本章的key message：瑪格麗特·米德的性研究。

偉大的思想家瑪格麗特·米德通過人類學(xué)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，某些傳統(tǒng)社會(huì)中存在著先進(jìn)的可借鑒的想法。

她在1928年的著作《薩摩亞的成年》（Coming of Age）揭示了西方文化對(duì)性的看法可能并不健康。

米德的書檢查了薩摩亞少女的生活，她發(fā)現(xiàn)薩摩亞在性方面的問題（包括手Y和同性戀）比美國(guó)少女要自然得多。 她發(fā)現(xiàn)薩摩亞婦女從小就可以學(xué)習(xí)這些問題，沒有一個(gè)被認(rèn)為是可恥的。 大多數(shù)人甚至在成年時(shí)就目睹了成年人發(fā)生性關(guān)系。

米德還發(fā)現(xiàn)薩摩亞對(duì)通奸的態(tài)度要寬松得多。 如果一個(gè)薩摩亞男人和另一個(gè)男人的妻子發(fā)生了關(guān)系，那么他會(huì)跪求丈夫，直到得到寬恕為止。

盡管西方社會(huì)通常將青少年的壓力歸因于“狂暴的荷爾蒙”，但米德發(fā)現(xiàn)薩摩亞的少年卻沒有同樣的焦慮。 因此，她可以推斷出這種壓力很可能是現(xiàn)代調(diào)節(jié)的結(jié)果，源于許多西方社會(huì)對(duì)性的態(tài)度被壓抑了。

米德在比較巴布亞新幾內(nèi)亞的不同部落時(shí)，還發(fā)現(xiàn)當(dāng)?shù)貙?duì)性別角色沒有固定的期望。實(shí)際上，他們隨部落的不同而不同。例如，在尚布里人民的部落中，婦女起著主導(dǎo)作用，而男子則被認(rèn)為更加依賴和需要情感上的支持。

因此，米德得出結(jié)論，性別受到人們生活文化背景的深刻影響。

Through her anthropological research, Margaret Mead taught us much about sexuality and gender.

A common mistake can be to think of the world in black and white terms, like looking at modern technology as being entirely good and the ways of past societies as being entirely bad or useless.

The great thinker Margaret Mead found great insight through anthropological research, and her work shows that there’s much to be gained from the ways of more traditional societies.

In particular, Mead’s 1928 book, Coming of Age in Samoa, revealed that Western cultures may not have the healthiest perspective on sexuality.

Mead’s book examines the lives of teenage women in Samoa, who she found to be far more relaxed about sexual matters, including masturbation and homosexuality, than American teenagers. She discovered that Samoan women would learn about these matters as children, and none of it was treated as being shameful. Most had even witnessed adults having sex by the time they entered their teens.

Mead also found far more relaxed attitudes about adultery. If a Samoan man slept with another man’s wife, he was expected to beg on his hands and knees until the husband granted forgiveness. This forgiveness was usually granted by nightfall, at which time the community would gather to throw a party.

So, while Western society commonly attributes the stress of being a teenage girl to “raging hormones,” Mead found that Samoan teenagers, with those very same hormones, had none of the same anxieties. She could therefore deduce that the stress was likely the result of modern conditioning and many societies’ repressed attitudes toward sex.

While comparing different tribes in Papua New Guinea, Mead also found that there were no fixed expectations when it came to gender roles; in fact, they varied from tribe to tribe.

In the Arapesh tribe, for example, both males and females were peace-loving and nurturing, while the Mundugumor tribe had males and females who were both prone to aggression and rough behavior. Finally, in the tribes of the Chambri people, women had the dominant role while men were seen as being more dependent and in need of emotional support.

So, in a conclusion that is still highly relevant today, Mead wrote that gender is profoundly influenced by the cultural context in which people live.