Margaret Mead's Sex And Temperament By Martha C. Ward

In her article, Sex and Temperament, Martha C. Ward summarizes the anthropological study of gender undertaken in 1931-1933 by Margaret Mead. This investigation lead to Mead later publishing Sex and Temperament: In Three Primitive Societies in 1935. This text is considered by many to be an important study of gender roles and culture, and, according to Ward, is required reading in most courses on gender studies. Determined to uncover the truth of gender as a social construct, Mead traveled to the Sepik River region of New Guinea discovering three very unique cultures all within a 100 mile area with their own distinct ideas of what constitutes gender norms. Though located within relatively close proximity to each other the Arapesh, the Mundugumor, …show more content…
Ward in her article Sex and Temperament we must first define each term. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines sex as pertaining to the biological and physiological traits that define men and women. While gender is defined as being a sociological construct of a given society based on roles, behaviours and activities deemed appropriate for men and women. (“WHO | What do we,” n.d). If these concepts were, as some still mistakenly believe, interchangeable, there would have been little to no difference noted between the citizens of the three villages visited by Mead. In fact, it could be argued, that she would have found a social structure much like that seen in the western world. However, as was discovered, this was not the case. Each could be seen not as a result of biology but of society based on cultural materialism, where each developed out of the demands – or lack there-of – of their environments, and the needs of their society. The importance of this differentiation lies in the fact that we are not simply a product of our biology, and that roles assigned to men and women are not immutable. This points to the fact that as society changes, so too, can we change our roles within society, without having to be forced to adhere to, as is often the case, outdated ideas of who and what we are. It also allows us to rail against, as Feminist and Conflict Theorists would encourage, preconceived …show more content…
This gave her the opportunity to observe the day to day functioning of these societies. However, as Ward noted, many expressed disbelief that Mead so easily found such vastly different cultures living within such close proximity to each other. She did go on to state that later ethnographers, were able to verify, if not wholly, at least in part, many of Mead’s findings. Doubts that arose, were due to the brevity of her stays within each village, with little regard to the social history each possessed. It was noted that the Tchambuli, were in a state of transition, having only just returned from a 20 year exile, and that the Mundugumor had only recently given up the practice of cannibalism. It can be asked, however, if this negates, for our purposes at least, the spirit of Mead’s research. Societies are always in a state of change, either slow and responsive as seen from a Structural Functionalist perspective, or swift and radical, as is often the view of the Conflict Theorist. This does not, however, disprove the idea that gender is a culturally unique social construct autonomous to biology. It could be argued, that roles and norms are fluid and continually shifting to adjust to societal changes, and that to offer more than a snapshot in regards to gender being more than something determined by the biological