Woman's Evolution: From Matriarchal Clan to Patriarchal Family

by Evelyn Reed

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. Glossary, bibliography, index. An upgraded edition with enlarged type. Also available Farsi, Indonesian

Genres: Feminism, History, Nonfiction, Anthropology, Gender Studies, Sociology, Science

629 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1975

About the author

Evelyn Reed (1905–1979) was an American communist and women’s rights activist.

In January 1940, she traveled to Mexico to see the exiled Russian Revolutionary Leon Trotsky and his wife Natalia Sedova. There, at the house of Trotsky in Coyoacán, Reed met the American Trotskyist leader James P. Cannon, leader of the Socialist Workers Party (United States). Reed joined in the same year, and remained a leading party member until her death.

An active participant in the Women's liberation movement of the 1960s and 1970s, Reed was a founding member of the Women’s National Abortion Action Coalition in 1971. During these years she spoke and debated on women’s rights in cities throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Ireland, the United Kingdom and France.

Inspired by the works on women and the family by Friedrich Engels and Alexandra Kollontai, Reed is the author of many books on Marxist feminism and the origin of the oppression of women and the fight for their emancipation. Some of the most notable works by Reed are: Problems of Women’s Liberation, Woman’s Evolution: From Matriarchal Clan to Patriarchal Family, Is Biology Woman’s Destiny?, and Cosmetics, Fashions, and the Exploitation of Women (with Joseph Hansen and Mary-Alice Waters.)

She was nominated as a candidate for President of the United States for the Socialist Workers Party in the United States presidential election, 1972. On the ballot in only three states (Indiana, New York, and Wisconsin), Reed received a total of 13,878 votes. The main candidate for the Party was Linda Jenness, who received 37,423 votes.

"The woman question can only be resolved through the lineup of working men and women against the ruling men and women. This means that the interests of the workers as a class are identical; and not the interests of all women as a sex. Ruling-class women have exactly the same interest in upholding and perpetuating capitalist society as their men have. The bourgeois feminists fought, among other things, for the right of women as well as men to hold property in their own name. They won this right. Today, plutocratic women hold fabulous wealth in their own names. They are completely in alliance with the plutocratic men to perpetuate the capitalist system. They are not in alliance with the working women, whose needs can only be served through the abolition of capitalism. Thus, the emancipation of working women will not be achieved in alliance with women of the enemy class, but just the opposite; in a struggle against them as part and parcel of the whole class struggle."
- Cosmetics, Fashions, and the Exploitation of Women

Reviews

[Sonya · Rating 5 out of 5]

در این کتاب به طور اجمالی به بررسی سه مرحله: مادر تباری، برادر تباری و پدر تباری پرداخته شده است
بعد از دوران توحش در دوران بربریت نزدیک به هشت هزار سال پیش جوامع متشکل از کلان ها و طایفه ها بودند که جمع آنها یک قبیله را تشکیل می داد. و افراد یک کلان زیر نظر زنان و مادران اداره می شدند. زناشویی بین اعضای یک کلان شدیدا ممنوع بود که در بررسی مفصل ان به عواملی مانند جلوگیری از همنوع خواری و بقا اشاره شده است.
فرزندان متعلق به مادر و تبار مادری بودند و نقش مردان در تولد کودک ناشناخته بود و آنرا مربوط به ویژگی خاص و قدرت زنانه می دانستند و پدر بودن از طریق مراقبت از کودک و پرورش او معنا می یافت . برادران مادرکودک و به عبارتی "خالو" ها نقش مهمتری در تریبیت فرزندان داشتند و رابطه خونی آنها با مادر بر رابطه همسری ارجح بود و شوهران نیز در قبیله خود و نزد خواهر و مادر خود ارزش بیشتری داشتند. در این دوران رابطه بین شوهر و برادر .و سازش و صلح آنها با همدیگر از طریق زنی که به همسری مرد در آمده است صورت می گرفت و این روابط در کاهش درگیری بین قبایل اهمیت داشت
از نظر تاریخی گذر از مادر تباری به پدر سالاری و دلایل آن به خوبی مشخص نیست. این امر قرن ها پیش از کشف نقش مردان در تولد کودک شکل گرفته است. در آن دوران یعنی شش هزار سال پیش با پدید آمدن مالکیت خصوصی و نیاز انسان به وارث توجه مردان به کودک افزایش یافت و در این ایام پدیده زن بها و انقال رمه های حیوانات در زمان ازدواج بین قبایل رایج گردید. با پیشکش این گله ها مرد و به عبارتی پدر صاحب اختیار فرزندان می شد و در صورت جدایی طرفین در صورت بازگرداندن رمه ی پیشکشی فرزندان به تبار مادر تعلق داشتند. با پیشرفت کشاورزی و دامداری و کاهش شکار و مشارکت بیشتر مردان در این کارها به تدریج موجب سوق یافتن زنان به کارهای خانگی و افزایش تدریجی قدرت مردان گردید.

