May I first state my belief that money takes the place of the protein from the “back-when” of cave dwelling days. Women allowed men to dominate, and men put themselves in danger, all to provide protein. It all comes down to protein, for themselves and for their offspring. To this day sex and protein dance together, usually unnoticed, but we are all simple creatures when we whittle away the props of society. What I write may shock some, but I agree with most of Rousseau’s thoughts on the sexes.
I found Paine to be not contributing much to the discourse. He was writing more about different countries, and the abuses women suffer there. I did appreciate his statements of, “He has been at once their tyrant and their slave” (Paine 586). Here he echoes Rousseau’s idea of, “If the siege is to be successful, the besieged must permit or direct the attack” (Rousseau 568). Aren’t we still having the “battle of the sexes”?
Rousseau, while a bit off base on a few of his ideas concerning women, men, and society, was on the whole correct in his stance on the best way the sexes should interact and behave. Within the system of European society, and American (Paine), is the structure of
property owners, inheritances, and money. Which was the basis of the necessary for marriage.
Virtue was a functional, necessary aspect of life, and in my opinion still should be. We hear too many stories of the family breakdown. With this family unit not being maintained; we have children joining gangs, women replacing husbands with welfare, and men being divorced from their wives and children. I realize this might be viewed as an unjust statement of the current state of families, but I do believe that the blurring of the roles of each sex has contributed to this phenomenon.
While I find Kant a complete sexist, I do find the genuine belief Rousseau held that his writing would be beneficial to both sexes. I do believe that women are the hub of the family. We now have demanded, on the whole, that she remain that hub and more. As if being the hub is not enough. I think due to the built- in abuse to the system our society functions in has made it imperative for women to be able to support themselves and their offspring. I also believe that we have done more damage to the family unit in the “equaling of the sexes”. A line from a movie, My Big, Fat Greek Wedding, echoes Rousseau’s sentiments when the mother informs her daughter, “Let me tell you something, Toula. The man is the head, but the woman is the neck. And she can turn the head any way she wants” (Zwick). I realize that my view flies in the face of me being a professor and student, but much has happened since 1762, and I must live in the society that I was born into. I wonder what Rousseau would think of me, and other women, reading him because he writes, “Well then, educate them like men. The more women are like men, the less influence they will have over men, and then men will be masters indeed” (Rousseau 574)? My wondering also comes from his belief that, “Little girls always dislike learning to read and write…” (Rousseau 578).
Works Cited
My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Dir. Joel Zwick. Perf. Lainie Kazan. 2002.
Paine, T. "Women, adored and Oppressed." Kramnick, I. The Portable Enlightenment Reader. New Tork: Penguin Group, 1995. 586-590. print.
Rousseau, J. "Duties of Women." Kramnick, I. The Portable Enlightenment Reader. New York: Penguin Group, 1995. 568-579. print.