Sex, Marriage and Family

1
Chapter 20

• Sex, Marriage and Family

2
Chapter Preview

• What Is Marriage?
• What Is Family?
• What Is the Difference Between Family and
  Household?

3
Control of Sexual Relations

• In societies which lack effective birth control
  methods sexual control becomes increasingly
  important
• Every society has rules that govern sexual
  access.
• These rules can certainly vary depending on the
  society. Most all groups of people will have some
  regulations on sexual access in respect to
• Gender, Age, Marital Status, Social Status, etc.

4
Marriage

• Marriage has been a long standing tradition that
  allows sexual access between to partner to be
  established.
• Marriage is a culturally sanctioned union between
  two or more people that established rights and
  obligations between them and their children, and
  also in-laws. Rights and obligations include but
  are not limited to, sex, labor, property, child
  rearing, exchange,and status

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• A positive aspect of marriage is the restriction
  of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) that is
  can bring. This is provided that the culture
  adheres to its cultural marriage sanctions of no
  sex outside of the marriage.
• In cultures where sexual relationships are
  limited to the marriage and this is followed
  there is a significant decrease of STDs.

6
Marriage

• Although it may seem that monogamous sexual
  relationships are most common to citizens of the
  United States the reality is that most cultures,
  worldwide, do not prohibit the act of sexual
  relationships to marriage or even to a monogamous
  relationship for that matter.

7
Sexual and Marriage Practices among the Nayar

• The Nayar are one of many examples of sexually
  permissive cultures.
• A landowning warrior caste, their estates are
  held by corporations made up of kinsmen related
  in the female line.
• These relatives live together in a household,
  with the eldest male serving as manager.
• Traditionally, Nayar boys began military training
  around age of 7. They will be away from home for
  most other their young adult life.

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The Nayar Three Traditional Transactions

• Ritual Husband
• Shortly before a girl experienced her first
  menstruation there was a ceremony that joined her
  with a ritual husband in a temporary union
  which did not necessarily involve sexual
  relations.
• Neither individual has obligations to one
  another, although upon adulthood if her first
  husband should die she and her children (not
  his) would be expected to mourn for him.

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The Nayar Three Traditional Transactions

• Visiting Husband
• When a young Nayar woman enters into a continuing
  sexual liaison with a man approved by her family.
  This becomes a formal relationship that requires
  the man to present her with gifts three times
  each year until the relationship is terminated.
• The man can spend the night(s) with her, but has
  no obligation to support her economically.
• The woman may have had such an arrangement with
  more than one man at the same time.

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The Nayar Three Traditional Transactions

• Establishing Child Birth Rights
• When the woman became pregnant, one of the men
  with whom she has a relationship must acknowledge
  paternity by making gifts to the woman and the
  midwife.
• Once a man has accepted possible paternity of a
  child he may remain interested in the child's
  welfare but holds no real obligations to the
  child or the mother.

11
Kin Relations The Nayar

• Among the Nayar families are comprised of
  consanguineal kin- biologically related
  relatives, or blood relatives. This does not
  include the husband who has claimed paternity
  to a child which would be known as affinal kin-
  or people related through marriage.

12
Incest Taboo

• Similar to marriage determining sexual rights
  among certain individuals the incest taboo
  establishes the prohibition of sexual relations
  between specified individuals, usually
  parent-child and sibling relations at a minimum.
• Although differing among society throughout time,
  most all societies will have some prohibition of
  sexual relationships with parents and children or
  siblings.

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• The basic idea of the incest taboo is that it is
  against human nature to have and act upon a
  sexual attraction to one of these closely
  relatives (parent, sibling, child).
• Several supporting points on why the incest taboo
  exists
• Biology
• Familiarity
• Competition

14
Endogamy

• Furthering marriage as a sexual access regulator
  is the idea of endogamy or marriage within a
  particular group or category of individuals.
• Some cultures may specifically adhere to the idea
  that one must marry within a specified group.
  This group might be defined by the culture as
  (in-laws, family, ethnic, or by religion)

15
Exogamy

• The opposite of endogamy is the practice of
  exogamy or marriage outside of the group. Again
  this group may vary by the cultural definition.
• Some cultures might practice both endogamy and
  exogamy.
• Trobriand Islanders practice marriage exogamy,
  however they marriage within the overall village
  which would be considered endogamy.