نوشته ی فوق خلاصه ای از مباحث مطرح شده در کتاب "انسان در عصر توحش" نوشته ی ئولین رید می باشد. برخی از مباحث مطرح شده در این کتاب مورد تائید و رد جامعه شناسان معاصر قرر گرفته است . قضاوت در این مورد از عهده من خارج بوده ونیاز به مطالعات بیشتری دارد.

[Uğur · Rating 5 out of 5]

A tremendous work in which the way people live, their taboos-totems, beliefs and philosophies, social relations and social structures are discussed in depth before moving to an agricultural society, and almost every detail is considered in a cause-and-effect relationship and explained..

As you know, as the modes of production change, the social structure changes accordingly. Changing the shape of the Agricultural Society of humanity to him having changed the social structure of production, before a matriarchal belief, philosophy, social structure, and Human Relations is dominated by the matriarchal while changing production methods by destroying itself by converting ongoing today it has evolved into a patriarchal society.

So what is this matriarchal society structure?
What was the difference from today?
if anyone is wondering, this book is a work that will answer all the questions in your mind. If you are lazy, at least read Earthling's review :)

Especially in contrast to the patriarchal society where we are confined to small houses with the nuclear family format today, the matriarchal society structure cared about not only the relative environment with the clans, but a much more comprehensive social environment. And in this clan structure, the woman is the only sovereign. Because his will and decisions will be for the benefit of the male child, the men of the clan society have also adopted the matriarchal society. until the emergence of the idea of ownership, which began with the transition to an agricultural society... Such an idea that he began to find the right to accept even this woman as his own property and to cram her into the small houses that he had built to protect his property. and finally, morality, honor, faith and even religions have started to take shape in this way today. The woman is now living in a second-class status, and the tragic thing is that she has started to accept it. He took on a task as if his duty was only to take care of household chores and take care of the children.

When we come to today, whether it is violence against women, whether it is women's murders, these are the results of the evolution of abuse. Although the patriarchal can constantly transform itself in social and economic life, the patriarchal has not succeeded in transforming the individual in any way. Does he also have such a goal? It is also discussed.

The book has a global identity as well as a local one in terms of dealing with the process that all the world's societies are going through. From one-to-one works for you to learn your own history. I wish you pleasant reading.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Bravo! In a World where bull* academics write fairy tales, here is a person who bothered to go back thousands of years and learn the languages of those people before writing. So here is a fresh take on the evolution of human society. I am still waiting for the documentary made out of the video and audio tapping of the meetings.

[Franklin · Rating 1 out of 5]

total engelsianism, masquerading as marxist-feminism; still the main lesson seems to be that women's freedom must wait until after the workers' revolution

[Marilyn Saul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book back in the 1970s. Just once, mind you, but to this day I tell other women about it. I'd say it has had a lasting impact on my life, particularly in helping me understand how we moved from matriarchal/matrilineal societies to patriarchal/patrilineal societies, where women are separated from their support group of other women, usually closely related women, or even just the village women, and what that does to use mentally and physically as we are urged to compete in a man's world, as well as birth and raise children at the same time. Well worth the read. In fact, I still have it on my keeper's bookshelf at home - so maybe I'll re-read it 40 years later.

[Hamidreza Rouhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

مادرسالاری نخستین فرم بایسته سازمان اجتماعی بود

زیرا زنان نه تنها زادآوران و زایشگران زندگی نوین، بلکه تولیدکنندگان اصلی نیازمندی های زندگی هم بودند.

تئوری «مادرسالاری» بريفولت با تئوری «کار» انگلس جفت و جور شد.

هر دو به این برآیند رسیدند که باید پذیرفت که زنان، گونه ی ما را به سوی انسانی شدن و اجتماعی شدن رهبری کرده اند

#برادرسالاری
#ایولین_رید

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book takes on greater importance today as we see women once again entering into mass struggles for democratic rights.

Interconnected with all the mass political mobilizations we see today in parts of the world is the fight for the emancipation of women. Women are part of them. The great question of the origin of female oppression and how it can be ended will once again bring readers to this excellent work.

Today in the US, we face a renewed campaign to curtail abortion rights. That alone should remind us of the centrality of the fight to end female oppression to all of the fights for the liberation of the working class today as a whole.

