Feminism

Some modern feminists, those who believe in the concept of sex/gender feminism, will maintain that men and women are born the same and then culturally shaped into a either a man, destined to command, or women, destined to obey. (Sommers, 2008, p. 455) This author has found domineering men, but has yet to find the woman who feels obligated to obey. Even as a religious person whose religion does clearly define roles based on gender, he is hard pressed to find the woman who is being held down or oppressed. In fact, it is often heard that husbands comment on the superiority of their wives spiritually and acknowledgment of their worth as daughters of God.

The idea of gender feminism is, according to Sommers, “the prevailing ideology among contemporary feminist philosophers and leaders. But it lacks a grass roots constituency.” (Rauchut, 2008, p. 155). The idea does not appear, however to have basis in fact as established by science. Rauchet, in quoting research by a geneticist, Anne Moir, that science indicates something quite different. She states that “differences in men’s and women’s brain structure account for differences in various behaviors between the sexes and these different are not the result of socializations.” (Rauchut, 2008, p. 146) These differences include:

· Differences in behavior exhibited by humans are demonstrated in primates as well.

· Actual differences in brain size and make up of various parts of the brain that cause, for example, increased sexuality and aggression in men and

· Women given injections of testosterone improve in areas where men tend to do better mentally, and experience more difficulties in mental tasks at which women generally excel.

· Women with high testosterone smile less, have more extra-marital affairs, and even have a stronger handshake. (Rauchut, 2008, pp. 148-150)

Science offers strong support, maybe even irrefutable support, for the idea of innate differences found between the sexes. Even anecdotal information lends credibility to the idea that men and women are simply different. 66% of females polled were interested in staying home and raising children. (Kamen, 2008, p. 415) A man who felt his mother was instinctively better equipped to care for him. (Kamen, 2008, p. 417) From personal experience, however, as the father of six children, 3 boys and 3 girls, the author can say without question, that mother is more patient, more compassionate, more tender, and infinitely more nurturing than father. Witnessing the growth of an even split of boys and girls it can be seen that behavior between the two sexes is very different. The girls love to play dress up, dolls, and house. The boys like to kidnap the dolls and destroy the house. This may be the result of societal influence, but it’s clear that there are differences and science strongly suggests that all of these differences are not driven by society. If, after all, it were driven by society would we not find at least one culture, out of the countless cultures that exist, where women and men were seen as identical, Rauchut says, though, “In all human cultures, men and women are seen as having different natures.” (Rauchut, 2008, p. 147) It is that way in all human cultures simply because it is true.

There is another brand of feminism, equity feminism. Gender feminists stir the proverbial hornets’ nest by insisting that there are no differences amongst the sexes save what society has created and that the man is keeping them down...literally. Equity feminists on the other hand insist that there should be no right held by man that woman should not hold as well. Government tends to agree as evidenced by 19^th amendment of the constitution that gave women the right to vote and the civil rights act of 1964 that prevents discrimination based on gender.

Feminists whether they are the equity feminists or gender feminists do share something in common, however, and it goes a long ways towards shaping the attitudes, policy, and legislation. The idea, while not held by all feminists, is no doubt held by some. That idea is that men dominate women in our culture and that they are, to some extent, a necessary evil. The author recalls one feminist co-worker who announced that she was pregnant. The author asked, foolishly, whether she planned on marrying the father. She wrinkled her nose and in a harsh tone announced, “I don’t need no man to help me raise a kid! I’m an independent woman!” True to her word, she is still single and appears to have raised her son for the last 10 years.

This idea that men are a necessary evil is illustrated in several of this week’s reading. The first and frankly most shocking example came in The Story of the Hour by Kate Chopin who described the attitude of the wife who learned that she lost her husband in an accident. A husband who had treated her well she decided would no longer be there to dominate her and she thought that she only loved him some of the time. She actually walked out of her room confident that life would be better now that she was free. Unfortunately the shock of seeing her husband, still alive, walk in the door literally broke her heart. (Chopin, 1894)

It is not so much the idea that a woman can easily get over a husband who treated her well in such a stressful situation. Nor is it completely unbelievable that a woman can have a sense that she is now free and able to start over in life, perhaps make some different choices. The idea, though, that marriage is so dismal that the sudden realization that one must be shackled again is enough to literally kill an otherwise healthy woman. It can only be imagined that there were some very angry women who read this and said that the man had killed her, and if he hadn’t killed her that night then her certainly took her life the day she was compelled (by society at least) to marry him (or any other man.)

Was her freedom taken? Is any woman’s natural, god-given freedom taken when they get married? According to Elizabeth Cady Stanton in her Declaration of Sentiments such freedoms were certainly taken away. Back in the 19^th century when this was written there certainly was disparity between a man’s rights to property and the right to vote and women’s rights. (Stanton, 2008) Certainly, these days, the natural rights guaranteed to men are likewise guaranteed to women. It took too long in coming, but come they did. Yet, there still is the sense of oppression amongst some feminists today.

Another article that was particularly disturbing was by Virginia Woolf who cited that she had to kill the “Angel of the House” (Woolf, 2008) in order to be free as a woman. This angel wasn’t actually a woman, but the feminine side of all women who are a product of male domination and societies pressures to deny themselves. This is either a denial of the innate sensibilities and qualities of women, which according to science does exist, or it is a conscious effort to destroy those things so that women can advance like men because they are more like men. Can they, however, be more like men without infringing upon the freedoms of women who are not feminists yet seeking equal rights? How much manliness can they take on and still remain women? Will the female executive see the female employee who is less aggressive or career driven as a liability and treat her the same way that other male executives treat her?

Mary Wollstonecraft is another early feminist who contended, though not with such striking imagery as the previous authors, that women were secondary citizens. That the prevailing attitudes amongst men are that the role of women is as objects of desire and beauty. Their purpose is marriage and the pleasure of her husband and her denying herself for the sake of her family. The idea that they can be a human being instead of just a woman is foolishness. (Wollstonecraft, 2008) Some women today hold this view and they will discuss it heatedly, but Wollstonecraft wrote this wrote this over 200 years ago when such things in American society probably had a lot of basis in fact. Times have changed. Women have had to move on to other issues which are probably where the idea of gender feminism has gained so much steam. They are running out of fuel for the fire.