Focus on the Family, the American evangelical group founded by James Dobson, published a press release this week titled, "Anthropologists Agree on Traditional Marriage."
In the release, Glenn Stanton, an employee of Focus in the Family who does not identify himself as an anthropologist, claims "a family is a unit that draws from the two types of humanity, male and female." He also states that there is a clear consensus among anthropologists on this definition.
This statement is a gross misrepresentation of the position of the anthropological community on gay marriage. To counter the egregious claims of the Focus on the Family release, the AAA Public Affairs department has issued the following letter:
Dear Sir:
My name is Damon Dozier, and I am the American Anthropological Association (AAA) Director of Public Affairs. In this capacity, I am responsible for the Association's full range of government relations, media relations, and international affairs programs. Founded in 1902, the AAA—11,000 members strong—is the world's largest organization of men and women interested in anthropology. Its purposes are to encourage research, promote the public understanding of anthropology, and foster the use of anthropological information in addressing human problems.
I write to address the gross misrepresentation of the position of the anthropological community on gay marriage in your March 3, 2008 Citizen Link press release, “Anthropologists Agree on Traditional Definition of Marriage.” In the release, Glenn Stanton, an employee of your organization who does not identify himself as an anthropologist, asserts that “a family is a unit that draws from the two types of humanity, male and female.”
In point of fact, the AAA Executive Board issued in 2004, the following statement in response to President Bush’s proposal for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage:
The results of more than a century of anthropological research on households, kinship relationships, and families, across cultures and through time, provide no support whatsoever for the view that either civilization or viable social orders depend upon marriage as an exclusively heterosexual institution. Rather, anthropological research supports the conclusion that a vast array of family types, including families built upon same-sex partnerships, can contribute to stable and humane societies.
I am alarmed and dismayed at this example of irresponsible journalism and deliberate misrepresentation of the anthropological community. In the future it is my hope that your organization will accurately and honestly convey and communicate the views and interests of the AAA, its 11,000 members, and the social science community at large.
Damon Dozier
Director of Public Affairs
American Anthropological Association
2200 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 600
Arlington, VA 22201
703.528.1902
Additional Links
AAA Statement on Marriage and the Family
Why Marriage? - by Ellen Lewin, as printed in the May 2004 issue of Anthropology News
Box Turtle Bulletin - read the responses to the Focus on the Family release from three anthropologists (and AAA members) --Bill Maurer, Tom Boellstorff,and Patrick Chapman
Friday, March 07, 2008
Anthropologists Defend Their Position on Marriage and the Family
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13 comments:
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I think AAA's commentary stating that "family" as a definition is quite diverse and actually difficult to state as heterosexual is quite accurate. Marriage, however, is not. Is it really AAA's position that the overwhelming majority of ethnographies describing marriage are not specifically discussing unions between men and women, and that marriage is not important to society-wide moderation of property and relationshps?
Frankly, such a position, if that is the position, is laughable from every text and ethnography I've ever studied. Perhaps we can rewrite all anthropology texts to reflect a politically supportable view and not a scientifically defensible one?
When did reason and objectively determiend data get tossed out by emotion and political subservience? When we started bowing and scraping to remain academically relevant?
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MBobMean, perhaps you should read more of the anthropological literature before you start decrying hyperbole.
There are many ethnographic works which detail marriage relationships between same gendered couples, and which serve the same functional roles in the transference of property and mediation of social relationships as the type of marriages (between men and women) which you assume to be most common.
Before you jump to an argument about the scientific data, you should consider that your arguments are in conflict with the existent scientific findings.
That position would be consistent with the reasoned objectivity that you esteem.
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