The best example I can site of the renewed fight by women are the mobilizations in Egypt starting in January of 2011. A huge number of Egyptian women came out to be part of these. It is interesting that both women with and without the veil marched side by side. But also in Israel. A young Israeli woman, unable to pay her rent, set up a tent and was joined by millions, both Arabs and Jews. Then there is the example of Iranian women.

Here are some of the reviews:



This book has just been translated into the langiuage of Indonesia and can be found at this link on Goodreads:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12...

“Helped me understand anthropology from a woman's point of view.”—Ms. Magazine

“A truly monumental piece of scholarship.… a total rethinking of evolutionary (social) anthropology.”—Canadian Newsletter of Research on Women

“How important it is to women today that the myth of eternal and preordained patriarchy be exploded. And at last we have a good solid real woman anthropologist to do it.”—Kate Millet, author, Sexual Politics

“Deftly takes on some of the most quoted experts in cultural anthropology and sociology and shatters their premises about women.… There is a real need for this book; its use would be most advantageous in elective courses related to the nature and rise of civilizations.… The volume is not only recommended, it cannot be ignored.”—Curriculum Advisory Services

“This is a fascinating and scholarly book; useful in sociology and anthropology courses and to any woman needing encouragement about the contributions of her sex to history.”—American Association for the Advancement of Science
For complete review click here.

“[An] absorbing anthropological dig ….”—Minneapolis Tribune

“I have never been so engrossed or excited by anything I’ve read. How proud I am of our sex and of Evelyn Reed for working so hard to reveal our true history.… [R]equired reading for every feminist.”—Dr. Barbara Roberts, founder of Women’s National Abortion Action Coalition

“Certain to become a classic text in women’s history … lucid and absorbing reading.”—Publishers Weekly
For complete review click here.

“I ploughed into her theories and findings and, I have to admit, unearthed a gem.”—Guardian (London)

“An outstanding effort to account for many of the discrepancies found in the patterns of social evolution as delineated by many of the traditional anthropologists.… Stimulating and readable, and important for anyone interested in the women’s movement as well as anthropology.”—KLIATT

“Persuasive, exciting, highly readable: I am happy to recommend it.… [A]n engrossing book, and its theory linking oppression to property is immeasurably more satisfying than theories linking oppression to childbearing.”—The Spokeswoman

“Woman’s Evolution spells out the long process in clear step-by-step terms.”—Majority Report

“A brilliant and fascinating refutation of patriarchy’s favorite historical error.”—WIN magazine

“A joyous inspiration to read and a celebration of our essential humanity in a addition to being a major contribution to the field of anthropology.”—MAKARA

“This is a fascinating and scholarly book; useful in sociology and anthropology courses and to any woman needing encouragement about the contributions of her sex to history.”—American Association for the Advancement of Science

“A self-evident classic in the literature on women’s role in history.”—Aftonbladst (Evening Sheet, Stockholm)

“An excellent addition to libraries with collections in anthropology and women’s studies.”—Reprint Bulletin Book Reviews

“Fresh and convincing.… [An]odyssey through centuries of changing human culture.… fantastic wealth of fascinating detail on human cultural practices.… A sourcebook for dreams and imaginings, as well as for fact and theory. Readers will appreciate the glossary, index and bibliography as guides for exploration.”—Unitarian-Universalist World

“Gives women an understanding of their past and will enable them to move forward into the future with confidence.”—Undercurrents

“I strongly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in finding out how the first advancements of mankind really came about.”—Newsletter (London)

“Painstakingly researched and fascinating history.”—WomanSource Catalog and Review

“Demolishes the assumption … that civilization is synonymous with patriarchy.… [S]hows in detail the significant role women played in civilizing the species.… It will bolster women’s courage to move forward toward a future in which the sisterhood and brotherhood present in prehistoric culture is once again the basis for human social organization.”—Twin Cities Chapter NOW Newsletter

[Nikta Yekrang Safakar · Rating 4 out of 5]

اوّلین کتابی بود که در این زمینه می‌خوندم و خب از اونجایی که ایده‌ای از روش کار مردم‌شناسا نداشتم، به‌شدّت جدید و هیجان‌انگیز بود برام. تنها مسئله اینه که مدت‌ها از تألیف کتاب می‌گذره (۱۹۷۵!) و باید نقد یا تکمله‌ای برش پیدا کنم.

