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From: rrizzo@bbncca.ARPA (Ron Rizzo)
Newsgroups: net.motss
Subject: Re: We aren't that simple.
Message-ID: <834@bbncca.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 10-Jul-84 13:36:54 EDT
Article-I.D.: bbncca.834
Posted: Tue Jul 10 13:36:54 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 11-Jul-84 01:17:02 EDT
References: <2409@decwrl.UUCP>
Organization: Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, Ma.
Lines: 37

Just a comment: the effects of cultural categories & socialization
are profound; only some of it is visible or conscious.  But there's
a danger in making a geiven set of sex roles (or sex roles at all)
too important or unchangeable:  they vary greatly form society to
society.

For example, gender role behavior among the Burmese is nearly the
exact opposite of what it is in North America: women do most heavy
daily chores, are dominant, aggressive, decisive; men are more
emotional, quarrelsome, gossipy, generally what a gringo would
consider "effeminate".

In much of India and China culturally determined personality diffe-
rences based on gender are matters of status, i.e. a social postion's
rights & obligations, rather than of role, a set of behaviors.  Males
are dominant, but for many social levels in either country, appropriate
male behavior involves much that would be considered outrageous in
North America: men holding hands, other displays of affection, lack of
aggression, often a complete lack of anything remotely resembling
"machismo" (a much abused word).

There are people who have been raised in one of these cultures & in
say North America:  I doubt they're all horribly mangled, conflicted,
etc. as a result.  Roles CAN change even within a given individual's
life;  they can even be consciously altered, though this is often
very difficult.

We can acknowledge the often profound effects of culture without
making a fetish of a specific culture's forms.

(By the way, I disagree that gender role differences lurk either
at the margin or in the heart of every gay relationship.  Eirikur's
perception could be a result of the specific people he's known or
of a fuzzily-defined idea of "gender role".)

					"Is there sex after death?"
					Ron Rizzo