MAKE ME A MAN

by SONYA RAPOPORT

Every known human society rests firmly on the learned nurturing behavior of man. The Economist 10.28.96

Make Me A Man reveals striking societal similarities of gender-antagonism between the primitive New Guinea Highlands and the sophisticated Western and North American civilizations. Both cultures acknowledge the physiological superiority of women because of their ability to give birth. It is men who must be molded and configured into ideal masculinity.


Sambia are a people who inhabit a New Guinea rugged mountain terrain.
They reflect a mixture of the Highlands and the Papua horticultural hinterlands.

This work is a reflection on the universal stereotype of manhood and how it has been sustained in diverse cultures at the expense and alienation of women.

GROWING A MAN

FINIS

*sculpture by Judy Fox