Monday, January 4, 2010

What happens to men, violence, and sex in a matriarchy

From an interview with an Argentinian who spent time among the Mosuo people of China, observing their matriarchal culture (via Church of Rationality):

[Q:] What is life like for a man in a matriarchy?

[A:] Men live better where women are in charge: you are responsible for almost nothing, you work much less and you spend the whole day with your friends. You're with a different woman every night. And on top of that, you can always live at your mother's house. The woman serves the man and it happens in a society where she leads the way and has control of the money. In a patriarchy, we men work more -- and every now and then we do the dishes. In the Mosuo's pure form of matriarchy, you aren't allowed to do that. Where a woman's dominant position is secure, those kinds of archaic gender roles don't have any meaning.

[Q:] What astonished you the most?

[A:] That there is no violence in a matriarchal society. I know that quickly slips into idealization -- every human society has its problems. But it simply doesn't make sense to the Mosuo women to solve conflicts with violence. Because they are in charge, nobody fights. They don't know feelings of guilt or vengeance -- it is simply shameful to fight. They are ashamed if they do and it even can threaten their social standing. ...

[Q:] How does [the] division of roles function when it comes to love?

[A:] ... Someone always wants to present you with a woman and there is always a woman there who is smiling at you. Like I said, these are very strong women who give the orders and yell at you as if you were deaf. But when it comes to seduction, they completely change. The women act shy, look at the floor, sing softly to themselves and blush. And they let the men believe that we are the ones who choose the women and do the conquering.

6 comments:

LemmusLemmus said...

The link may be from me, but I must say I'm super-skeptical of his claims, especially given that similar claims in the past did not hold up well under closer inspection.

Meade said...

"... very strong women who give the orders and yell at you as if you were deaf."

Reverse genders and, in France, that would be actionable psychological abuse equivalent to physical violence.

Those Mosuo men need to start a gender equality movement.

Ann Althouse said...

This Argentinian... he gives off the odor of a sexual adventurer, not a scientist.

John Althouse Cohen said...

This Argentinian... he gives off the odor of a sexual adventurer, not a scientist.

Yes, that's a good point. But I still find it thought-provoking even if it's a subjective report. Anyway, even genuine anthropologists have their own skewed perspectives and can alter the cultures they're studying through their presence. He's just not trying very hard to hide this.

Ann Althouse said...

Yeah, read about how Margaret Mead was faked out as she tried to do serious anthropology in Samoa.

John Althouse Cohen said...

I have read about it, in Robert Wright's The Moral Animal.