[Farzaneh · Rating 5 out of 5]

وقتی قصد شروع کتاب رو داشتم فکر میکردم چیزهایی خواهم خوند که از قبل میدونم، اما از همون صفحات اول محتوای کتاب شگفت زده ام کرد، نویسنده یا بهتره بگم محقق کتاب عمیق و ریشه ای به مسائل می پردازه و بحث رو باز میکنه تا جای هیچ ابهامی باقی نمونه.
هرچند زبان ترجمه کمی قدیمیه و در ابتدا ممکنه خوندنش مشکل باشه اما کم کم به زبان آشنا میشید.

[Annie Donovan-Aitken]

If anyone had seen how long this was on my currently reading shelf they would already know I gave up on this book. I really like the topic but it was a little repetitive and became a chore. I'd like someone to read it and write a précis for me.

[Masymas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned that there is a scientific explanation for the existence of a matriarchy and how it came to an end. I found this book a profound antidote to growing up in a patriarchy.

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A RE-ENVISIONING OF HUMAN HISTORY, AND THE ORIGINAL TABOOS

Evelyn Reed (1905 - 1979) was a women's rights activist and an influential member of the Socialist movement in this country; she was the Socialist Workers Party candidate for President in 1972 in several states, for example. She has written/coauthored a number of other books, such as 'Sexism and Science,' 'Problems of Women's Liberation: a Marxist Approach,' etc.

She wrote in the Introduction to this 1975 book, "The early history of half the human species---womankind---has largely been hidden from view. To bring it to light requires a reinvestigation of anthropology, where the role and accomplishments of women in prehistoric society are buried. This book is a contribution to unveiling that remarkable record... This book affirms that the maternal clan system was the original form of social organization and explains why. It also traces the course of its development and the causes of its downfall... This book... presents a new theory about totemism and taboo... The ancient taboo existed---but it was primarily directed against the perils of cannibalism in the hunting epoch." (Pg. xiii, xviii)

She states, "none of the familiar arguments, whether biological, instinctual, or psychological, can sustain the proposition that the primitive sex taboo was directed against incest." (Pg. 11) Later, she asserts, "Our rejection of cannibalism, therefore, is not innate; it is a social acquisition." (Pg. 25) She adds, "To drink one another's health with wine is a vast departure from the practice of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of humans... it is a tribute to the human victory over cannibalism." (Pg. 42)

She argues, "It is far more likely... that in the beginning it was the females, not the males, who reacted to any perils involving their offspring and sustenance. So long as males remained hobbled by individualism, competition, and striving for dominance over other males, they could not respond to the need for group preservation. But the females, already equipped by nature with their highly developed maternal functions and... capable of cooperating with other females, could achieve the self-restraint and foresight required to take the measures necessary for group survival. They instituted taboo." (Pg. 69)

She suggests, "in the matriarchal period women decided for themselves whether they would eat meat, and usually they did not." (Pg. 93) She says, "in the period of the maternal clan, when men were occupied with hunting and fighting, women were the principal producers of the necessities of life for all the members of the community." (Pg. 104) She summarizes, "Women then were not simply the procreators of new life, the biological mothers. They were the prime producers of the necessities of social life: the social mothers." (Pg. 129) She notes, "The matrilineal kinship system testifies to the priority of the matriarchy... the maternal clan [was] the unit of society that preceded the father-family." (Pg. 132)

She says near the book's conclusion, "The matrifamily... emerged at the beginning of barbarism, about eight thousand years ago... What took place in the middle period of barbarism to bring about this transition from the matrifamily to the father-family... This is a largely uninvestigated question... Clarification of this subject will also shed light on the central mystery of anthropology---the transition from the matriarchal order to patriarchal, class-divided society." (Pg. 393)

[Kamand Sa'adati · Rating 5 out of 5]

