March 25, 2023

In celebration of the Women's month, kindly answer these following questions. Answers must be
responsive and relevant to the reference material shared to you.

1. What is the women's role in the society in the ancient times?

The women's role in the society played a greater role in the ancient times. No signs of
male dominance were discovered, including no men's huts or unique ceremonial cults, in Maria
Lepowsky's ethnography of the Vanatinai, a matrilineal, dispersed community in New Guinea.
Both boys and girls help out with their younger siblings. Men look after kids and both genders
enjoy sexual freedom. Women "equal chances of access to the symbolic currency of prestige
acquired from achievement in trade," according to Lepowsky.

Also, in her interesting study of the matrilineal Minangkabau people of western Sumatra,
one of Indonesia's major ethnic groups, Peggy Sanday discovers a society in which women's
methods of rule sometimes coexist with and even sometimes replace those of males. Although
men hold the majority of formal political positions in this society, women "rule without
governing" because they "facilitate social bonding outside the machinations of political power,"
which allows men to do their "job of adjudicating disputes according to the rules of adat
[customs] and consensus decision-making."

2. How was the female circumcision conducted?

Female circumcision, which is performed on girls when they enter puberty and are able to
enjoy sexual pleasure, appears to be linked to men's control over women's sexuality. Several
tribes still perform female circumcision, which consists of clitoridectomy and infibulation. The
clitoris is removed during a clitoridectomy, while the labia majora are stitched together with just
a very little space left to allow for urination during an infibulation. In contrast to other cultures,
when the brother of the girl's father does it, this is frequently done by adult women. In contrast to
clitoridectomy, which just aims to eliminate sexual pleasure and, as a result, sexual promiscuity,
infibulation's purpose is to prevent sexual intercourse.

3. "For girls, Freud believed, the path is complementary but not nearly as traumatic."
Kindly elaborate this phrase and why did Freud state this.

According to this statement, Freud thought that the Electra complex for females is less
painful than the Oedipus complex for guys, which boys grow up with a craving for their moms
sexually and view their fathers as competitors. He thought that although females have sex desires
for their dads as well, they do not perceive their moms as competitors. As a result of realizing
they lack a penis like their dads and brothers, they instead feel inferior and jealous, which is
known as "penis envy." In contrast to the Oedipus complex in males, Freud claimed that this
causes a weaker superego (the internalized moral compass) to form in girls. In contrast to the
Oedipus complex in males, Freud claimed that this causes a weaker superego (the internalized
moral compass) to form in girls.
 Freud made this claim because he believed that a person's early experiences had a big
impact on how they behave and who they become as adults. He suggested that people go through
a number of psychosexual phases during childhood, each of which is distinguished by a distinct
focus of pleasure and an associated conflict that must be addressed in order to go to the
following stage.

4. What is Feminism to you?

In my opinion, feminism is the movement toward achieving equality for all genders, non-
binary individuals, and all other individuals in order to repair the harm that capitalism and
patriarchal corruption have done to society over the years. Women's rights are only one aspect of
feminism. We all deserve to live a life of harmony and balance, thus it's about modifying societal
norms to ensure the sustainability, equality, and liberty of everyone - regardless of gender, sex,
or class they are in.