Gender and society Flashcards
What is the hermeneutic of suspicion and who adopted it?
Adopted by Paul Ricoeur
Claims that we need to be suspicious of the motives, the values, and the culture behind a text, rather than projecting our own values.
What does James O’Donnell state about the hermeneutic of suspicion?
‘Liberation means, therefore, to opt for the exercise of ideological suspicion in order to unmask the unconscious ideological structures…’
What does Fiorenza argue?
Theology is a product of each writer’s experience which is determined by their social and cultural contexts.
Therefore, theology is always culturally conditioned.
According to Ruether, where is the feminine constructed from?
It is constructed from patriarchal values that are riddled in the bible.
This emerged from a world of hierarchy where men are in charge.
Quote for Ruether’s belief about females in the bible?
‘The female is not only secondary to the male, but lacks full human status in physical strength, moral self control and mental capacity’
What book did Mary Wollstonecraft publish and what did she argue?
‘A Vindication of the Rights of Women’ - 1792
Women fundamentally have the same rights as men.
When were women fully able to vote as equals to men in the UK?
1928
When was the contraceptive pill made fully accessible?
1974
When were women able to take control of their pregnancies?
1967
When were women allowed to be paid equally to men?
1970
What is first wave feminism?
Focused on equal rights for women, eg. the right to vote.
What is second wave feminism?
Challenged the patriarchy and pressed for women to have rights over themselves.
This resulted in developments to sexual health.
What is third wave feminism?
Explores gender roles and identities, ensuring women do not conform to stereotypes.
What are the two main points that Ephesians argues?
Wives should submit to their husbands.
The husband is the head of his wife.
What Christian twist does Ephesians put on traditional views and why are they radical?
The husband’s leadership is like the leadership of Christ to the Church.
Husbands should love their wives like Christ loves the Church.
This is radical as Christ loved the Church so much that he sacrificed himself, should husbands do this for their wives?
What is Mulieris Dignitatem?
A Catholic 1988 letter of Pope John Paul II on the dignity and vocation of women in response to feminism.
What did Mulieris Dignitatem emphasize?
Motherhood as a natural follow on from marriage.
The psycho-physical structure of women is made for motherhood.
Parenthood is more specifically designed for the woman.
The mother has precedence over the man as the first teacher of the child.
What quote from Mulieris Dignitatem implies the unique nature of women in caring for the child?
‘It is therefore necessary that the man be fully aware that in their shared parenthood he owes a special debt to the mother’.
Arguments for motherhood being liberating?
It is a way of fulfilling their purpose at creation.
It draws on the natural abilities of women.
MD suggests that motherhood is extremely liberating for women.
Some argue that a woman’s desire to be a mother is biological.
A woman is able to provide the best start to the education of the next generation.
Arguments for motherhood being restricting?
A woman must give up her own life and interests to take care of her children.
It slows down progress with careers and affects bodily health.
When children leave home, a mother is left without a proper purpose.
Desire could be the result of social conditioning.
A woman’s intelligence is wasted when at home with children.
What book did Simone De Beauvoir write?
‘The Second Sex’ 1949
Implies that women overtime have let themselves be the inferior gender.
What did Simone De Beauvoir argue about gender identities?
Argues that society forms people into their gender identities.
She calls for modern women to redefine who they are and who they want to be.
What family type might traditional Christians emphasize?
The kind of families that they see in the bible - heterosexual couples who are married.
What notions of family might some other Christians accept?
Any reluctance to endorse same-gender parents is a social issue rather than an issue with faith - Jesus himself welcomed those who did not fully conform to society.
If some people are homosexual and want to have children, then it follows that a loving family will be created as a result.
What examples of ‘family’ are there in the bible?
Men with more than one wife or a concubine.
Family is not solely religious but culturally defined.
How might fundamental Christians read the Ephesians passage?
Read in a literal way and conclude that women should take up the role of mother and wives, creating a home that suits the husband.
How might liberal Christians read the Ephesians passage?
They would remove the idea of motherhood and emphasize gender in less black and white terms.
This is influenced by third wave feminism.
Essential theories
Gender is fixed by objective human nature, either by God or by our inherent biology.
Existentialist theories
Gender is determined by social discourse (Foucault), by upbringing (Freud) or by social conditioning (including religious conditioning).
Feminism
A movement and a philosophy emerging from the enlightenment emphasis on equal rights, but embracing theories of power and social conditioning.
Sex
The biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women.
Gender
The state of being classified as being male or female or transgender (typically used with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones).
False consciousness
Beliefs and behavior induced by social attitudes and values which contradict the true interests (economic, social or political) of a person.
Patriarchy
A system of society of government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it.
Eternal feminine
Simone De Beauvoir’s term to describe the role of women as some idea imposed by men (submissive housewives, objects, etc.)
Three examples of oppressive texts about women?
Genesis 3:16 - ‘To the woman God said, ‘I will greatly increase your pains in child bearing, in pain you shall bring fourth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you ‘
Colossians 3:18 - ‘Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord’
1 Corinthians 11:7-9 - ‘For man was not made from woman, but woman from man’
Three examples of revolutionary texts about women?
Galatians 3:28 - ‘There is neither male nor female as you are all one in Jesus Christ’
Deborah of the Old Testament was a prophetess and ‘judge of Israel’.
Genesis 2:20 - ‘Never once in all these references is the word used to indicate subordination or servitude to another huma being’ (Reference to the use of the word ‘help’ in the bible)
What are Simone De Beauvoir’s concerns for women in motherhood?
Motherhood forces women to suspend her own interests and personality.
Women have motherhood forced upon themselves, they are left with no purpose once their children leave home.
What is Anna Oakley’s view on maternal instincts?
Women’s feelings are not biological but a result of socialization - this means that there is no such thing as ‘maternal instincts’.
What external factors could influence the way people feel about motherhood?
A woman’s relationship with her partner.
Her physical and mental health of her and her child.
Whether she has enough money.
Whether her extended family support her.
Labelling motherhood as either restricting or liberating does not take into account these factors.
What is Plato’s view of women?
Women are inferior to men.
‘It is only males that are created directly by the God’s and given souls’
Yet, he also did not believe that women should not be treated unfairly - shown in his book ‘Republic’.
What is Aristotle’s view of women?
Argued that women are naturally inferior to men.
Reproduction happens because men can produce semen - he did not at the time know that women could produce eggs.
He therefore believed that women should submit to men.
What is Aquinas’ view of women?
‘Men are wiser and more discerning, and not so quickly taken in’
Aquinas accepts Aristotle’s assertion that men are the active agent in reproduction and women are submissive.
He used the word ‘defective’ when comparing women to men - women are naturally inferior by God’s power.
What is Luther’s view on women?
Adam and Eve were equals before God. The creation of Adam and Eve was a way of preventing human loneliness.
Adam and Eve were equally culpable in the Fall.
But, he claims that there should be equality in principle and superiority in practice. Ultimately, women were destined to submit.
What does Elaine Pagel state?
She analyzed the cultural implications of original sin and lays the blame for Christian sexual repression on Augustine’s pessimistic view on human nature and sexuality.
Quote for Elaine Pagel’s view on Augustine?
‘Adam, Eve and the serpent - our ancestral story - would continue often in some version of its Augustian form to affect our lives to the present day’