کتابی به معنای واقعی کلمه تکان دهنده و نویدبخش بود برای شخص من. دید کامل و وسیعی داشت به تکامل بشری، از نخستی ترین نسل بشر که میمون های بی دم نامیده میشن، تا ظهور تمدن های پیشرفته تری مثل یونان باستان و ادامه ماجرا از آنچه که در تاریخ مکتوب می دونیم...
اِوِلین رید دیدی مردم شناسانه و کاملا روش مند و استدلالی نسبت به تحلیل های خودش داره و همین هم ارزش کتاب ها رو دوچندان می کنه.
***
همونطور که عنوان انگلیسی کتاب هم بیان می کنه، این سه گانه (مادرسالاری، برادرسالاری و پدرسالاری) تحلیل روشنیه از زمانی که اولین اجتماع های بشری در فرم خاندان های مادرسالارانه پی ریزی میشن و بعد از چیزی حدود یک میلیون سال تکامل بشری، رفته رفته به شکل خانواده هایی از تبار مادرسالارانه و بعد از خونریزی ها و کشمکش های بسیار وارد مرحله بعدی تکامل یعنی خانواده هایی با تبار پدری میشن.
***
اولین رید نشون میده که چطور زنان نخستین با وضع کردن تابو های بسیار سفت و سخت در خانواده های آغازین، خوردن و آمیزش جنسی مردان با مادران و خواهران خودشون رو منع کردن. همینطور با وضع این تابو ها مردان رو از خوردن و حمله به سایر مردان هم منع کردن و راهی جلوی پای بشر گذاشتن تا از سیستم شکارگری و آدمخواری و زندگی تک به تک به شکل یک خاندان جمعی از تبار مادری دربیاد و حیات اجتماعی شکل بگیره. طبق یافته ها و پژوهش های اولین رید، ایجاد همبستگی و برادری بین مردان که باعث کنار گذاشته شدن رویه آدمخواری شد و حیات اجتماعی رو شکل داد، وام دار زنان نخستی بوده که به دلیل کارکرد های مادری جنس زن، هوش اجتماعی و آمادگی روانی بیشتری داشتن تا این خصومت ها و دشمنی هارو کنترل کنن و به شکل های اولیه اون تحت عنوان آدمخواری خاتمه بدن.
***
اما این خصومت ها در نهایت به شکل خصومت های برادری-شوهری در خاندان های مادرسالارانه درمیاد. و خاندان های مادرسالارانه رو به خاندان های دوپاره ای تبدیل می کنه که در اون حق و حقوق فرزندان ناشی از یک زناشویی هم به برادر مادر که از یک خون و یک تبار با فرزندان هست و هم به شوهر مادر که از کودکی در روند پرورش فرزندان نقش داشته درمیاد.
آهسته آهسته با جدل ها، برادرکشی ها، پدرکشی ها، فرزندکشی ها، خواهرزاده کشی ها و گاهی مادرکشی ها و علاوه بر این خونریزی ها، با پیشرفت اقتصادی و پیدایش حق مالکیت خصوصی و معاملات سوداگرانه بین خاندان مادری زن و شخص شوهر، نه تنها خاندان های مادرسالاری به خانواده های تک هسته ای پدرسالار تبدیل میشه، بلکه رفته رفته آزادی اقتصادی، اجتماعی و جنسی زنان هم به اسارت مردان در کانون خانواده درمیاد.
***
نکته ظریف در این بین این هست که نظام مادرسالاری برخلاف عقیده عموم، معادل زنانه ی نظام مردسالاری نیست، برعکس کاملا نظامی برابری خواهانه بین زن و مرده. زن در اون تحت عنوان مادر و خواهر از حقوق کامل در زندگی اجتماعی، سیاسی، اقتصادی و جنسی برخورداره، و مرد تحت عنوان برادر زن به همین شکل. واضحه که مفهوم پدر در این نظام بسیار تازه شکل گرفته است و هرچی در تاریخ تکامل عقب تر میریم، این مفهوم کم رنگ تر میشه. ضمن اینکه نقطه آغازین مفهوم پدر به عنوان کسی که بر فرزندان زن حقی داره، در ابتدا نه به عنوان کسی که در آفرینش و تولد فرزندان نقش داشته، بلکه به عنوان کسی که آیین اجتماعی خاصی رو بعد از تولد فرزند زن به جا آورده و در پرورش کودک نقش داشته، شروع شده. و کم کم با پیدایش مفاهیمی تحت عنوان شیربها یا بچه بها، مرد تونسته خودش رو صاحب حق بر فرزندان خودش بدونه و این ربطی به تاثیر بیولوژیکی مرد در تولد فرزند نداشته چرا که مردمان بدوی از این موضوع هیچ گونه آگاهی نداشتن و تولد فرزند رو تماما از زنان می دونستن و اولین رید برای این گفته هم دلایل قاطعی میاره.
***
و در آخر اینکه اگر با دید تکاملی ای که خود شخص اولین رید بررسی هاش رو پیاده کرده و به نظرم منطقیه بخوایم به این بررسی ها نگاه کنیم لازمه یادآور بشیم که مطالعه دوران طولانی و چندصدهزار ساله مادرسالاری، به دلیل حس تاسف و انگیزه ای برای بازگشت به بهشت برین مادرسالاری نیست. اون دوره هم در تکامل بشری دوران لازم و ضروری بوده که طبق نیاز های بشری پدید اومده، تکامل پیدا کرده و در نهایت دچار فرم دیگری از تغییر شده. به عبارتی نظم نوینی که خودش جایگزین نظم نوین دیگری میشه و این چرخه به اونجا ختم نمیشه و پیوسته و حتی در آینده بشر رخ خواهد داد. چیزی که مطالعه این دوران رو حائز اهمیت می کنه اینه که انسان به این باور میرسه که برداشت غلط جاودانه بودن نظام خانواده های پدرسالار، چیزی به قدمت تاریخ بشری نبوده و جایگاه زنان و مردان همیشه به این منوال پیش نمی رفته. زنان همواره دنباله روی مردان نبودن و گام های بلندی از پیشرفت تکامل بشری رو به تنهایی برداشتن. و برعکس اونچه که مردسالاری غالب کرده، بیولوژی دلیل محکمی برای نابرابری و تبعیضی که در این ۵، ۶ هزار ساله اخیر در جوامع بشری بر زنان تحمیل شده، نیست.

