Marvin Harris Savage Male

The Savage Male, Harris

In American culture social norms differ from Asia where women are obligated to fulfilling their husbands needs, where as to the United States men are taught chivalry at a young age. It is common courtesy for a gentleman to open the door for a woman, these traits are developed at a young age in reality they do help prevent gender problems. The problems consist of physical abuse and unlawful treatment towards a man’s spouse, in the United States these problems can be prevented if parents are proactive towards educating their sons about chivalry. In The Savage Male Marvin Harris explains the sociological hierarchy of the Yanomamo people whom reside in the Amazon. This culture has different social norms as to American culture, unfortunately abuse towards women is tolerated “they yank on the sticks that women wear through their pierced ear lobes they sometimes pull so hard that the earlobe is torn open” (Harris) Pg.88.

Men biologically hold traits that title them to being aggressive beings, in certain societies brutality is shown through the rights of passage that young men must take in order to reaching manhood. According to Pasefika Te’o In Samoa young men are required to perform a traditional dance where a baton is used, this baton is ignited at the edges making it difficult to dance once the boy finishes he is able to receive his family crest that is tattooed onto his body. The riddle in the chapter is simple, yet the problems to this dilemma can be broken down into segments. A non-advanced society that is located in the isles of the jungle, has no hope for improving its social norms due to a decline in communication with other advanced societies where diffusion and acculturation is prevented. In a land where there is a surplus of males sexual dimorphism is the explanation to the behavior that is exemplified, the reason behind the aggressive behavior that the Yanomamo males show is that they are simply living by the ideology of the survival of the fittest. The survival of the fittest provokes the men to live in a hierarchy where each male is classified by the level of their brutality and the number of women they are married to including the number of battle scars they have. The brutality leads to a high degree of bravado that translates to the practice of duels in the Yanomamo culture.

Another riddle is that despite the low number of females in the Yanomamo culture, the men physically abuse the women and it’s completely acceptable. This problem is questioned by the idea of women not being taught like men on how to hunt and partake in activities that only the men take in. There is a gender difference the double standard is that men can hit women, but women can’t nor little girls can retaliate when they are hit. These claims are questionable, but the idea of wanting young male boys to be aggressive is the root to this savagery “Yanomamo fathers howl with delight when four-year-old sons strike them in the face” (Harris) Pg. 90.

Harris’s conclusion to the social problem is that there is a way of living in the Yanomamo culture where violence is seen in all males, this behavior leads to brutality that transcends to fighting and wars. There is a distinction between the following culture and the Wild West era in the United States, where men would partake in gun duels to demonstrate a sense of masculinity among others. The westerner practice is like the traditions of the Yanomamo males, where power and force is shown through violent duels. This behavior continues to the personal life of the men where they are continuing this savage behavior towards their wives “it helps a mans image if, he publically beats his wife, they are used more as scapegoats” (Harris) Pg. 89. I find that this assumption doesn’t completely apply to other societies since in the Middle East there isn’t a shortage of women yet the men decide to mistreat and abuse women. Each country has its own social norms, but I believe that the motives to being violent in the Yanomamo is not a problem that exists in other countries.

Harris presents various clarifications to the reasons behind the violent behavior that the males show, “War is the ultimate expression of the Yanomano lifestyle” (Harris) Pg. 95 these words correlate to what are the sociological functions in the Yanomano culture it can be described as the survival of the fittest. There are other forms to describing the reasons behind this savage behavior, the first idea is that this culture has a history of violent behavior. If a family is traced back to its ancestors, it is possible to find an instigator whom might have started this trend of violent behavior thus the problem would affect other members of society. The problem can be described as a domino effect where one family continues the same traditions as the past generation.

Several points were proven, but the use of other societies wouldn’t have been so convincing due to the differences in each individual culture where it would be difficult to find similarities with the exception of violent behavior. The chapter connects to the hierarchal structure that society lives in, yet in this case the males dominate due to biological traits and gender dominance. I find the material to be eye opening since I am shocked to know that in other countries these horrendous practices occur, despite the acceptance in the native county as to in the U.S. this would not be tolerated.