nstruation has in society being the cause of the inferiority of women and the necessity for a rite of passage that separates the men from these negative symbolic meanings. Using Victor Turner views the claim can be made that the Sambia culture has such strong negative attitudes towards females because it has been taught generation ritually after generation to have a strong culture of warriors, and that disgust for women is not an inherent quality in the average Zambian male.
             Ortner is the most critical of the Sambia culture, concerning this issue, out of the three anthropologists we will look at, because, not only is she opposed to the idea of female inferiority academically, but also, she is opposed personally as a female and a feminist. She sees discovering why women are placed in inferior roles in society vital to changing this universal practice (Ortner). By looking at Ortner's piece, "Is Female to Male as Nature Is to Culture?" (Ortner 67), one can infer from it that she is very critical of the gender beliefs behind these rituals. In this piece, she expresses her conviction that women are not naturally inferior to men as the Sambia believe, but rather they are just considered inferior by the specific culture they are placed in because of their association with nature (Ortner). The qualities associated with nature and the fact that culture, which man is associated with, is constantly struggling to overpower nature and control it, displays the social structure is set up for women. However, let us take a step back and not make any assumptions and answer the question: why does Ortner assert that women are associated with nature?
             There are two critical qualities which women posses Ortner feels puts women closer to nature than culture. The first has to do with a "woman's body and its functions" (Ortner 73). A woman's body is more involved in procreation and allows less freedom for cultural activities (Ortner). A woman's main bodi...