Have you ever wanted to watch Anthropology-related videos, but doing a quick search doesn’t bring up the results you are looking for? Or maybe you don’t have the time to sort through thousands and thousands of results to find a cool documentary? Either way, my blog post series on “must watch” videos in Anthropology is made for you! In this post, I’m sharing 28 great Cultural Anthropology-related videos that focus on the topic of gender. Future blog posts will deal with other topics, so look for those in the future.
Let’s start off this series of Anthropology videos on gender by talking about the role of women in society. This first video is called “The Maasai Women“. This documentary shows the life of Masaai women in East Africa.
The second video is called, “Sanema Women: The Mountain of Mystery.” This video shows the role of Sanema women in daily life in a community in the forests of Venezuela.
The third video is called “Tribal Wives: Gabon,” and shows a British woman who goes to live with a community in Gabon, a country in central Africa. She learns how to be a woman in that culture.
Now I’d like to share some videos that show how different cultures view gender differently. Some people think that there are only 2 genders, male and female. But many cultures have a third gender. In this first video, called “Muxes: Mexico’s Third Gender,” learn about the 3rd gender in part of Mexico, and how these people are accepted in the community.
If you want to learn more about the third gender in Mexico, check out the video “Mexico’s Third Gender.” This video is about people that are born male but are raised as women and live as women throughout their lives.
You can also watch the short National Geographic film, “Third Gender: An Entrancing Look at Mexico’s Muxes.”
Next is a video called “India’s Third Gender Movement,” which shows how a third gender is becoming more and more of a mainstream thing in India.
The next video is about Native American Two Spirits, which are people that do not conform to the idea of gender being just male or just female. In this video, called, “Open and Out,” four Native Americans who are two spirits share their life experiences.
If you want to learn more about Two Spirits, check out the video called, “Two Spirits Documentary.” This video is about Native American Two Spirits and the struggles they face in today’s society.
So, some cultures have a 3rd gender. But some cultures have even more than 3 genders. Learn about the five genders that a culture in Indonesia recognizes in the video, “Five Genders,” by National Geographic.
Now, I’m going to share some videos about being transgender. This next video is called, “Becoming Julia,” and follows the story of Paul, a man who undergoes a gender transition to become a woman named Julia.
The next video is called, “Growing up Transgender and Mormon,” and shows Eri, a boy who grew up in the Church of Latter-Day Saints, and who later became a woman.
Next up is a video called, “Follow a Transgender Teen’s Emotional Journey to Womanhood.” This video is about identical twin Emmie, who transitioned to become a woman when she was a teenager.
Then there is a video about transgender individuals in India. This video is called, “India’s Transgender Community,” and follows the struggles these people face in that society.
Now, I’d like to share some videos about being intersex. This first video is called, “She’s Not a Boy,” and shows the life of an intersex woman from Zimbabwe who is seeking asylum in the United States and is living in New York City.
The next video is called, “Intersex: Redefining Gender.” This video is about Christian, a person who is intersex and was raised as a girl but identifies as a man.
And then there is the video called, “Neither Male or Female—Secret Intersex.” This video follows a few different people who are intersex and shows the challenges that they face.
Now I’d like to share a couple of videos about gender and ideas of beauty. First is a video called, “Banned Practice of Foot Binding Blighting China’s Oldest Women.” Even though the practice of foot binding stopped in China years and years ago, there are still women alive today who had their feet bound when they were younger. You can learn more about this practice in this video.
And then there is a video called “12-Inch Necks: See How Women Torture Themselves for Beauty.” This video shows how in one culture, females place brass coils around their necks to make the necks longer.
Now I’d like to share some videos about places where women are in charge, instead of men. The first video is called, “The Land Where Women Rule: Inside China’s Last Matriarchy.” It shows an area of China in the foothills of the Himalayas where women rule.
The next video is called, “The Land of No Men: Inside Kenya’s Women-Only Village.” This video is about a village in Kenya founded over 25 years ago as a safe place for women to escape abuse from men. So, no men are allowed in this village, only women.
Now I’d like to share some videos about gender-related abuse. Trigger Warning: watching these next videos may be upsetting. This first video is called, “The Hidden Lives of Housegirls,” and shows domestic workers in Uganda who experience abuse at the hands of their employers.
Next is a video called, “Sex Trafficking in Nigeria,” and is about young women in Nigeria who are lured to Europe, where they are forced to become sex workers.
Next is a video called, “South Africa’s Battle to Protect Women Against Violence.” This video is about gender-based violence in South Africa, where thousands of women have been killed just in one year alone.
If you want to learn even more about gender-based violence in South Africa, check out the next video, called “Street Debate: Gender-Based Violence in South Africa.” In this video, survivors of domestic violence and rape are interviewed.
Then there is a video about gender-based violence in the garment industry in Asia. This video is called, “Gender-Based Violence in Garment Supply Chains: An Asia Floor Wage Alliance Documentary.” Women in these jobs are afraid to complain about their experiences of abuse because they will lose their jobs and then they cannot support themselves and their families.
To end on a more positive note, I’d like to share two Anthropology-related gender videos about the empowerment of women. First is a video called, “Kinapa,” which is about Maasai women in a rural village in Tanzania who are working together to start businesses and empower themselves.
The second video is called, “Why is Japan’s Gender Gap So Wide?” and this is about women who are challenging the idea of the perfect Japanese wife and are even choosing careers– some of them are even choosing careers that are typically dominated by men.
I hope you enjoyed this list of 28 “must watch” videos in Cultural Anthropology, focusing on the topic of gender. If you found this post helpful, then please share it on social media! Want me to make a video or post on a specific topic? Use the contact form to let me know. Also, you can view a video version of this post here.
Thanks for reading!