The Society of Men
The Society of Men
Competition among men implicit in the genetic program must be organized and contained in any viable society. Men’s societies accomplish this by ritual and symbolic means. The case of Manambu men in Avatip, PNG, is examined as illustrative. Men’s societies in many cases assert superiority over women, and allocate the important ritual and religious cultural activities to themselves, relegating women to a domestic sphere identified with sexual reproduction. Men are also often assigned dealings with the supernatural, and with death. It is argued that the key distinction in many societies is not that between genders, but between the homosocial society of men, identified with the cultural program, and the mixed sex society of men and women, identified with sexual reproduction and the genetic program. Male appropriation of reproductive functions in symbolic form in “pseudo-procreation rituals” is examined.
Keywords: men’s societies, male competition, Avatip, supernatural sphere, death, homosocial society, pseudo-procreation rituals
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