[Aira · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book examines the roots of human social organization, arguing that the earliest form of structured society was the matrilineal and matrilocal clan, built around the central relationship of mother and child. Reed maintains that it was women, grouped by kinship through the maternal line, who were responsible for both the material production and the cultural foundations of society. She claims that matriarchal clans organized communal life, established taboos, and shaped the earliest productive and social rules, with women’s cooperative roles in provisioning the community preceding any form of patriarchal family or private property.

Reed’s analysis is grounded in a Marxist framework, viewing women’s status and roles as fundamentally shaped by the mode of production prevalent in early hunter-gatherer and simple agricultural societies. She argues that key social practices—including the incest taboo, the communal raising of children, and the mutual aid embedded in kinship-based clans—arose not from inherent biological instincts or psychological imperatives, but as deliberate innovations for group survival and stability. The matriarchal clan, she contends, was not an age of rule by mothers over fathers, but a system in which women’s collective labor and social responsibility formed the nucleus of social order.

Through her anthropological survey, Reed asserts that women’s cooperation in social production and group survival required self-restraint, planning, and the creation of taboos—functions that, she argues, emerged from their unique position as both biological and "social mothers." Males, focused on hunting and individual competition, did not yet provide the basis for permanent social authority; rather, group affiliation, property, and lineage were traced through women, as was the organization of communal life.

Reed explains the eventual eclipse of matriarchal societies as the result of shifts in modes of production: the rise of private property, surplus, and the division of labor enabled the emergence of patriarchy and the establishment of the private, patrilineal family. In this transition, former communal systems tied to the maternal clan were replaced by structures centered on paternal descent and male dominance, a process reflected in changes to marriage, kinship, and law.

Woman’s Evolution is notable for its challenge to essentialist or purely biological explanations of gender roles, instead highlighting the historical and economic roots of women’s collective authority and the mechanisms—both material and cultural—by which patriarchal systems came to predominate. Reed's work remains influential in feminist anthropology, Marxist analysis, and the study of the origins of gendered power relations.

[Lili · Rating 4 out of 5]

#book
#finished
تکامل زنان نوشته اولین رید یه نویسنده فمنیست مارکسیسته.
اولش بخاطر اینکه این کتاب قدیمی بود و منابع و حرفاش بنظر قدیمی میومد دو به شک بودم به خوندنش، یه چند باری از جپت و گروک خان پرسیدم و‌اونا میگفتن بهتره بخونیش!
اولین دلیلی که نمیخواستم بخونمش سوگیری شدید و اتکای بیش از اندازه نویسنده به زن سالاری ابتدای دوران پیش از انقلاب کشاورزیه.
اما با وجود این شدت و سوگیری خیلی از مفاهیم تابو ها و علت ها رو برام روشن کرد و‌این پرده برداری از روی یک سری چیز ها برام جذاب ترش می‌کرد، تقریبا تا‌ نیمه های کتاب به ضرب و زور خوندمش اما از یه جایی به بعد جذبش شدم و هی کنجکاو شدم خب بعدش؟
بعد نظرت چیه؟
و احساس میکردم اولین رید داره همه اینارو برام توضیح میده و عینک جدیدی رو روی چشمام می‌ذاره، انگار بُعد جدیدی از زن بودن رو میدیدم.
به خصوص اون بخشی که درباره تاثیر زن ها در انقلاب کشاورزی صحبت میکرد، اینکه زن ها اونهایی بودن که ازریشه ها تغذیه میکردن و بعد کم کم با نگاه کردن و کاشتن و اهلی کردن، تیمار کردن حیوانات تاثیر به سزایی در انقلاب کشاورزی و شهر نشینی داشتن.

