Feminism

On Feminism

Every time I read about political issues such as feminism, I can help but be glad to have been born in this century. In the nineteen century some man thought of woman as being incapable of anything but bearing children. The thought of men and woman created equal was not as obvious as it is for the majority of human beings today. Authors such as Almroth E. Wright in “The Unexpurgated Case Against Woman Suffrage” and the Goncourt Brothers writings on “Female Inferiority” were very strong in their opinion that woman were intellectually inferior than men, and that the only thing a woman are good for is as an object of sex and procreation.

This sentiment can not be more clearly shown in the statement made by the Goncourt Brothers “Woman is an evil, stupid animal unless she is educated to a high degree. She is incapable of dreaming, thinking or loving” As we could see The Goncourt’s view on females were not only as inferior, but they actually placed woman on a par with the animal. This statement is clearly so demeaning that just reading it out loud gave me a chill up my spine. It is also clear from these words, that they acknowledge that educated woman do not fit in this category. However men with this sentiment did everything they could to prevent women from having access to education.

Almroth E. Wright had the same feeling the Goncourt Brothers in regards to the inferiority of the woman mind. When writing about woman suffrage he commented that woman can not vote, because woman lack reason and have intellectual defects. He also comments that “Women arrive at conclusions on incomplete evidence; has a very imperfect sense of proportion; accepts the congenial as true, and rejects the uncongenial as false” Although he doesn’t directly say that we are animals he clearly expresses that woman are incapable of reasoning, by stating that woman arrive at conclusions easily without examining evidence and making sound judgments.

Both authors also share the thought that woman are physically weaker than man. In the case of Almroth Wright he argues that woman can not vote, because they could not represent their vote by physical force. He says that allowing woman into war would be a sign of weakness “And nothing could in the end more certainly lead to war and revolt than the decline of the military spirit and loss of prestige which would inevitably follow if man admitted woman into political co-partnership” He goes further more into stating that “ Woman are constantly picturing to herself that she can as a worker lay claim to the same all-round efficiency as a man--forgetting that woman is notoriously unadapted to tasks in which severe physical hardships have to be confronted; and that hardly any one would, if other alternative offered, employ a woman in any work which imposed upon her a combined physical and mental strain, or in any work where emergencies might have to be faced”.

The Goncourt brothers also share the thought that woman are physically weaker than man. “All the strength, and all the development of woman is concentrated in and as it were directed towards the central and lower parts of the body: the pelvis, the buttocks, the thighs; the beauty of a man is to be found in the upper, nobler parts, the pectoral muscles, the broad shoulders, the high forehead”. This statement shows that women have no physical strength in the upper part of the body, hence making her incapable of performing physical activities unless, she has to use her buttocks!

Asides from the physical and mental inferiority this authors also saw woman as an object of sexual pleasure and good for procreation. “Woman: the most beautiful and admirable of laying machines” (The Goncourt Brother’s). By this statement the authors clearly undermine women intellectual and physical strengths, they suggest that women are good only for sex and procreation. Further more, they make it clear that woman should not acquire intellect but rather exist to please men. “Men like ourselves need a woman of little breeding and education who is nothing but gaiety and natural wit, because a woman of that sort can charm and please us like an