Two percent biology, ninety-eight percent culture
Speaking of gender roles...
I'd long known about the sworn virgins of Albania, of course, but this is still a neat article.
The deep voice, the swagger, the confidence, the sitting position, the slate of interests...how much of what we carelessly ascribe to biology actually results from the twin engines of socialization and expectations?
What's especially nifty about these gorgeous and underutilized social experiments (which, by the way, occur in several cultures) is that often the women are not particularly self-selecting. Although I'm sure there's often an element of volition, note that in the case the NYT profiles, the woman was pretty much designated after her father was killed, making it as close to random assignment as we're likely to get in the real world.
I'd long known about the sworn virgins of Albania, of course, but this is still a neat article.
The deep voice, the swagger, the confidence, the sitting position, the slate of interests...how much of what we carelessly ascribe to biology actually results from the twin engines of socialization and expectations?
What's especially nifty about these gorgeous and underutilized social experiments (which, by the way, occur in several cultures) is that often the women are not particularly self-selecting. Although I'm sure there's often an element of volition, note that in the case the NYT profiles, the woman was pretty much designated after her father was killed, making it as close to random assignment as we're likely to get in the real world.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment<< Home