Woman's Evolution: From Matriarchal Clan to Patriarchal Family

513 Pages·1975·14.858 MB·English

by  Evelyn Reed

$4.95
£2.05
! Evelyn Reed
OMAN’S
EVOLUTION
from matriarchal clan to
patriarchal family
EVELYN REED is an active par¬
ticipant in the women's movement
and a veteran socialist. She has lec¬
tured on campuses and at feminist
meetings across the United States,
Canada, Australia, New Zealand,
and Japan and was keynote speaker
at the Southern Female Rights Union
conference in Mississippi in 1970.
Her Problems of Women's Libera¬
tion, widely used as a text in wom¬
en's studies classes, has been pub¬
lished in eight languages. Woman's
Evolution is the product of over
twenty years of research.
WOMAN’S EVOLUTION
Evelyn Reed
WOMAN'S
from matriarchal clan
PATHFINDER PRESS, INC., NEWYORK
EVOLUTION
to patriarchal family
Copyright © 1975 by Pathfinder Press, Inc.
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 74-26236
ISBN: 0-87348-421-5 (cloth); 0-87348-422-3 (paper)
Manufactured in the United States of America
First edition, 1975
Pathfinder Press, Inc.
410 West Street
New York, N. Y. 10014
TO WOMEN
on the way to liberation

Contents
Introduction xiii
PART I: THE MATRIARCHY
1. Was the Primitive Sex Taboo an "Incest” Taboo? 3
Weaknesses of the Inbreeding Theory 6
Instincts and Psychology 9
Classificatory Kinship 12
A Multitude of Forbidden Females 15
The Importance of the Problem 19
2. Taboo Against Cannibalism 23
The Fossil Trail of Cannibalism 27
The Savage Ignorance of Cannibalism 29
Totemism and Taboo 34
Food Avoidances: Survivals of Cannibalism 40
3. Female Biology and the Double Taboo 43
The Female Sex and Mother-Care 44
The "Dominant Male” — Fact and Fiction 49
Nature’s Safeguards for Females 59
The London Zoo Catastrophe 62
Woman’s Role in the Transition from Ape to Human 67
vii
4. The Maternal Clan and Sex Segregation 75
Father-Son Jealousy and Incest Reform 76
Eating and Mating Restrictions 81
Segregation of Hunters from Mothers 84
Mealtime Separation of Spouses 90
Childbirth and Menstruation Taboos 95
5. The Productive Record of Primitive Women 105
Control of the Food Supply 106
The Use of Fire in Cooking and Industries 110
The Medicine Woman 112
From Cordage to Textiles 114
Leather-Makers and Tanners 116
Pot-Makers and Artists 119
Architects and Engineers 120
On Women’s Backs and Heads 122
Women’s Social Production 124
6. Women and Men in the Matriarchal Commune 131
The Prefamily Epoch 133
Woman and Fire 143
The Matriarchal Brotherhood 152
PART II: THE FRATRIARCHY
7. Forging Fratrilineal Kinship 165
Indigenous or "Milk and Blood” Brothers 169
Parallel Brothers and the Blood Covenant 176
Cross-Cousins and Brothers-in-Law 186
8. From Primal Horde to Tribe 195
Why the Dual Organization? 200
Exogamy, Endogamy, and Cannibalism 203
9. The Interchange System 211
Gift Reciprocity 211
The Origin of Blood Revenge 215
The Principle of Equivalence 223
From Sham Fights to Sports and the Arts 229
From Hostility to Hospitality 242
From Punishment to Self-Punishment 249
The Kula "Ring” — Intertribal Interchange 253
Women’s Role in Peace-Exchange 261