Abstract
Several years ago, a female friend, a college professor, came to visit me at my home. I was living by myself fairly comfortably in a large contemporary house replete with multiple bathrooms. After chatting for awhile, she excused herself so that she could use one of these. When she returned, she indicated that she had something important to tell me. As a slight blush traversed her face, she hesitantly asked if I realized that the toilet seat in my guest lavatory had been in the raised position. Wasn’t I aware that female visitors might, from time to time, want to use the facility and that it was only polite to keep the seat down in deference to them? She was positive that I did not want to acquire a reputation for being a male chauvinist pig.
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Notes and References
A sampling of Steinem’s thinking is found in the following: Steinem, G. (1983). Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston; Steinem, G. (1992). Revolution From Within: A Book of Self-Esteem. Boston: Little, Brown.
The totalitarian aspects of radical feminism are revealed in: Ellis, R. J. (1998). The Dark Side of the Left: Illiberal Egalitarianism in America. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press.
A more expansive tendency toward sexlessness is explored in: Winick, C. (1968). The New People: Desexualization in American Life. New York: Pegasus.
Among the more virulent feminist diatribes against the family, and incidentaly against children, has been that of Shulamith Firestone. She believes that the family needs to be smashed and its childbearing and childrearing functions diffused “to the society as a whole.” See: Firestone, S. (1970). The Dialect of Sex: The Case for a Feminist Revolution. New York: Morrow. Andrea Dworkin is likewise anti-family, describing it as an “open grave” for women. See: Dworkin, A. (1989). Letters from the War Zone: Writings 1976–1989. New York: E.P. Dutton.
Probably the most comprehensive feminist analysis of sexuality is Andrea Dworkin’s which is avowedly lesbian in its conclusions. See: Dworkin, A. (1987). Intercourse. New York: The Free Press.
See: op cit. Also, as Carolyn Graglia records, the feminist icon Kate Millet was argued in favor of state-run nurseries for children. According to Millet “One of consertvatisms’ favorite myths is that every woman is a mother.” See: Millet, K. (1969). Sexual Politics. New York: Doubleday.
In her plea for gender justice, Susan Okin calls repeatedly for the “demolition,” “abolition,” and disappearance” of gender. Presumably this means that femininity must be eliminated. See: Okin, S. (1989). Justice, Gender, and Family. New York: Basic Books.
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Graglia complains of such things as feminist “hubris” in their “arrogant” denunciations of motherhood, etc. See: Graglia, F. C. (1998). Domestic Tranquility: A Brief Against Feminism. Dallas, TX: Spence.
As Richard Ellis explains, feminism “was not born moderate and then radicalized by the 1960s. From its inception, the term ‘feminism,’ in the minds of both its proponents and oponents has been linked with radicalism and even socialism.” See: Ellis, R. J. (1998). The Dark Side of the Left: Illiberal Egalitarianism in America. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press. Marcia Cohen gives details about the specific allegiances of founders of the feminist movement. Cohen, M. (1987). The Sisterhood. New York: Simon & Schuster.
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Horowitz puts the lie to Friedan’s pretense of merely being a distraught suburban housewife. His research reveals that she was a left-leaning reporter for union newspapers before her tour in suburbia. See: Horowitz, D. (1998). Betty Friedan and the Making of “The Feminine Mystique.” Amherst, MA: University of Massachuesetts Press.
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One of the earliest and most obviously Marxist perscriptions for how to orgainize a consciouness raising session was that of Kathie Sarachild. See: Sarachild, K. (1968). Consciousness raising: a radical weapon. In: Redstockings of the Women’s Liberation Movement. (1968). The Feminist Revolution. New York: Random House.
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One instance of unmistakably Marxist language and sentiments is that of Firestone. See: Firestone, S., op cit.
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A popular account of relationship difficulties, Maggie Scarfs book on intimacy is one of the more human discussions of the subject. See: Scarf, M. (1987). Intimate Partners: Patterns in Love and Marriage. New York: Random House.
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Daniel Chirot does an excellent job of explaining how changes in technology can have a ripple effect on other social changes. See: Chirot, D. (1986). Social Change in the Modern Era. San Diego: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich.
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Psychologists and biologists can today document dozens of physiological differences. See: Moir, A. & Jessel, D. (1989). Brain Sex: The Real Difference Between Men and Women. New York: Dell/Laurel. In comparison, Money and Erhardt earlier found few biological disparities and attributed most gender differences to socialization. These latter are now under review and have not fared well. See: Money, J. & Ehrhardt, A. E. (1972). Man and Woman, Boy and Girl: The Differentiation and Dimorphism of Gender Identity from Conception to Maturity. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University.
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For another study confirming similar conclusions see: Lever, J. (1976). Sex differences in the games children play. Social Problems, 23, 478–487.
Carol Gilligan’s research emphasizes the cooperative impulses of women. See: Gilligan, C. (1982). In a Different Voice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
More a theory than a confirmed fact, the glass ceiling was first popularized by: Millman, M. & Kanter, R. M. (1975). Another Voice. New York: Doubleday.
