Skip to main content
Read page text
page 8
Logic or Emotion? Essentialism sees men as able to think logically, abstractly and analytically, while women are mainly emotional, compassionate and nurturing creatures . . • . . . , ~ 010 .. I 4~_.,/' • ' Essentialist thinking had repercussions on women's private and public lives. In private, essentialist ideas were translated into rules of conduct for the woman as wife, mother and daughter. In public, it was believed that I women's participation should be limited and strictly controlled by a masculine G representative of authority such as husband, father, the clergy, the law.
page 9
Essentialist ideas about women permeated Western thought for centuries and proposed that there is a natural, biologically determined essence of the feminine that is universal and unchangeable. " WOMAN IS FICKLE " AND Al WAYS CHANGING. VIRGIL (70-19 BC) '' WOMAN IS AN " IMPERFECT MAN. THOMAS AQUINAS (1225-74) And William Shakespeare's (1564-1616) Hamlet famously exclaimed: " FRAIL TY, THY NAME " IS WOMAN! Feminists have long fought to dispel such myths about gender.

Page Text

View plaintext

Essentialist ideas about women permeated Western thought for centuries and proposed that there is a natural, biologically determined essence of the feminine that is universal and unchangeable.

" WOMAN IS FICKLE

" AND Al WAYS CHANGING.

VIRGIL (70-19 BC)

'' WOMAN IS AN

" IMPERFECT MAN.

THOMAS AQUINAS

(1225-74)

And William Shakespeare's (1564-1616) Hamlet famously exclaimed:

"

FRAIL TY, THY NAME

" IS WOMAN!

Feminists have long fought to dispel such myths about gender.

read next page

My Bookmarks

Buy this Book
Skip to main content