In some sense all ritual is gender ritual. As long aspeople live gende - PDF document

In some sense all ritual is gender ritual. As long aspeople live gendered lives, their experience of thewhether or not the rituals they perform explicitlyrelate to gender. Religious rituals often make genderbe performed by men or by women. However, thisarticle defines gender rituals as those rituals whosemajor purpose is to establish, reaffirm, or problema-tize gender.Defining and Theorizing GenderBefore examining gender rituals it is important tounderstand what is meant by “gender.” Until recentlyit was agreed that gender could be defined vis-à-vissex, sex being biologically determined, while genderwas culturally acquired. Similarly, many culturesviewed “male” as closer to culture and “female” ascloser to nature, with the result that nature was con-sidered inferior to culture, and women inferior to men.This gender-versus-sex dichotomy was eventuallycritiqued by feminists as too simplistic and beside thepoint. Most famously, perhaps, Judith Butler hasargued:Gender ought not to be conceived merely as the cul-tural inscription of meaning upon a pregiven sex (ajuridicial conception); gender must also designate thevery apparatus of production whereby the sexesthemselves are established. As a result, gender is notto culture as sex is to nature; gender is also thediscursive/cultural means by which “sexed nature”or “a natural sex” is produced and established as“prediscursive,” prior to culture, a politically neutralsurface on which culture acts. (Butler 1990, 7).Thus Butler would contend that the widespread beliefthat sex differences are indicates the very suc-important to realize that for her nothing exists beforeculture. There can be no natural sex because sex couldnot have been conceived or spoken of before the exis-tence of cultural constructs.result of culture? According to Daniel Boyarin, whenprocess by which people are interpellated into a two-(or for some cultures more) sex system that is made toseem as if it were nature, that is, something that hasalways existed” (Boyarin 1998, 117). Studying ritual isimportant role in establishing, reaffirming, and prob-lematizing gender and provide an outlet for partici-gender differences in society.Religious rituals that establish gender usually occurearly in life. While many religious traditions treatyoung children as somewhat androgynous beings,there are traditions in which gendered existencebegins at birth. An example of this is seen in Judaism. G RT1806_G.qxd 1/28/2004 6:36 PM Page 145 Gender Ritualsritual circumcision, which traditionally occurs eightis to remem-ber and re-enact the covenant made between God andAbraham (Genesis 17:1–14). It is through circumcisionthat boys are welcomed into the covenant and inheritthe promises of abundance and land. Traditionally,descendants of Abraham, and because the action ofGENDER RITUALS AND GENDER ROLE AND STATUStions in the society.The following example concerning the role of Hopi mothers in their son’s lives and initi-ation ritual and other life event rituals suggests the complexity of gender relations in Hopi society wherewomen exercise considerable power and influence.Whereas the division of labor tends to force a son very close to his father it serves to pull him somewhat apartfrom his mother.This does not mean that there is a weakening of affection,but it does imply that a mother’s influ-ence over her son is greatest in the early years of his life.Hopi mothers are notoriously over-indulgent towards their children.I have often seen them deny themselveslittle boys,old enough to know better,strike their mothers viciously while their parents assumed an air of indiffer-ence in order that those present might not note how badly they were hurt physically and mentally.Mothers oftenscold and threaten punishment,but only rarely do they make good their threats.As a boy outgrows his childish fits of temper he begins more and more to appreciate his mother’s position inthe household and to rely on her advice.At this stage she generally encourages him not to be lazy,to go with hisfather and uncles into the fields,and to comport himself in a manner befitting a good Hopi.When the time comes for a son’s initiation into the Katcina cult,the mother helps choose his ceremonial father,and after the ceremony she brings food to the home of her child’s sponsor.When a boy is old enough to go into hisTribal Initiation,the mother makes special cakes for his ceremonial father.A mother’s word counts heavily but is not necessarily final in a man’s choice of a bride.During the actual wed-ding ritual a mother plays a very active part,and when a son goes into housekeeping she gives him various usefulgifts and helps carry water to his new residence.Even after marriage,when a man has left his mother’s household and has gone from a subordinate position inhis family of orientation to a more dominant one in his family of procreation,he does not feel that he has severedhis ties with his natal home.He is always welcome to drop into his mother’s house for meals,to bring friends therefor entertainment,and to leave harness,tools,or other equipment in the mother’s house if it happens to be moreconveniently located than his wife’s.Furthermore,if a mother becomes a widow her sons are expected to raisecrops for her even if they happen to be married and primarily occupied in working their wives’ farms.It is regard-ed as highly disgraceful for married sons to neglect a widowed mother.The birth of children to a married son again brings his mother into prominence,for it is she who first washesand cares for the tiny infant,and it is she who conducts the ceremonies that lead up to the naming rites on thetwentieth day.On that occasion she takes charge of the proceedings and is the first of many eligible women tobestow a name referring to her clan on the baby.: Titiev,Mischa.