Biological plasticity: sex and gender interactions in Bioarchaeology
Résumé
Cultural behaviours, like gender discrimination, influence individual’s health and well-being. Therefore, in this presentation we discuss the intersection of biological and cultural issues in Bioarchaeology, from the point of view of gender studies. Firstly, we examine how women were perceived in the discipline in the past, when Sciences were done almost only by men and centred in men. Afterward, with a more representative women participation in Bioarchaeology, some questions begun to be reformulated, which led to a better understanding of women’s place and health conditions in the past. Thus, the second part of the presentation focuses on diet and nutrition, we show some examples of past societies were men and women did not had the same access to nourishment. Food consumption extrapolates subsistence needs and becomes a ritual, where people eat differently depending on their gender, age, social status or ethnicity. That way, we can identify some cultural practices that can impact individual’s physical well-being. In conclusion, analysing men and women diet patterns is pertinent to identify and understand some of gender discriminations.