Someone, I think it was Brian, asked why Mailer is a sexist pig when he
equates women with nature when much ecofeminist criticism also connects women
with nature. The difference is that (most) ecofeminists are not _equating_
women with nature but pointng out that women and nature are constructed, in a
patriarchal culture, in the same terms, accorded the same value, and treated
in similar/parallel ways. When we can talk about the rape of the forests with
only a subliminal awareness of the gendered/sexual metaphor (the forest is
female, the actions of "man" are violently sexual), then we live in a culture
that is largely unaware of just how thoroughly our definitions of "woman" and
"nature" are mutually reinforcing.
Patriarchal societies construct both nature and women as 1. commodity to serve
the needs of man; 2. wild, uncontrollable force that needs to be tamed/broken;
3. pleasure dome for "man's" earned retreat from corrupt
civilization. Ecofeminism suggests that _as a result_ of these constructs,
women and people of color and working classes in general are in useful
positions to interrogate and undo the environmental damages that do, of course,
threaten us all. Ecofeminism _is not_ the source of these constructs. That's
why Norman Mailer is a sexist pig and Carolyn Merchant is not.
Sara, Univ of Houston-Downtown
>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mon Oct 3 11:19:41 MDT 1994
>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mon Oct 3 11:19:41 1994
Received: from knox.knox.edu (knox.knox.edu [192.217.177.1]) by csf.Colorado.EDU
(8.6.9/8.6.9/CNS-3.5) with SMTP id LAA16596 for <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; Mon, 3 Oct
1994 11:19:27 -0600
Received: by knox.knox.edu
(1.38.193.5/16.2) id AA22376; Mon, 3 Oct 1994 12:21:48 -0500
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 1994 12:21:48 -0500 (CDT)
From: Sara Ann Keating <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: Multiple recipients of list <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: ECOFEM digest 34
In-Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Message-Id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Brian, human reproduction *IS* purely biological; you have
male/female intercourse, resulting in sperm penetrating egg, which
produces zygote which has potential to develop into human being. Human
*sexuality* on the other hand, is not purely biological, and is probably
as much cultural as it is biological.
Sara Keating
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