(1971).Old Oraibi; a study of the Hopi Indians of Third MesaNew York,Kraus Reprint Co.,p.19.(Originally published 1944). RT1806_G.qxd 1/28/2004 6:36 PM Page 146 the ritual involves marking the male body, there washistorically no parallel ceremony for girls. AlthoughAbraham’s promise to God, it also serves to segregatemale is a prerequisite for full participation in JewishIn many cultures, puberty, or coming-of-age, cere-gender. These rituals, which Arnold van Gennepinto the world of adults. While some cultures havecelebrated parallel puberty ceremonies for boys andfemale in coming-of-age ceremonies. However, it isnot just this division that marks these ceremonies asgender rituals. The very point of these rituals is to cel-ebrate differences. Children become adults and beginliving as distinctly gendered when their differentiatedsex organs develop into their mature form at puberty.This explains why many of these rituals occur aroundpuberty, although social and biological adulthood arenot always considered synonymous.ally patriarchal world coming-of-age ceremonieswould be more common for boys than for girls, thereare a surprising number of such ceremonies for girls.Among the best-known girls’ puberty ceremonies isthe Kinaaldá ceremony that the Navajo traditionallyperform for girls at each of their first two periods.According to Bruce Lincoln, the Navajo celebrate agirl’s menarche “because it indicates that she is readychildren that is celebrated in such rituals. Thus, theserituals help establish her as a gendered being andemphasize those traits considered properly femininein her culture—in this case fertility.Changing Woman (a fertility goddess) through songs,dress, and action. Her transformative power can espe-places her hands on younger girls, lifting them up tohelp them grow. Just as the Changing Woman is con-cerned with growth and the life cycle, so the initiand(new initiate) develops these concerns in part throughthis ceremony. Once the girl has undergone theKinaaldá ceremony she is expected to be ready tomarry and have children: at this point she is a woman,as the ceremony has affirmed the physical status shehas already reached.Reaffirming Gender through RitualMany religious rituals serve to reaffirm adults’ gen-dered existence. Whether or not these rituals indicateequality or oppression, they do affirm differencesbetween men and women. These differences do notnecessarily relate to physical characteristics, as somepuberty ceremonies do, but often re-establish thecharacteristics that the religious tradition considersproperly masculine or feminine. To be socially accept-woman in feminine ways, and this is learned throughOne common reaffirming ritual is the weddingceremony. In many religious traditions men andplay slightly different roles during the ceremony, rolesthat specifically relate to the ways in which men andIraqi Muslim wedding, the actual ceremony takesplace between the bride’s father and the bridegroom.The father gives his daughter to the groom and askswhether the groom accepts the daughter according tothe law of God and the prophet Muhammad. Oncethe groom has accepted her, the father gives his bless-ing, and those assembled recite the first chapter of theQur’an. On the wedding night, usually after a day offestivities, the bride is delivered by her family to thegroom, who greets her by washing her feet and pray-ing. The wedding ceremony is a microcosm of the tra-ditional marital relationship where the major publicdecisions are made by the men. Women are respectedand loved by their husbands, but that affection is for clients by worshipping the Divine Female Principle in theform of young virgins.Himalayas,India,1988.COURTESY OFRICHARDJ.CASTILLO. RT1806_G.qxd 1/28/2004 6:36 PM Page 147 shown only in private. Finally, as the recitation of theQur’an and the prayer indicate, the relationshiption to God and the example of the Qur’an. Thus, thevery ritual of the wedding reinforces the culturalnotions of masculinity and femininity and the rela-cultural rituals not commonly regarded as religiousthat reaffirm gender. For instance, James McBride hasargued that football games can serve as religious ritu-als that reaffirm gender for men who play or watchculine gender in American society. According tocally plays out men’s unresolved separation anxiety—the desire for and hostility toward the mother in everystructure of the game, pitting opposite teams againsteach other, mimes the binary opposition of father/mother, phallus/not-phallus” (McBride 2001, 135). Inthis theory, it is the relationship between the motherbeing replayed on the football field. While few peoplewould consider football a traditional religious ritual,McBride contends