ABSTRACT
This chapter explains how culture is diversely embodied in its practice. It demonstrates that the difference between sex and gender with reference to differences in sex development and diversity in gender practices across cultures. The chapter also explains the conceptual basis, power source, and cultural functions of transgressive or anomalous gender roles. In addition to helping to illuminate the symbolic and practical effects of what people do, the culture-as-practice framework also allows insight into culture change. For it is in the process of ‘doing culture’ that adaptations can happen. Emotional expression comprises another arena for culture’s embodiment. For example, Japanese culture, like many others, favors emotional control as part of an overarching ethos that places the group’s well-being ahead of self-centered priorities. Gender is a prime arena for embodiment: it is a crucial biocultural arena, with serious ramifications in the majority of social settings.
