Making Gender: The Politics and Erotics of Culture

A major reconsideration of culture and gender by a founder of feminist anthropology.





"[An] engaging book. . . . A fine example of
the way anthropology helps us to think about ourselves."


—Tanya Luhrmann, The New York Times
"To have [Ortner's] brilliant writings gathered together in one volume, along with an introduction that is sure to move even further our understanding of gender, is a gift to all of us."


—Nancy J. Chodorow, author of The Reproduction of Mothering

Anthropology began as the study of how diverse cultures shape differently the human condition. Culture, it was understood, makes the man or woman. More recently, this has been seen as too conservative a credo and some anthropologists have shifted to a study of how people overcome culture. This shift in emphasis from acculturation to empowerment is reflected in this collection of essays on feminism written over a 20-year time span. The earliest essay details the cultural subordination of women. The later essays are accounts of women bucking male domination, including a fascinating account of liberated Western women climbing in the Himalayas. Its complex portrait of sexual liaisons with local porters, of demands for female porters, and the effect on the local culture, creates an apt symbol of women seeking power and climbing a mountain.