Skip to main content

Society Has a History of Viewing Women as "Less Than"


I was shocked to find out about Aristotle’s thoughts of women in “A History of Women’s Bodies.”  Aristotle hypothesized that women were created as a birth defect because they weren’t fully developed before birth.  Dang, I always thought Aristotle was so smart…  How did such a smart man reconcile the fact that no one could be born without a woman?  He really dropped the ball on that observation.  Darwin’s views on women also shocked me.  He believed that women basically use up all their energy on childbirth.  Therefore, Darwin argues, women will always be lacking in development both physically and mentally.  One of the current women’s issues that stem from previous thoughts and attitudes about women is the view of PMS as a medical diagnosis for “behavior problems” in women (Weitz).

Works Cited
Weitz, Rose. "A History of Women's Bodies." Women In Culture An Intersectional Anthology for Gender and Women's Studies, Second ed., Wiley Blackwell, 2017, pp. 248-55.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wallowing in Complexity

Wallowing in complexity is a concept of giving a lot of deep thought to a complex question.  It involves coming up with a question first of all.  Also, the problem must be thought of from many different angles and different ways to address the problem than may initially come to mind.  Wallowing in complexity means that you can look at and analyze your questions from at least 2 different perspectives:  yours and the opposition, but possibly even more perspectives.  This concept involves understanding the history, context and important facts about your question.  Wallowing in complexity means opening your mind to many possible outcomes.  You may need to do research or conduct studies to attain more information about your complex question.  By doing these kinds of high level thinking and delving deeper, you could change your own mind or the question itself may be changed.  Wallowing in complexity is a great tool to basically have an internal di...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Granny Killer

The Granny Killer, John Wayne Glover, was a serial killer in Australia.   He molested and killed older women in their 60’s to 90’s.   Glover bludgeoned the women, groped them, then tied and strangled them with their panties.   Glover was a local pie salesman and he would go to the nursing homes where many of his victims resided in the course of his work selling pies.   Based on incorrect profiling, police were looking for a teenaged offender.   Glover, however, was middle aged and appeared to be very friendly and respectful.   He had a wife and family, did charity work, and socialized with senior groups.   Glover had committed some sexual assaults about 25 years prior to him starting to kill.   Killings started after a series of stressful events in Glover’s life.   First, Glover and his wife moved into his wife’s parents home.   Second, Glover’s mother moved into the house with them as well.   Living with his in laws and mother ca...
Post a Comment
Read more

Traditional Female Muslim Attire

A big part of the Muslim faith is having a modest dress (Williams et al.).  Hijab is a term that refers to the headscarf that many Muslim women wear to cover their hair, neck and ears, leaving their face out.  Hijab also refers to the concept of modesty as a whole.  There are other forms that cover up more.  The niqab covers the face also, but leave the eyes out in the open.  Also, the burkah covers the entire head and face, with a mesh veil over the eyes so that the woman may see, but her eyes are shielded.  Muslim men are also to be modest in dress.  Some Muslim men wear a jilbab – a long sleeved full robe (Williams et al.). A Muslim woman who may be asked to remove or change her traditional attire would likely be very insulted and offended.  The Civil Rights Act of 1964 protect beliefs and expressions of belief of religious nature (Benson).  Title VII protects against discrimination in workplace hiring and promotion, provide for reasona...
Post a Comment
Read more