Nature / Culture, Male / Female as dichotomous categories to prove the universality of female subordination

Abstract

This article examines the Nature/Culture and Male/Female dichotomies as frameworks for understanding female subordination in diverse cultures. Following the analysis of Otner and Moore, it explores how the symbolic association of women with nature and men with culture reinforces gender hierarchies. Through the study of the beliefs of the Kaulong and other societies, the universality of this subordination is questioned by showing that the categories of nature and culture, as well as gender relations, vary significantly between cultures. Moore argues that the perception of motherhood and the domestic sphere as natural is a cultural construction, and that the male/female dichotomy is not universal. A critical review of these concepts is proposed in order to de-Westernize anthropological interpretations of gender.