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Steven Goldberg argues that differences in average levels of aggressiveness can alone account for the greater concentration of men in positions of authority. See: Goldberg, S. (1973). The Inevitability of Patriarchy. New York: William Morrow.
For a sociological overview of intimacy see: Davis, M. S. (1973). Intimate Relations. New York: The Free Press. The anthropologist Helen Fisher does an excellent job of presenting the biological underpinnings of heterosexual intimacy. See: Fisher, H. E. (1992). Anatomy of Love: The Natural History of Monogamy, Adultry, and Divorce. New York: W. W. Norton.
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For an ethnography of contemporary America patterns of coupling see: Blumstein, P. & Schwartz, P. (1985). American Couples: Money, Work, Sex. New York: Pocket Books.
When personal attachments are torn asunder, a variety of untoward consequences can follow. One of these is depression. See: Brown, G. & Harris, T. (1978). Social Origins of Depression. New York: The Free Press. Another is violence. See: Gelles, R. J. & Straus, M. A. (1989). Intimate Violence: The Causes and Consequences of Abuse in the American Family. New York: Touchstone Books.
For a brief on the necessity of families see: Bane, M. J. (1976). Here to Stay: American Families in the Twentieth Century. New York: Basic Books.
For one of the more passionate defenses of men in marriage see: Gilder, G. (1986). Men and Marriage. Gretna, LA: Pelican.
One of the best documented analyses of this propensity on college campuses is found in: Kors, A. C. & Silverglate, H. A. (1998). The Shadow University: The Betrayal of Liberty on America’s Campuses. New York: The Free Press.
Today it is easy for men to be accused of creating a hostile work environment for women. But this very vulnerablity may create a hostile work environment for them. For the campus version of this story see: Kors, A. C. & Silverglate, H. A., ibid.
For Clarence Thomas’ perspective see: Thomas, C. (1992). Confronting the Future. Washington, D.C.: Regnery.
Popenoe, D. (1996). Life Without Father: Compelling New Evidence that Fatherhood and Marriage Are Indespensible for the Good of Children and Society. New York: The Free Press.
Among the negative consequences of increased fatherlessness cited by David Blankenhorn are greater youth violence, more sexual abuse of children, and more widespread childhood poverty. See: Blankenhorn, D. (1995). Fatherless America: Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Problem. New York: Basic Books. Carolyn Graglia enumerates the pathologies involved with divorce, teenage pregnancies, crime, and declining birth rates. Graglia, F. C. (1998). Domestic Tranquility: A Brief Against Feminism. Dallas, TX: Spence.
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Sommers, C. H. (1994). Who Stole Feminism: How Women Have Betrayed Women. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Graglia, F. C, op cit.
As Gertude Himmelfarb ruefully observes divorce rates and rates of illegitimacy have soared. Today approximately half of all marriages end in divorce, and whereas in Victorian times only about 3% of children were born out of wedlock, nowadays almost one third are. See: Himmelfarb, G. (1995). The De-Moralization of Society: From Victorian Virtues to Modern Values. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
The evidence is overwhelming that in order to prosper children require stable parenting, and especially stable mothering. For one thing, they need attachments they can count on in order to feel personally safe. For documentation see: Fraiberg, S. (1977). Every Child’s Birthright: In Defense of Mothering. New York: Basic Books; Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment. New York: Basic Books; Kagan, J. (1984). The Nature of the Child. New York: Basic Books.
Coontz, S. (1992). The Way We Never Were: American Families and the Nostalgia Trap. New York: Basic Books. Coontz, S. 1995. The way we weren’t: the myth and reality of the ‘traditional” family. National Forum: The Phi Beta Kappa Journal, Summer.
For further details regarding contemporary marital fragility see: Himmelfarb, G., op cit.
Himmelfarb presents a nice overview of the sort of gender division of labor that existed in Victorian English households. She makes it plain that this did indeed reduce marital frictions, while at the same time, contrary to the feminists, did not introduce a tyrannical patriarchy. See: Himmelfarb, G., ibid.
For the statisitcs consult: Gelles, R. J. and Straus, M. A. (1989). Intimate Violence: The Causes and Consequences of Abuse in the American Family. New York: Touchstone Books.
For a description of how marital partners negotiate their differences see: Schwartz, P. (1994). Peer Marriage: How Love Between Equals Really Works. New York: The Free Press.
Horowitz, D. (1997). Radical Son: A Generational Odyssey. New York: The Free Press.
Stein, A. (1997). Sex and Sensibility: Stories of a Lesbian Generation. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Cohen, M. (1987). The Sisterhood. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Studies of how feminism is presented in classrooms show that skepticism is actively discouraged. See: Musil, C. M. (1992). The Courage to Question: Women’s Studies and Student Learning. Washington D.C.: Association of American Colleges.
Whittier, N. (1995). Feminist Generations: The Persistence of the Radical Women’s Movement. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. For a depiction of the role of lesbian activists in the formation of the movement see: Ellis, R. J. (1998). The Dark Side of the Left: Illiberal Egalitarianism in America. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press.
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(1999). Extreme I: Radical Feminism. In: The Limits of Idealism. Clinical Sociology: Research and Practice. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-585-29601-2_5
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