16
Distinction BetweenMarriage and Mating

• All animals, including humans, matesome for life
  and some not, some with a single individual and
  some with several.
• Marriage is a culturally recognized right and is
  backed by social, political, and ideological
  factors that regulate sexual relations and
  reproductive rights and obligations. This is in
  contrast to mating.

17
Forms of Marriage

• There are several recognized forms of marriage
  worldwide.
• Monogamy
• Polygyny
• Polyandry
• Group marriage

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Monogamy

• Monogamy is the most common form of marriage
  worldwide in which both partners have just one
  spouse.
• The only recognized form in North America and
  most of Europe.
• Serial monogamy a marriage form whereby an
  individual marries or lives with a series of
  partners in succession.
• Increasingly common among middle-class North
  Americans as individuals divorce and remarry.

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Polygamy

• Polygamy- one individual having multiple spouses
  at the same time is not the most common but the
  most preferred form of marriage worldwide.
  Polygamy is practiced in about 80-85 of the
  worlds cultures. There are two types of
  polygamy.
• Polygyny- Man having multiple wives (most common)
• Polyandry- Female having multiple husbands

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Group Marriage or Co-Marriage

• Rare but occurring in a small percentage of the
  world are marriage practices that do not fit into
  the other categories discussed.
• Group Marriage where several men and women have
  sexual access to one another also known as
  co-marriage is common to the Native American
  Eskimo.

21
Fictive Marriage

• Contrast to group marriage are fictive marriages
  marriage by proxy to the symbols of someone not
  physically present to establish the social status
  of a spouse and heirs.
• Among the Nuer of Sudan a woman may marry a man
  who is no longer alive and his living brother may
  serve as a stand-in and marry the woman.
• Any offspring will be considered sired by the
  dead mans spirit!

22
Fictive Marriages

• The children will then become the rightful heirs
  to land and other possessions.
• Not just common to the Nuer this practice is also
  found in North America and Europe.
• In the Unities States legal weddings can be
  performed if one person is on deployment (with
  military), incarcerated, or otherwise physically
  unable to be present.

23
Cousin Marriage

• In some societies, cousins are the preferred
  marriage partners. Although which cousin makes a
  difference.
• A parallel cousin is the child of a fathers
  brother or a mothers sister.
• In some societies, the preferred spouse for a man
  is his fathers brothers daughter, known as
  patrilateral parallel-cousin marriage.
• Other societies favor matrilateral cross-cousin
  marriagemarriage of a man to his mothers
  brothers daughter, or a woman to her fathers
  sisters son.

24
Kinship Diagram

• Anthropologists use diagrams to illustrate
  kinship relationships.

25
Three Arguments Against Same Sex Marriage

• 1.) All Marriages are between Men and Women
• Same-sex marriages have been documented not only
  in a number of societies in Africa, but in other
  parts of the world as well.
• Anthropologists define marriage as unions between
  people not man and women because not all
  marriages are male and female based.

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Arguments Against Same Sex Marriage

• 2.) Same-sex unions legitimize gays and lesbians,
  whose sexual orientations have been widely
  regarded as unnatural.
• Neither cross-cultural studies nor studies of
  other animal species suggest that homosexual
  behavior is unnatural.
• 3.) The function of marriage is to produce
  children.
• Marriage involves economic, political, and legal
  considerations.
• It is increasingly common for same-sex partners
  to have children through adoption or reproductive
  technologies.

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Economic Exchange Marriage

• Many societies practice differing forms of
  economic exchange before or after a marriage
  transaction.
• These exchanges usually involve the bride, groom,
  and the immediately families of each.
• There are three main forms of marriage exchange
• Bride Price
• Bride Service
• Dowry

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Marriage Exchanges

• A bride-price is a payment of money or goods from
  the grooms family to the brides family. This is
  usually completed around the time of the
  marriage.
• Similar to the bride price is the bride service
  where the groom is expected to work for a period
  of time for the brides family. No compensation
  is giving.

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• A dowry is a payment of a womans inheritance at
  the time of marriage to her or her husband.
  However, the female may not always remain in
  control of the dowry, after marriage it will
  likely become her husbands property.
• The functions of a dowry are to secure the female
  in the event of her husbands death
  (widowhood),divorce, or infertility of the
  female. They can also be a sign of status.

