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Filial Obsessions pp 283–327Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Woman as Symptom: Beyond Gender?

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Abstract

This chapter reprises a once lively debate in feminist anthropology regarding the alleged universality of masculine domination. The book’s analysis of Chinese patriliny suggests that the ubiquity of masculine domination may rest, in part, upon the fact that the production of the person is an existential, philosophical, and psychological irritant everywhere; because mothers produce people, they trouble any culturally constructed fantasy of autonomous self-constitution. Contrary to the commonly implied notion that Chinese culture devalues women because China is patriarchal—that is, because men have power—my analysis suggests China is patriarchal because Chinese patriliny (as instituted fantasy) seeks to obviate women.

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    P. Steven Sangren

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Sangren, P.S. (2017). Woman as Symptom: Beyond Gender?. In: Filial Obsessions. Culture, Mind, and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50493-3_9

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