Today, we live in a world interwoven with women’s oppression, ecological degradation, and the exploitation of workers, race, and class. In the midst of these troubles, a movement known as ecofeminism appears to be gaining recognition. In the following, I hope to illustrate this revitalization movement . I will begin by characterizing a definition of ecofeminism; I will then bring to the forefront the ethical issues that Ecofeminism is involved with, then distinguish primary ideas and criticisms.
Though in theory, ecological feminism has been around for a number of years, it emerged as a political movement in the 1970s. Francoise d’Eaubonne, a French feminist philosopher, coined the term “Ecofeminism” in 1974. Ecofeminism is a feminist approach to environmental ethics. Karen Warren, in her book Ecofeminist Philosophy, claims that feminist theorists question the source of the oppression of women, and seek to eliminate this oppression. Ecofeminists consider the oppression of women, (sexism) the oppression of other humans (racism, classism, ageism, colonialism), and the domination of nature (naturism) to be interconnected. In her book New Woman/New Earth, Rosemary Radford Reuther wrote, “Women must see that there can be no liberation for them and no solution to the ecological crisis within a society whose fundamental model of relationships continues to be one of domination. They must unite the demands of the women’s movement with those of the ecological movement to envision a radical reshaping of the basic socioeconomic relations and the underlying values of this society (204).”
Ecofeminists hold the domination of women as their focus as they see the root cause of nature domination and the domination of others as due to a patriarchal conceptual framework. Warren states that a conceptual framework is defined as “a set of basic beliefs, values, attitudes, and assumptions which shape and reflect how one views oneself and one’s world. (64)” It is a “lens” through which one perceives reality and our “lens”, according to the Ecofeminist, is patriarchal. Patriarchy is a “male biased”, gendered institution that rejects convergence and embraces dichotomies and dualisms. Patriarchal views privilege masculine over feminine, reason over emotion, competition over cooperation and force over empathy.
The Ecofeminist believes it to be evident in our world that these aforement...
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...ofeminism, I cannot help but believe that the ethics of valuing women, people, and the nonhuman world, asserting an expansive conception of knowledge that embraces science equally with the knowledge that emerges from understanding, emotion, and creativity is very needed here and now.
Bibliography
I. Des Jardins, Joseph R. Environmental Ethics: An Introduction to Environmental Philosophy, Belmont:Wadsworth, 2001
II. Rosemary Radford Reuther, New Woman, New Earth: Sexist Ideologies and Human Liberation (New York: Seabury Press, 1975)
III. Smithson, Jayne. “Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion.” Class lectures. Anthropology 120. Diablo Valley College, San Ramon 2004.
IV. Warren, Karen J. Ecofeminist Philosophy; A Western Perspective On What It Is and Why It Matters. Lanham: Rowman, 2000
V. www.und.edu/instruct/gcrawfor/classes/ecofeminism/yinyang.htm
VI. www.gdrc.org/spheres/environment.html
A housemaid is a concubine that is assigned to live with a Commander (of the Faith) and his Wife. The Handmaid’s role is to produces Keepers (babies that are born without any birth defects) for their host family. Housemaids are made to wear all red besides their nun like white wings that work as blinders. The red represents passion and sin that can be turned white by the cleansing power of God. Commanders are the patriarchal head of the house who have a duty to father children either by their Wife or a Handmaid if needed. “Not every Commander has a handmaid; some of their Wives have children. From each, says the slogan, according to her ability; to each according to his needs… It was from the Bible, or so they said. St. Paul… in Acts.” The Commanders wear black to show their superiority, as they are the highest on the social ladder. The Wives are at the top of the social ladder when it comes to women which gives them power over the other women: “…the transgressions of women in the household, whether Martha or Handmaid, are supposed to be under the jurisdiction of the Wives alone.” The Wives wear light blue to represent the Virgin Mary who is usually depicted in light blue in biblical artwork. The Handmaid’s are re-educated by women with the title of Aunts. The Marthas are women who do domestic work
He delves into the history of the word “environmental” as well as the history of environmental activism. He pinpoints the beginning of the movement to Rachel Carson. According to Quammen, she began the revolution by publishing her book Silent Spring. He says the negative connotations of the word began with her book, pairing “environment” and “the survival of humankind” as if they go hand in hand. This played a major role in the distortion of the word and the intentions of environmentalists.
The Conservation movement was a driving force at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was a time during which Americans were coming to terms with their wasteful ways, and learning to conserve what they quickly realized to be limited resources. In the article from the Ladies’ Home Journal, the author points out that in times past, Americans took advantage of what they thought of as inexhaustible resources. For example, "if they wanted lumber for their houses, rails for their fences, fuel for their stoves, they would cut down half a forest at a time; and whatever they could not use or sell they would leave to rot on the ground. They never bothered their heads to inquire where more wood was coming from when this was gone" (33). The twentieth century opened with a vision towards the future, towards preserving the land that had previously been taken for granted. The Conservation movement came along around the same time as one of the first major waves of the feminist movement. With the two struggles going on: one for the freedom of nature and the other for the freedom of women, it stands to follow that they coincided. As homemakers, activists, and citizens of the United States of America, women have had an important role in Conservation.
