Research Catalog

Title

Woman's evolution from matriarchal clan to patriarchal family / Evelyn Reed.

Author

Reed, Evelyn.

Publication

New York : Pathfinder Press, 1975.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xviii, 491 pages; 21 cm

Summary

The matriarchy is one of the most hotly contested issues between contending schools in anthropology. This book affirms that the maternal clan system was the original form of social organization and explains why. It also traces its development and the causes of its downfall. Evelyn Reed takes us on an expedition through prehistory from cannibalism to culture--and uncovers the world of the ancient matriarchy. Tracing the origins of the "incest taboo," blood rites, marriage, and the family, she reveals women's leading and still largely unknown contributions to the development of civilization. By pinpointing the relatively recent factors that led to pervasive discrimination against women as a sex, she offers fresh insights on the struggle against women's oppression and for the liberation of humanity. Reed refutes the myth that "human nature" is to blame for the wars, greed, and inequalities of class-divided societies.

Subject

• Social evolution
• Women > History
• Kinship
• Cultural Evolution
• kinship
• Kinship
• Social evolution
• Women
• Vrouwen
• Sociale evolutie
• Families > History
• Matriarchy
• Patriarchy
• Femmes > Histoire
• Évolution sociale

Genre/Form

History

Note

• Includes index.

Bibliography (note)

• Bibliography: p. 469-477.

Contents

• Part I: The Matriarchy -- 1. Wash the primitive sex taboo an 'incest' taboo -- Weaknesses of the inbreeding theory -- Instincts and psychology -- Classificatory kinship -- A multitude of forbidden females -- The importance of the problem -- 2. Taboo against cannibalism -- The fossil trail of cannibalism -- The savage ignorance of cannibalism -- Totemism and taboo -- Food avoidances: Survivals of cannibalism -- 3. Female biology and the double taboo -- The female sex and mother-care -- The 'dominant male' - fact and fiction -- Nature's safeguards for females -- The London Zoo catastrophe -- Woman's role in the transition from ape to human -- 4. The maternal clan and sex segregation -- Father-son jealousy and incest reform -- Eating and mating restrictions -- Segregation of hunters from mothers -- Mealtime separation of spouses -- Childbirth and menstruation taboos -- 5. The productive record of primitive women -- Control of the food supply -- The use of fire in cooking and industries -- The medicine woman -- From cordage to textiles -- Leather-makers and tanners -- Pot-makers and artists -- Architects and engineers -- On women's backs and heads -- Women's social production -- 6. Women and men in the matriarchal commune -- The prefamily epoch -- Woman and fire -- The matriarchal brotherhood --
• Part II: The Fratriarchy -- 7. Forging fratrilineal kinship -- Indigenous or 'milk and blood' brothers -- Parallel brothers and the blood covenant -- Cross-cousins and brothers-in-law -- 8. From primal horde to tribe -- Why the dual organization? -- Exogamy, endogamy, and cannibalism -- 9. The interchange system -- Gift reciprocity -- The origin of blood revenge -- The principle of equivalence -- From sham fights to sports and the arts -- From hostility to hospitality -- From punishment to self-punishment -- The kula 'ring' - intertribal interchange -- Women's role in peace-exchange -- 10. The beginnings of marriage -- The strange combination of sex and cannibalism -- Women and animals -- Rites of passage and 'making men' -- Women, initiation, and secret societies -- Visiting husbands and in-law avoidance -- Marriage by mother-in-law -- The clash of marriage and matriarchy -- Part III: The Patriarchy -- 11. The matrilineal family -- Couvade: 'Making' the father -- The father's sister and patrilineal kinship -- 12. The matrifamily: A divided family -- Male descent from the mother's brotherhood -- Errors regarding paternal descent -- The cutting edge of the blood line -- 13. 'Blood price' and the father-family -- Betrayal and fratricide -- Blood redemption of fathers and sons -- About 'female infanticide' -- 14. 'Bride price' and the father-family -- The origin of private property -- Cattle marriage and the 'child price' -- From purchase marriage to patriarchal power -- 15. Facts and fallacies about incest -- The ambiguity of 'blood' kinship -- Was there 'royal incest' in Egypt? -- 16. The father-family in Greek tragedy -- Medea: Slayer of brother and sons -- Oedipus: Father-killer -- Orestes: Mother-murderer.
• Part III: The Patriarchy -- 11. The matrilineal family -- Couvade: 'Making' the father -- The father's sister and patrilineal kinship -- 12. The matrifamily: A divided family -- Male descent from the mother's brotherhood -- Errors regarding paternal descent -- The cutting edge of the blood line -- 13. 'Blood price' and the father-family -- Betrayal and fratricide -- Blood redemption of fathers and sons -- About 'female infanticide' -- 14. 'Bride price' and the father-family -- The origin of private property -- Cattle marriage and the 'child price' -- From purchase marriage to patriarchal power -- 15. Facts and fallacies about incest -- The ambiguity of 'blood' kinship -- Was there 'royal incest' in Egypt? -- 16. The father-family in Greek tragedy -- Medea: Slayer of brother and sons -- Oedipus: Father-killer -- Orestes: Mother-murderer.

ISBN

• 0873484215
• 9780873484213
• 0873484223
• 9780873484220

LCCN

74026236

OCLC

• ocm01253977
• 1253977
• SCSB-153752

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library