Too Feminine?
Posted By robinphillips on May 6, 2012
Rousseau’s representation of gender falls along the typical polarities, with man being active and woman being passive; man being strong, woman being weak; man being bold, woman being bashful and reserved, etc. While some of Rousseau’s distinctions are exaggerated and stereotypical, we must give him credit for understanding an important point: men and women are different. As he put it, “where sex is concerned man and woman are unlike; each is the complement of the other…”
Many female thinkers in the 18th and 19th century accepted this complementarian framework, even while offering appropriate challenges to our picture of what constituted “feminine” attributes. Female writers see themselves defending their sex precisely through maintaining gender distinctions. For example, the Victorian writer Elizabeth Wordsworth once noted that “In an ideal state of society, we never lose sight of the womanliness of women…why should it be considered a compliment to any woman to be told she writes, paints, sings, talks, or even thinks, like a man?”
 |
| Zooey Deschanel. Too Feminine? |
Under the canopy of the new stereotype of gender neutrality, the greatest censure comes against women who are too womanly. Just look at all the nasty things that Third Wave feminists have said against actress and musician Zooey Deschanel for being too feminine.
.
Zooey is a bad example for young women, feminists argue, because she is too “girly,” thus solidifying the impression that women are more attractive to men when they embody girly characteristics. The icing on the cake was when Zooey announced in Twitter that she enjoys baking and board games. Ugg – how feminine!
.
One of the reasons Zooey is criticized so heavily is because she allegedly conforms to gender stereotypes. But the real problem is that she is unusual among contemporary actresses in that she does not conform to the new stereotype of gender neutrality.
About The Author
robinphillips
Robin Phillips studied philosophy at London University and received his B.A. [Honors] in Western Civilization from the UK’s Open University, where he graduated summa cum laude. While living in England he worked as a political journalist and researcher for the pressure group Christian Voice and appeared on national television to debate social issues. In 2007, he moved to America to take the position of history teacher at the Classical Christian Academy where he developed a six year curriculum spanning all of Western Civilization. He currently lives in the Pacific Northwest of America where he is working on a PhD in historical theology through King’s College, London. He is a one of the columnists at the Charles Colson Center, a regular contributor to the Kuyper Foundation’s biannual Journal ‘Christianity and Society,’ the author of the monthly ‘Letter from America’ and ‘The Persecuted Church’ columns for the Christian Voice magazine, the director of the Alfred the Great Society, in addition to writing for a variety of publications including World Net Daily, the Spokane Libertarian Examiner, Touchstone, Fermentations, the Jonathan Edwards Society, Salvo Magazine and their blog ‘Signs of the Times.’ His book The Decent Drapery of Life is currently under publication with Wipf and Stock publishes while another book, Saints and Scoundrels, is currently under publication with Canon Press. He is the director of the Alfred the Great Society (http://atgsociety.com/) and blogs at http://robinphillips.blogspot.com/.Comments
2 Responses to “Too Feminine?”
Leave a Reply
Please note: Comment moderation is currently enabled so there will be a delay between when you post your comment and when it shows up. Patience is a virtue; there is no need to re-submit your comment.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
No, Roussea does not get credit for simply saying that men and women are “different”. Everyone knew that back then, but he, like so many, was brashly insulting in his definitions.
Interesting article, Mr. Phillips!
You bring up an interesting situation in which this female actress is made fun of for her “traditional” feminine qualities.
I find the topics of gender and sex to be quite intriguing. The (stereotypical) traits that define masculinity and femininity in America are quite different than those that I find in my parent’s culture.My father, for example, displays traits that don’t necessarily fall in line with what I call “American masculinity.” He is very quiet, reserved and passive. He is very nurturing and I would say equally as nurturing as my mother was.
I wonder if the real lesson here is that we, as a society, should focus on accepting a person for who they are and not make their differences an issue in which to discriminate or bully or make fun of…