"Chopsticks Only Work in Pairs"

by Shanshan Du

The ideal of "gender equality" seems forever elusive, always tantalizingly over the horizon. Shanshan Du suggests that by shifting our attention away from the various utopian ideals embedded in mainstream feminism, we may be surprised to learn that gender-egalitarian societies do exist. Based on extensive fieldwork, this book explores the Lahu society in Southwest China where practical gender equality has become the byproduct of a potent ideology of gender unity, vividly expressed by the proverb, "chopsticks only work in pairs."

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology, Read For School, School, Anthropology

256 pages, Paperback

First published December 11, 2002

Reviews

[Neo Polaris · Rating 5 out of 5]

They banned me on R̶a̶t̶e̶Y̶o̶u̶r̶M̶u̶s̶i̶c̶ FakeYourMusic for sending a glowing review on a tape called "Hill Tribe Music: Lahu"

I guess they want to protect their patriarchy 🤷‍♂️


[ don't try, you'll get banned for SO many different things - like down-rating mainstream music, contributing anything foreign and/or old (anything new or mainstream, you're okay 👍 - especially the frequencies today, my word 🤢), messaging the admin about ANYTHING (like giving him a comforting lie "you're doing GREAT"... BANNED 🚫) ]


I really love this book... It taught me SO MANY things about culture... Like the Lahu kids believe that their PARENTS birthed them, not just their mom. Wow. That inspires me.

The women have to do the work, without their uhh consent(?). Basically, they have to do it themselves, no choice in the matter. Whereas, men have to DECIDE to do it. Women on the inside, men on the outside. Child labor is automatic. Men? It's their choice.

Why don't the countries have CONJOINED leaders of men and women? A man. And a woman. Partners. That would make more sense!! ☝️


And the English ("Angelish"? who invented a language based on angels?) is a patriarchal language. Like the book said, most societies say that man is "one" and woman is "other".

For example. The words. "Man"... "Woman". "Man" and "WOMBman".

Ain't that strange? "Mankind". Not "womankind". See? They depict "man" as "one" - Right in the words!! (why not "loman"? "heman"?)


The pattern.


Woman have SO MANY traits that men don't have. Lemme check my list:

1) Women find what men can't find… cuz of hunter-gatherers
2) Women are emotionally stronger than men (childbirth!! that's a start)
3) Women can multitask while men singletask
4) The "fun" button… and women have better orgasms than men
5) Their hair tends to NOT get bald with age!!
6) They last a lot longer than men… usually around 7 years or so
7) Heightened sensory (like the colors, some very rare ones see in 4 color cones - only some women, never a man)
8) They BIRTH children… they get pregnant and do the work…
9) Women tend to be able to draw much more intricately than men… they can put their fingers in small places…
10) Women can breastfeed kids, whereas men cannot (boosts immune system for the babies!! but using "baby formula" instead does bad things to their immune system 🤢)
11) Women have a better immune system than men
12) Woman have better intuition than men
13) Woman have more brain connectivity than men
14) Dunno if this is true or not, but, women pee sitting down whereas men tend to pee standing up. When men pee standing up, I *think*, causes some of the urine to go back into their urethra. Pee squatting (and poo squatting, even childbirth squatting) is more natural.
15 Women speak in higher voices which allows them to articulate more accurately (speech to text on a phone - I'm a male, it gets me wrong - but women? they do just fine)


These are the ones I can think of - FOR NOW!!

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book from College, this one I choose out of a long list of book in my anthropology class. I liked the discussions it brought up around gender and the roles of each gender in any given society.

[Vashti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was keen to read this book because Du mentioned a very interesting phase as her research title: Chopsticks only work in pairs. The book talks about how Lahu community live their lifes by abiding their gender-egalitarian concept. A good perspective to remind us that the world is so big, with vast amount of cultures and traditions that we can learn from. What we consider unusual might actually be something others considered normal. It's really nice to learn about other's culture.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting society which sees the standard social unit not an individual, but a married couple who are expected to contribute equally to "working to eat" and in childcare.