadasis were women dedicated to temple service whose roles sometimes included ritual sexual practices understood as sacred.
• Esoteric traditions like Tantra (in Hinduism and Buddhism) and certain Taoist practices treat sexual energy as a path toward spiritual transformation.

Ritualized sexuality typically serves three purposes:

1. Connecting participants to the divine or to cosmic forces
2. Reinforcing social order and cultural values around sexuality
3. Facilitating spiritual growth or personal transformation

Participation may be voluntary or obligatory depending on the culture. It can be limited to specific ritual specialists (like priests) or open to the broader community, and it's almost always governed by strict rules and taboos about purity and proper conduct.

Transgender Roles in Cultural Contexts

Many cultures around the world have long recognized gender identities beyond the male/female binary. Anthropologists study these roles to show that the Western two-gender system is just one way of organizing gender, not a universal truth.

Recognized and respected roles:

• Two-spirit people in many Native American societies were seen as embodying both male and female qualities, often holding unique spiritual authority.
• Hijras in South Asia are considered auspicious and are traditionally invited to bless births and weddings, though their social status is complex and often involves marginalization as well.
• Kathoeys in Thailand are recognized as a distinct gender category, with visibility in entertainment and public life.

Associated social functions:

• Spiritual powers and communication with the spirit world, as in various shamanic traditions
• Artistic and performance roles, such as Brazilian travestis in entertainment
• Mediation and counseling, as with fa'afafine in Samoa, who are recognized as a third gender and often serve important family and community roles
• Religious and ceremonial leadership, as with muxes among the Zapotec in Oaxaca, Mexico, or nádleehí healers in Navajo culture

Status varies widely:

• Some cultures revere gender-diverse individuals for their unique qualities (such as Zuni lhamana, who held honored positions).
• Others marginalize and discriminate against transgender people. In many modern Western societies, transgender individuals face high rates of violence, employment discrimination, and social exclusion.
• In extreme cases, gender and sexual nonconformity is met with violence, such as "corrective rape" targeting lesbians in South Africa.

Sexual and Gender Diversity

A few key concepts that come up repeatedly in queer anthropology:

• Sexual orientation refers to a person's enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attraction to others. It's understood differently across cultures.
• Gender identity is a person's internal sense of their own gender, which may or may not align with their biological sex or the gender they were assigned at birth.
• The gender binary is the social construct that divides gender into only two categories (masculine and feminine). Anthropology shows this binary is far from universal.
• Sexual fluidity describes how an individual's sexual orientation can shift over time, challenging the idea that orientation is always fixed.
• Intersectionality examines how social identities like gender, sexuality, race, and class overlap to create distinct experiences of privilege or oppression. A Black transgender woman, for example, faces a different set of challenges than a white gay man.

Michel Foucault is a foundational figure in queer theory. His work The History of Sexuality (1976) argued that "sexuality" as a category is itself a product of modern Western power structures. Rather than being a natural, timeless fact about people, sexual identities are shaped by institutions like medicine, law, and religion. Foucault's ideas pushed anthropologists to examine how cultures create and enforce sexual categories, not just what those categories are.