Myths of male dominance : collected articles on women cross-culturally

“Highly recommended, both as a critically presented state-of-the-art discussion and as an account of how one’s personal/political history informs the process of scientific inquiry.”—__Choice__This classic anthropological study debunks the many myths behind the idea of “natural” male superiority. Drawing on extensive historical and cross-cultural research, Eleanor Burke Leacock shows that claims of male superiority are based on carefully constructed myths with no factual historical basis. She also documents numerous historical examples of egalitarian gender relations.**Eleanor Burke Leacock**(1922–1987) was well-known for her ethnographic work among primitive societies, and her research is still a formative influence among feminist anthropologists. Haymarket Books Front Cover 1 Title Page 5 Copyright 6 Dedication 7 Contents 9 Preface 11 1. Introduction: Engels and the History of Women's Oppression 23 Part I: Women in an Egalitarian Society: The Montagnais-Naskapi of Canada 41 2. The Montagnais-Naskapi 43 3. Status Among the Montagnais-Naskapi of Labrador 49 4. Montagnais Women and the Jesuit Program for Colonization 53 5. Matrilocality Among the Montagnais-Naskapi 73 Part II: Social Evolution: Fram Egalitarianism to Oppression 93 6. Introduction to Lewis Henry Morgan, Ancient Society, Parts I, II, III, IV 95 7. Women's Status in Egalitarian Society: Implications for Social Evolution 143 8. Review of Evelyn Reed, Women's Evolution 193 Part III: Myths of Male Dominance: Discussion and Debate 205 9. Society and Gender 207 10. Review of Margaret Mead, Male and Female 215 11. Structuralism and Dialectics 219 12. The Changing Family and Levi-Strauss, or Whatever Happened to Fathers? 232 13. Ideologies of Sex: Archetypes and Stereotypes Eleanor Leacock and June Nash 252 14. Review of Steven Goldberg, The Inevitability of Patriarchy / Eleanor Leacock and Steven Goldberg 274 15. Social Behavior, Biology, and the Double Standard 290 Part IV: Conclusion: Politics and the Ideology of Male Dominance 313 16. Political Ramifications of Engels' Argument on Women's Subjugation 315 17. Women, Development, and Anthropological Facts and Fiction 320 Bibliography 327 Index 345 Back Cover 355

“Highly recommended, both as a critically presented state-of-the-art discussion and as an account of how one’s personal/political history informs the process of scientific inquiry.”—Choice

This classic anthropological study debunks the many myths behind the idea of “natural” male superiority. Drawing on extensive historical and cross-cultural research, Eleanor Burke Leacock shows that claims of male superiority are based on carefully constructed myths with no factual historical basis. She also documents numerous historical examples of egalitarian gender relations.

Eleanor Burke Leacock (1922–1987) was well-known for her ethnographic work among primitive societies, and her research is still a formative influence among feminist anthropologists.

“Highly recommended, both as a critically presented state-of-the-art discussion and as an account of how one’s personal/political history informs the process of scientific inquiry.”— Choice This classic anthropological study debunks the many myths behind the idea of “natural” male superiority. Drawing on extensive historical and cross-cultural research, Eleanor Burke Leacock shows that claims of male superiority are based on carefully constructed myths with no factual historical basis. She also documents numerous historical examples of egalitarian gender relations. Eleanor Burke Leacock (1922–1987) was well-known for her ethnographic work among primitive societies, and her research is still a formative influence among feminist anthropologists. A collection of anthropological articles designed to debunk myths that support the notion of male superiority as a natural phenomenon, with historical examples of egalitarian gender relations, incorporating the author's ethnographic research among the Naskapi, an indigenous hunting and gathering society in Canada