First, the government used a dangerous literal interpretation of a Biblical passage as justification for adultery under the guise of reproduction. Second, the state constantly reinforced its falsified morality by saturating daily routines with religious expressions. Lastly, the regime altered Biblical references to further its political goals, and then prohibited language to prevent exposing its duplicity. Although Gilead rather effectively erased women’s values to construct a hyper-patriarchy, The Handmaid’s Tale provides a voice for this silenced population.
Saiving, Valerie. "The Human Situation: A Feminine View" in Womanspirit Rising, Carol P. Christ and Judith Plaskow, eds. Harper & Row, 1979, pp. 25-42.
In life, people don’t always stand up for what they believe in in order to avoid exclusion – this is called apathy. In specific situations, people will blindly follow a primitive ideology without any regard for morality. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is an excellent example of how apathy can affect an entire population. This novel is by and large a feminist novel that addresses the ignorance in imperialistic and religious ideologies, but also addresses the issue of human apathy. In this novel, Atwood offers a disturbing look into what could be. The alterior motive of the society is to purify and improve the country as a whole. However, it is not only nationalism and imperialism
Offred, among other women depicted in this novel, tries to overcome this dominion. In her own way, she attempts to do this by ensuring the Commander’s expectations of her behavior which could result in her freedom. Thus, there is a present power struggle between the Commander and Offred throughout The Handmaid’s
Warren, K. J. (1995). The Power and the Promise of Ecological Feminism. In M. H. MacKinnon & M. McIntyre (Eds.), Readings in Ecology and Feminist Theology (172-195). Kansas City: Sheed and Ward.
I considered myself a performer, and after years training as a classical ballerina I expanded into stunting and tumbling. While on tour, I developed friendships and bonds with dancers strengthened by a mutual love for dance, a commonality over the pain our bodies endured daily, and conversations on bruised and broken toes.
In Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid’s Tale, women are subjected to unthinkable oppression. Practically every aspect of their life is controlled, and they are taught to believe that their only purpose is to bear children for their commander. These “handmaids” are not allowed to read, write or speak freely. Any type of expression would be dangerous to the order of the Gilead’s strict society. They are conditioned to believe that they are safer in this new society. Women are supposedly no longer exploited or disrespected (pornography, rape, etc.) as they once were. Romantic relationships are strongly prohibited because involving emotion would defeat the handmaid’s sole purpose of reproducing. Of course not all women who were taken into Gilead believed right what was happening to their way of life. Through the process of storytelling, remembering, and rebellion, Offred and other handmaids cease to completely submit to Gilead’s repressive culture.
The opening epigraph, Genesis 30:1-3 denotes how women within the biblical era were used as surrogates as Bilhah, a handmaid, was used to birth children for Rachel. She infers greatly how demeaning and objectifying the treatment of women was not only then, but also as it is now in today’s society and further could be in the future. Within the story there are numerous biblical influences understood. Names and titles for instance, men are known as “Commanders of the Faithful, “Guardians of the Faith”, “Angels” or “Angels of the Apocalypse,” these men are soldiers and fight in the name of God. The women are referred to by their grade of service as well; “Marthas” work in the kitchen as did the actual Martha in the Bible (New International Version, Luke 10:38-42) “Handmaid” was used to distinguish women who were used for their fertility skills as was Bilhah in the Bible. Additional biblical references were noted in objects and institutions, the area in which the Handmaids were trained, was known as the “Rachel and Leah Center,” cars were referred to as “chariots”. All of these changes be it ever so small, are ways in which the Republic of Gilead could control and submerge and condition its people into their doctrine of
ABSTRACT: Karen Warren presents and defends the ecofeminist position that people are wrong in dominating nature as a whole or in part (individual animals, species, ecosystems, mountains), for the same reason that subordinating women to the will and purposes of men is wrong. She claims that all feminists must object to both types of domination because both are expressions of the same "logic of domination." Yet, problems arise with her claim of twin dominations. The enlightenment tradition gave rise to influential versions of feminism and provided a framework which explains the wrongness of the domination of women by men as a form of injustice. Yet on this account, the domination of nature cannot be assimilated to the domination of women. Worse, on the enlightenment framework, the claim that the domination of nature is wrong in the same way that the domination of women is wrong makes no sense, since (according to this framework) domination can only be considered to be unjust when the object dominated has a will. While ecofeminism rejects the enlightenment view, it cannot simply write off enlightenment feminism as non-feminist. It must show that enlightenment feminism is either inauthentic or conceptually unstable.
In Belmont’s article “Ecofeminism and the Natural Disaster Heroine” she notes that the definition of ecofeminism stems from the “theory that the ideologies which authorize injustices based on gender, race, and class are related to the ideologies which sanction the exploitation and degradation of the environment” (351). In Jurassic Park, the film makes clear distinction of gender boundaries. For instance, when the group first meets th...
Offred’s journey is a prime example of the appalling effects of idly standing by and allowing herself to become a part of the Gilead’s corrupt system. This woman is a Handmaid which was recently placed within a new
Lehmann A. C. & Myers J. E. Magic, Witchcraft and Religion – An anthropological Study of the Supernatural (Fourth Edition) (Mayfield Publishing Company, 1997)