Myths of Male Dominance: Collected Articles on Women Cross-Culturally

355 Pages·2008·12.57 MB·English

by  Eleanor Burke Leacock

Myths
of Male
Dominance

Myths
of Male
Dominance
Collected Articles
on Women
Cross-Culturally
Eleanor Burke Leacock
Haymarket Books
Chicago, lllinois
First published in 1981 by Monthly Review Press
© 1981 by Eleanor Burke Leacock
Published in paperback in 2008 by Haymarket Books
P.O. Box 180165
Chicago, ll.. 60618
773-583-7884
www.haymarketbooks.org
Trade distribution:
In the U.S. through Consortium Book Sales, www.cbsd.com
In the UK, Turnaround Publisher Services, www.turnaround-psl.com.
In Australia, Palgrave MacMillan, www.palgravemacmillan.com.au.
Cover design by Raginajohnson
Cover image of a Skokomish fishing village from Edward Curtis, The North American
Indian, Vol. 9, in the Special Collection of the Northwestern University Library.
This book was published with the generous support of the Wallace Global Fund.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Leacock, Eleanor Burke, 1922-1987
Myths of male dominance: collected articles on women cross-culturally /Eleanor
Burke Leacock.
p.cm.
Originally published: New York: Monthly Review Press, 1981.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-931859-57-8 (pbk.)
1. Women-Cross-cultural studies. 2. Women-Social conditions. 3. Sex role. 4.
Feminist anthropology. I. Title.
GN479.7.lA 2008
305.4-dc22
2008023345
10987654321
Printed in Canada
To the memory of my mother
and
to my father

Contents
Preface 1
1. Introduction: Engels and the History of
Women's Oppression 13
Part I Women in an Egalitarian Society:
The Montagnais-Naskapi ofC anada
2. The Montagnais-Naskapi 33
3. Status Among the Montagnais-Naskapi of Labrador 39
4. Montagnais Women and the jesuit
Program for Colonization 43
5. Matrilocality Among the Montagnais-Naskapi 63
Part II Social Evolution: Frum Egalitarianism to oppression
6. Introduction to Lewis Henry Morgan, Ancient Society,
Parts I, II, III, IV 85
7. Women's Status in Egalitarian Society: Implications
for Social Evolution 133
8. Review of Evelyn Reed, Wumen's Evolution 183
Part III Myths ofM ak Dominance: Discussion and Debate
9. Society and Gender 197
10. Review of Margaret Mead, Male and Female 205
11. Structuralism and Dialectics 209
12. The Changing Family and Levi-Strauss,
or Whatever Happened to Fathers? 222
13. Ideologies of Sex: Archetypes and Stereotypes
Eleanor Leacock and june Nash 242
viii Contents
14. Review of Steven Goldberg, The Inevitability of Patriarchy
Eleanor Leacock and Steven Goldberg 264
15. Social Behavior, Biology, and the Double Standard 280
Part IV Conclusion: Politics and the
Ideolol!J ofM ale Dominance
16. Political Ramifications of Engels' Argument
on Women's Subjugation 305
17. Women, Development, and Anthropological
Facts and Fiction 310
Bibliography 317
Index 335