30
Divorce

• Similar to marriage, how a divorce is viewed or
  accepted can vary in each society. Factors
  contributing to divorce can include
• Divorce rates are climbing in numbers around the
  world but at the fastest rate in Western
  societies.
• One theory is that many marriages did not last
  longer than 10-20 years due to high mortality
  rates prior to 1800. Today with better health
  care and preventative medicine people are living
  much longer- leading to a possible higher rate of
  divorce.

31
Family

• A family, two or more people related by blood,
  marriage, or adoption, may take many forms.
• Families can range from a single parent with one
  or more children, to a married couple or
  polygamous spouses with offspring, to several
  generations of parents and their children.
• The household is the primary residential unit of
  economic production, consumption, inheritance,
  child rearing, and shelter.

32
Forms of the Family

• To better understand the differing forms that
  families may take it is first important to
  distinguish between a conjugal family and a
  consanguineal family conjugal family.
• A conjugal family or a family established through
  marriage can consist of one or more married men
  or women and their offspring.

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Forms of the Family

• The consanguineal family which is a family of
  blood relatives, often consists of related women,
  their brothers, and the womens offspring.
• Less common form of family.

34
Forms of the Family

• There are two more family forms which consist of
  the nuclear and the extended.
• The nuclear family consists of one or more
  parents and dependent offspring, which may
  include a stepparent, stepsiblings, and adopted
  children. Whereas the extended family is a
  collection of nuclear families, related by ties
  of blood, that live in one household.

35
Other Family Forms

• On the rise in North America and Europe are
  nonfamily and nontraditional households.
• Nonfamily households consist of a single person
  living alone or with non relatives.
• Nontraditional households are also referred too
  as single parent households which could be due to
  offspring out of wedlock, divorce, widowhood,
  separation, or even an active decision of fertile
  women to chose motherhood without a partner.

36
Household Types in the United States in 2000

• Prior to viewing the next slide with statistical
  data from the US Census Bureau of 2000, consider
  these questions first.
• 1.) Which household covered thus far would you
  consider to be the most common in the United
  States?
• 2.) Which would be the least common?
• 3.) Which, if any, would be non-existent?

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Household Types in the United States in 2000
38
Household Types in the United States in 2000

• Did everyone have the correct answers? If not
  why?
• 1.) Which household covered thus far would you
  consider to be the most common in the United
  States?
• 2.) Which would be the least common?
• 3.) Which, if any, would be non-existent?
• 1.) Non-Family or One Person
• 2.) Family members without dependent children or
  married couples.
• 3.) All are present from what the data suggests
  although we do not have the exact household
  configuration from each.

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Residence Patterns

• There are five common residence patterns that a
  newly wed couple may adopt.
• Patrilocal
• Matrilocal
• Ambilocal
• Neolocal
• Avunculocal (least common)

40
Residence Patterns

• Patrilocal residence
• A residence pattern in which a married couple
  lives in the locality associated with the
  husbands fathers relatives.
• Common to societies where men are dominant in the
  role of subsistence patterns.
• Bride must often move to husbands band, tribe, or
  community.
• Bride price is customary here.

41
Residence Patterns

• Matrilocal residence
• A residence pattern in which a married couple
  lives in the locality associated with the wifes
  relatives.
• Common to horticultural societies.
• Men do not generally move very far from their
  native family to join his brides family.
• No compensation is given between either spouse.

42
Residence Patterns

• Ambilocal residence
• A pattern in which a married couple may choose
  either matrilocal or patrilocal residence.
• Common among food-foraging groups where
  subsistence resources are limited and it might be
  a necessity to travel between families.
• Compensation is not given between either spouse.

43
Residence Patterns

• Neolocal residence
• A pattern in which a married couple may establish
  their household in a location apart from either
  the husbands or the wifes relatives.
• Common to industrial and postindustrial societies
  where independence is favored.

44
Residence Patterns

• Avunculocal residence
• Residence of a married couple with the husbands
  mothers brother.

45
Marriage, Family Households Today.

• As previously stated marriage, family, and
  household patterns vary greatly from one culture
  to the next.
• Blended families are increasing due to a rise in
  divorce and re-marry.
• It is easier than ever to adopt children despite
  ethnic backgrounds.
• Increase in households consisting of migrant and
  temporary workers.