that its collective nature defines itas religious ritual.Problematizing Gender Through RitualReligious ritual can also work to problematize tradi-tional beliefs about gender or the relationshipbetween sex and gender. One of the most basic waysin which ritual problematizes gender is throughroles are questioned.An example of gender-inversion ritual is “malemenstruation,” or sympathetic menstruation. Al-though men do not literally menstruate, in some cul-tures men ritually cause themselves to bleed or vomitso as to replicate the natural processes of women. Insome cultures this only happens during initiation orpuberty rituals, but some men perform such bleedingthroughout their lives. Male menstruation can beaccompanied by transvestism and doing traditionallyin Western New Guinea. Ashley Montagu’s descrip-tion of the Australian Aborigines indicates that insome cultures it is even common for ritual surgeryinvolving subincision of the penis to be performedwhat does this gender-bending mean? First, accord-ing to Matthea Cremers, ritual inversion can serve “asan affirmation of masculinity and a way for men torid themselves of contamination by females”(Cremers 1989, 85). By showing that they can imitateof women’s potential superiority. Second, imitation ofthey believe women naturally possess through theirsexual organs.Roman Catholic ordination rites accomplish suchgender-bending, although not through strict ritualinversion. Although only men are permitted tobecome Catholic priests, the gendered language asso-ciated with the priesthood emphasizes the tradition-ally feminine characteristics that priests shouldexemplify, including submission and compassion.Even more explicitly, priests are considered to benot necessary in order to portray the ideal of feminin-ity; however, physical manhood does seem necessaryin order to portray the Priest’s relation to Christ. Onemajor Roman Catholic argument against ordainingand as an icon the priest must resemble Christ physi-cally, maleness being an important component of thisresemblance. As it is never argued that priests shouldbe Hebrew or circumcised so as physically to resem-nine ideal of being submissive brides of Christ is bal-anced by physical masculinity, indicating that RomanCatholic priests are regarded as somewhat genderneutral, a notion reinforced by their vow of celibacy.In this example ritual thus problematizes gender soThe Future of Gender RitualsParticularly as a result of the women’s movement ofthe 1960s and 1970s, there have been several changesin the acceptance of gender rituals throughouttheworld. In the West, reform movements withinmajor religious traditions, especially Judaism andChristianity, have sought to de-emphasize the impor-tance of gender in religious ceremony. This shift isespecially clear in the case of Judaism, where RT1806_G.qxd 1/28/2004 6:36 PM Page 148 ceremonies for girls have often been created to paral-Christian denominations have begun to ordainwomen, thus largely negating (or possibly complicat-ing) the gendered distinctions formerly present inordination rituals.Another consequence of the women’s movementhas been the Western feminist critique of gender ritu-als throughout the world. Many American andEuropean women have decried the practice of genitalceremonies. In addition, Western feminists haveargued that unequal marriage and divorce cere-monies, female infanticide, (widow burning), andother religious or cultural practices oppress womenbeen banned, at least in some areas, some womendefend these practices theologically and do not findthem oppressive.Many feminist efforts have gone toward establish-ing strict equality for women in religious matters, butsome religious feminists have worked to create ritualsthat celebrate gender differences, instead of sameness.Women in the women’s spirituality movement haveespecially concentrated on empowering womenthrough religious ritual. This empowerment maybegin early, as many spiritual feminists have createdmenarche rituals for their daughters. These ritualsintroduction into womanhood. Spiritual feminists docence. In the feminist spirituality worldview all ritesof passage are gender rituals, as womanhood is cele-brated in all of them, including birth ceremonies,weddings, and menopause rituals. Women areempowered in these rituals through symbolism,creative abilities of women.pled many preconceived notions of gender relationswithin marriage, and transgender individuals haveforced a rethinking of the very definition of genderand its relation to religious ritual. There are alsomen’s spirituality groups that have focused onempowering men through religious rituals. Whilegender rituals will continue to shift in meaning andof religious ritual.Kelly Therese PollockCommunication; Scatological Rituals; WitchcraftBourdieu, P. (2001). Trans.). Stanford, CT: Stanford University Press.Boyarin, D. (1998). Gender. In M. C. Taylor (Ed.), terms in religious studies (pp. 117–135). Chicago: TheUniversity of Chicago Press.Brooks, G. (1995). Nine parts of desire: The hidden world ofNew York: Anchor Books.Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subver-sion of identity. Harvard University Press.Cremers, M. (1989). Two rivers of blood: Female andmale menstruation. 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