زن ها قابلیت همکاری ویژه ایی از نظر اولین رید دارن و علت رو بر این میذاشت که زن ها برای حفاظت از کودکانشون به همدیگه نیاز داشتن.
غالبا ما میشنویم که انسان های اولیه شکارچی بودن و اون فرد شکارچی معمولا مرد نمایش داده میشه، شما به یک انسان اولیه فکر کن؟
تصویر یه مرد توی ذهنتون نقش می‌بنده، زن ها کجان؟
فقط توی خونه منتظر همسر که گوشت بیاره؟
نه! زن ها با همکاری همفکری و کار گروهی و استفاده از ریشه ها آنچنان که توی ذهن ما کاشتن به مرد ها نیاز نداشتن، اونها کاملا مستقل از طریق میوه ها و ریشه ها و کندن و کاشتن و جمع آوری کردن زندگی میکردن.
زن ها صنعت گران اولیه، پزشکان اولیه، کشاورزان اولیه و دامداران و هنرمندان https://t.me/c/1897756975/12423
قانون گذاران و تابو گذاران اولیه بخاطر برآورده کردن نیاز خود و فرزندان و گروهشون بودن. ــــــ
اون ها معتقد بودن که مرد ها با کشتن و شکار کردن موجودات زنده، موجب این میشدن که روح های شیطانی بهشون حمله ور شن و به همین دلیل زندگی انسان های اولیه به دو گروه زنانه و مردانه تقسیم میشده. ــــ

https://t.me/c/1897756975/12410

این رفتار توی این بخش از کتاب رو توی بابون ها هم‌میشه دید!
ماده ها زمانی که یک مرد دیکتاتور و خشن رو ببینن، برای محافظت از دیگر ماده ها و بچه هاشون شبانه به سراغ نر خواب میرفتن و اونو میکشتن.


https://t.me/c/1897756975/12399 بنظر میاد از نظر اولین رید این زنان بودن که انسان هارو اهلی کردن.



دوتا احساس در حین خوندن این کتاب داشتم: واقعا؟
واقعا زن ها همچین نقش به سزایی داشتن؟ چرا برای من باور پذیر نیست؟
چرا نمیتونم قبول کنم و احساس مقاومتی در سرم ایجاد میشه نسبت به پذیرش این ها؟
یک احساس ناهماهنگی داشتم، اما خوشحالم که خوندمش و باعث شد با این احساس ناهماهنگی رو داشته باشم، این نشون داد که پس ذهنم همیشه انتظار داشتم که‌همه بار تاریخ رو مرد ها به دوش بکشن.
این ناراحت کننده است، چون کتاب های تاریخی صرفا مرد های تاریخ ساز رو برای ما به تصویر میکشه.

و یه نقد کوچیک هم به این کتاب داشتم:
اینکه فرهنگ های کوچیک‌در کشور های کوچیک‌رو جهان شمول در نظر میگرفت، یک فرهنگ کوچیک با باورهاشون تعمیم به کل جهان میداد و معتقد بود که بازمانده از دوران پیش از تاریخه.
که من با سرچ و اینها فهمیدم که نه این طور نیست.
البته که نویسنده منبع و مقالات رو نام برده بود.

دوسش داشتم و خوشحالم که ادامه‌اش دادم.
بزرگترین کمکی که بهم کرد اینکه سوگیری های جنسیتی پنهان پس ذهنم رو توی صورتم کوبید!

[Michael Zimmerman · Rating 5 out of 5]

𝘞𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯'𝘴 𝘌𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘔𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘗𝘢𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 was such an amazing read.
Among the things I was not expecting was an exposition on the origins and evolution of religion or analyses of Greek tragedies to show that the beginnings of civilization bear the vestigial artifacts of the taboo against cannibalism: the first human institution.

Reed shows how the development of that institution, which was introduced by the first women, followed the early modes of production and was eventually inverted by men; from an institution which founded humankind's first cooperative efforts to the advent and preservation of private property on an individual basis. This well-researched work demonstrates that the price paid for the reification and fetishization of the individual was the social position of women.

Reed's magnum opus applies the dialectical and historical materialist method to the data collected by pioneers and world renowned anthropologists to discover what they could not: the origins of humanity in the institution of the taboo against cannibalism, its dual nature, and its dialectical relationship to the productive activities of humankind throughout history. What results is a convincing case that women played the leading role in organizing society and developing its first technologies.

This book leaves no doubt regarding the relationship that women's liberation has to the economic question. It is in the fight to organize social relations on a socialist basis, in opposition to the present capitalist form, that women can hope to achieve complete equality with men.

