Podcast Episode Details

Margaret Mead: Coming of Age, Gender Roles, and the Sexual Revolution

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Episode 1151

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Join pplpod as we explore the life of Margaret Mead, arguably the twentieth century’s most significant public voice in anthropology. From her groundbreaking fieldwork in the South Pacific to her status as a curator at the American Museum of Natural History, Mead fundamentally changed how the Western world understood adolescence, sex, and culture,.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Nature vs. Nurture: How Mead’s famous 1928 book, Coming of Age in Samoa, challenged the idea that teenage turmoil is biological by presenting a society where adolescence was a smooth transition.
• The Construction of Gender: Her work in New Guinea, which argued that traits traditionally viewed as "masculine" or "feminine" are often determined by cultural conditioning rather than biology,.
• Love and Marriage: Mead’s unconventional personal life, including her three marriages, her open relationship philosophy, and her long-term romantic partnerships with women like Ruth Benedict and Rhoda Métraux,,.
• The Aftermath: The posthumous controversy sparked by anthropologist Derek Freeman, who claimed Mead was hoaxed during her time in Samoa.

Tune in to discover the woman behind the walking stick and cape—a scientist who pioneered visual anthropology, influenced the sexual revolution, and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom,,.

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Published on 3 days ago