Day 2 WGST 380 ENVS 397 The Death of Nature

Dr. Sara DiazWGST 380/ENVS 397: Women, Nature, and the EnvironmentGonzaga University

WGS 101: A CRASH COURSE

Central Concepts

• Intersectionality• Social Construction (vs Essentialism)•Gender•Race•Class• Sexuality

Social Construction Theory

• Social vs biological or “essential” differences • Complex socialization processes/practices• Institutional structures

• Essentialism – differences between people reduced to an unchangeable difference.• Often biological, sometimes religious or cultural.• Biological Determinism – Social differences

determined by biology.

Examples of Biological Determinism

• Women are nurturing because they bear children, therefore they should stay home and raise children.• Women are more emotional than men and

therefore not well suited for jobs that need rational decision making. • EG President, example of premenstrual syndrome

• Men are better at math and science and therefore should go into fields like engineering, architecture, physics.

WGS 101: Sex vs Gender• “Gender” and “sex” are not interchangeable.

• “Sex” or “assigned sex,” = biological category • based on perceived differences between anatomy Eg. male,

female.

• “Gender” = process of socializing males to be “men” and females to “women”• Gender is not something we achieve.• It is something we actively do.• social norms, expectations, and roles

WGS 101: Sex vs Gender

Binary Sex/Gender SystemSex Category Male FemaleGender Man/Boy Woman/GirlGender Expression Masculine Feminine

WGS 101: Definition of Gender

Gender is a social construction that establishes our definitions of self, our relations with others, and

our life chances...Moreover, is not just an individual attribute. Instead, it is part of the social structure of society and thus has an institutional

component...

--Margaret Anderson, Thinking about Women, p. 30

WGS 101: Hierarchical BinariesMan

WomanHuman

AnimalParent

ChildWhite

BlackRich

Poor

Heterosexual

HomosexualWestern

EasternAble

DisabledChristian

MuslimCisgender

Transgender

Impact of Gender

•Different rules• Behavior, dress, social/professional roles•Hierarchy creates differential access

to social and material resources

Power Dynamics

•Power differentials between “Men” and “Women” • Justification of inequality during the

Enlightenment period • Equality of man• “Naturalize” social difference

Controlling Imagery

• Representations, symbolic associations shape how we understand the world.• Psychology• Semiotics

• Controlling imagery reinforces power differentials• Examples from Pop Culture:• Women are manipulative• Black people are criminals• Gay men are flamboyant and superficial

• Where does such controlling imagery come from?• Historical representations

Discussion QuestionsDiscussion Questions

•What is the connection between the environmental and women’s liberation movements of the mid-twentieth century?•What are the 16th and 17th century

roots of today’s connections between the two movements?

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•What are the two ways Nature was associated with the feminine, according to Merchant?•What is organismic theory and how

did it position women?


• According to Merchant, how was the pre-Modern (before the 16th century) “organic”? Why does Merchant consider the Early Modern period to be “mechanical”?• What does capitalism have to do with the shift

from an organic to a mechanical world view?• How did Francis Bacon’s philosophy of science

contribute to the shift to the “mechanical”?

Response QuestionResponse Question

•What gendered imagery and language did Bacon borrow from the organic world view? •How did he shift language/imagery

under his more mechanical world view? •What did that mean for women and

nature? 15


Given that (African) slavery was still legal in England, what does it mean that Bacon uses slave metaphors in relation to women and nature?


How is holistic science, like ecology, different from the mechanical world view?

Reading for Tuesday

• Londa Schiebinger• Why Mammals are Called Mammals• Another exploration of how women and nature

were positioned during the Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution• to naturalize inequality between men and

women

Education

Day 2 WGST 380 ENVS 397 The Death of Nature