Gender and Religion

Bibliographic Data

ID20069719
AuthorsSusan Starr Sered (0000-0002-5348-1624, corresponding author)
Year2026
Pages527-540
Publication date2026-02-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueThe Oxford Handbook of the Anthropology of Religion (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University PressOxford (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/9780191822285.003.0031
OpenAlexW7124949888
ISBN9780191822285
LanguageEN
References cited19

Anthropologists conceptualize both “religion” and “gender” as contested cultural categories with constitutive power to shape social normativities. This chapter explores ways in which mutual engagements of religion and gender strengthen the power of both sets of social institutions. On the one hand, gender naturalizes religion. Empirically compelling experiences of heterosexual intercourse and of childbearing present tangible “proof” that religious ideas about creation are “true.” On the other hand, religion supernaturalizes gender differences, turning a few of the many human corporeal features into organs or acts of cosmic power and importance. The chapter pays particular attention to ways in which mutually engaging practices and notions of gender and religion shift as consequences of colonialism, modernization, and globalization

Doing gender · Gender identity · Gender psychology · Human sexuality · Social power · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Religion and Society Interactions · Study and Philosophy of Religion

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