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Gender & society - Coggle Diagram
Gender & society
A01
Gender roles refer to the physiological traits, places in society, and place in home life that a culture associates with being male or female
Trad view:
Males are active 'breadwinners' in the world whilst women stay at home, submissive to men and responsible for the upbringing of children
Feminists argue that trad gender roles are socially constructed, though there is internal disagreement surrounding to what degree they are constructed
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Radical feminism - equal rights is not enough to reverse the decades of oppression caused by gender roles
Gender traditionalism - current gender roles are natural and that human life is best when following them
Adam is first, then Eve who is designed to be Adam's helper. The first to fall into sin, the husband ruled over her and she experienced childbirth pain
De Beauvoir
Radical feminist. Religion is merely a tool of the male oppressor group whcih keeps women under control in their oppresed place under false promises that they will make it into heaven
Believes that gender roles are a result of socialisation, using the quote 'one is not born, but made a woman' Men turned their biological superiority into socio-cultural superiority
Most mothers are intimidated into motherhood, as independent women are seen as 'easy marks' and unatural
Too negative on motherhood, makes it seem like any mother is suffering from internal misogyny however other feminists still see the positivce in motherhood
Oakley - many women find it difficult to be a mother, evidencing that they feel obligated to become one
Biblical Criticism
The idea that the bible is man-made for the purpose of subjugating women. If a man tells a woman to subject to a role then that's not persuasive, but if the creator of life wants her too then it is more persuasive
the consequence of this is that the Bible is not the perfect word of God, but written by men to further the interests of other men. As Hume points out, reason is a slave of the passions, and men will be more likely to fall into their ideas through 'reason'
If God says men & women are not equal, then it should be accepted that they are not equal, not challenged over it
The Bible is already full of translation errors etc anyway, therefore it can be disproved outside of a feminist lens anyway. The liberal view of the Bible views it as a product of the human mind, not [perfect word of God
Reuther argues that whilst lots of verses support the patriarchy, others are in favour of equality. This therefore displays inconsistency in assigning gender roles within the Bible
Pinker
There should be political and social equality. He believes that there is scientific prove displaying mental and cognitive differences between men and women which challenges radical feminism
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Mulieris Dignitatum
Pope John Paul 2nd wrote this as a defence of Christian sexism. He argued that men & women had complementary properties and abilities due to the nature God designed them in
Mulieris Dignitatum argument 1: Motherhood is a woman’s telos; natural purpose. J P II argued that women are ‘naturally disposed to motherhood’. Both physically in that they have a womb and also psychologically in that motherhood creates a ‘special openness’ in a mother to their child such that mothers develop their self-giving abilities and compassion. So, the fulfilment and purpose of the female personality, especially that of compassion, comes from virginity and motherhood. This argument is based on Natural law reasoning about telos.
The sexist parts were either consciously or unconsciously created by sexist men in order to further their agenda of male dominance, as is the same of the telos concept. Different variations of gender roles across cultures disproves this natural role idea
Existence precedes essence. Humans exist before they have a telos and so can define their own purpose in life. People cling onto ideas of telos out of fear of their own freedom
Mulieris Dignitatum argument 2: There are important and valued women in Christian history/theology. John Paul II also pointed out that there are many female European saints and that Jesus coming to earth was only possible because of a woman, Mary, which he suggests shows the important place of women in Christian theology. The claim is that Christianity can’t be sexist since there are women it holds in high regard.
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