Non-binary life conditions studies: applying gender as methodology
Résumé
When studying life conditions in past populations one must consider the interaction of both biological and cultural factors, since nutritional status and biological well-being are also influenced by environmental factors and social inequalities, which can lead to differential access to nourishments and to medical care.
In bioarchaeological works researches use stature and body shape (or directly bone measures) to evaluate populations’ life conditions, usually separating the sample according to biological sex, since stature is considered dimorphic in our specie. However, considering biological sex as a priori category can force a binary division of the sample and hide a more diverse variability. Not all females and all males are submitted to the same life conditions, since many elements interact and shape the gender experience someone lives (intersectionality). Hence, we propose the observation of the biological sex as a posteriori category.
In this paper we applied a clustering method (factor analysis of mixed data) to anthropometric values from individuals (n=96) exhumed from the archaeological site Capuccin de Ferrières (south of France – 1720-1721). We conducted three experiments, firstly using as variables just anthropometrical data (femur length and transverse femoral shaft diameter) ; secondly, we added as variable the biological sex divided in four classes (female, probable female, male and probable male) ; and thirdly we considered binary sex (female, male) as variable . The three tests presented different group compositions, in the first one, even if we had a sex predominance, all of the groups were mixed; in the test second just three individuals were classed with the other sex; and the third analysis presented female only or male only groups, forcing a binary division that is not present when considering just the anthropometric data.
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