[Arman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awsome

[Arnoldo David Diaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gran crítica a las interpretaciones patriarcales de la antropología, la utilizo bastante en mis cursos de historia global y sociología

[Marc Lichtman · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

I also recommend Cosmetics, Fashion, and the Exploitation of Women and Sexism and Science.

“Helped me understand anthropology from a woman's point of view.” —Ms.

“A truly monumental piece of scholarship....A total rethinking of evolutionary (social) anthropology.” —Canadian Newsletter of Research on Women

“Deftly takes on some of the most quoted experts in cultural anthropology and sociology and shatters their premises about women….There is a real need for this book….The volume is not only recommended, it cannot be ignored.” —Curriculum Advisory Services

“This is a fascinating and scholarly book; useful in sociology and anthropology courses and to any woman needing encouragement about the contributions of her sex to history.” —American Association for the Advancement of Science

“[An] absorbing anthropological dig.” —Minneapolis Tribune

“Certain to become a classic text in women’s history…lucid and absorbing reading.” —Publishers Weekly

“Spiritedly challenges her opponents to stand up and be counted.”
—Guardian (London)

“An outstanding effort to account for many of the discrepancies found in the patterns of social evolution as delineated by many of the traditional anthropologists.…Stimulating and readable, and important for anyone interested in the women’s movement as well as anthropology.” —KLIATT

“Persuasive, exciting, highly readable: I am happy to recommend it....An engrossing book, and its theory linking oppression to property is immeasurably more satisfying than theories linking oppression to childbearing.” —The Spokeswoman

“Woman’s Evolution spells out the long process in clear step-by-step terms.” —Majority Report

“A brilliant and fascinating refutation of patriarchy’s favorite historical error.” —WIN magazine

“A joyous inspiration to read and a celebration of our essential humanity in a addition to being a major contribution to the field of anthropology.” —MAKARA

“A self-evident classic in the literature on women’s role in history.” —Aftonbladst (Evening Sheet, Stockholm)

“An excellent addition to libraries with collections in anthropology and women’s studies.” —Reprint Bulletin Book Reviews

“Fresh and convincing....An odyssey through centuries of changing human culture....Fantastic wealth of fascinating detail on human cultural practices.” —Unitarian-Universalist World

“Gives women an understanding of their past and will enable them to move forward into the future with confidence.” —Undercurrents

“Painstakingly researched and fascinating history.” —WomanSource Catalog and Review

“How important it is to women today that the myth of eternal and preordained patriarchy be exploded. And at last we have a good solid real woman anthropologist to do it.” —Kate Millet, author Sexual Politics

[fausto · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 En realidad.
El libro de Reed es genial en muchos aspectos, toma como principal referencia el libro "The Mothers" de Robert Briffault para analizar en términos feministas-marxistas la transición entre las sociedades matriarcales al patriarcado, para Reed las mujeres realmente "crean" la cultura, y ofrece una teoría bastante convincente al respecto, establecen los tabúes y organizan a la sociedad de acuerdo a la experiencia materna, los varones más importantes son los hermanos de las madres (pues estos han nacido del mismo útero) que establecen un "fratriarcado" que pretende defender los derechos políticos de las mujeres (y por extensión los suyos propios), el patriarcado finalmente hace su aparición a medida que las sociedades mutan de un enlace ("matrimonio") matrilocal a uno patrilocal.

Es un libro especulativo, muy especulativo. Sin embargo eso no le resta genio a sus ideas. Los capítulos que hablan de la transición del "fratriarcado" al patriarcado son bastante repetitivos, enfatizando con demasía el poder de los hermanos de la madre frente al marido. Finalmente mantiene cierto corte racista (hablando de pueblos "primitivos", "salvajes" o "bárbaros") lo que no debe sorprendernos si se toma en cuenta que toma como referencia el muy racista libro de Lewis Morgan y el libro paradigmático de Engels

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

While this book has just recently appeared in translation into the Indonesian language--a fact confirming that the 21st century is truly the century in which women will make great advances--based on the scientific perspective advanced by Reed, a Marxist--through struggles and social revolutions to replace capitalism with governments of the workers and farmers--like the true socialism of Cuba--the book has many reviews in english. See this link: http://www.pathfinderpress.com/Womans...

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evelyn Reed was a scientist. It's a very well searched and organised book. She gives the pictures of almost each time zone through out the hiistory of the humanity.It's a very important book and I suggest it to everyone who is interested in politics, human and women rights.

[aldo zirsov]

bingkisan buku dari Kalyanamitra.
terima kasih Buzenk...!!
:)

[Ellen Marcolongo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting ideas but very repititive.