Wednesday, November 5, 2014
The Role of Women
Yesterday we discussed the role of women according to The Republic and whether women were considered inferior or not. Men are definitely seen as more fit to be guardians for the fact that they are initially and women are brought up secondary to them. However, Plato does have progressive thoughts on women in society, and his philosophy suggests that women can be more than child bearers, and can even be guardians. While the sex festivals did seem in favor of men, there is an explanation other than sexism. This has to do with the man and woman's differing roles in reproduction. The man spreads his seed that may or may not create a child and the woman can only get pregnant with one man's baby. I do not mean to give a sex ed lesson but while reading this is what I thought. Yes this society has a bias towards men, but it is regarding the nature of reproduction. Women are still considered guardian material however their roles as child bearers and mothers are inevitable and may interfere with their other roles in society or vice versa. Any ideas on women in The Republic?
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Socrates does state that women and men are quite different in class and strength. However, he also believes that "many women are better than many men at many things"(455d), so he decides that under his definition of an ideal city, women fall along the same lines as men. Without bringing reproduction into the discussion at first, Socrates sees that women and men can both be divided into the three classes- appetitive, spirited, and reasonable. I believe this is how he decides that women are able to be part of the guardian class along with the men.
ReplyDeleteI think Sophie makes a really interesting point about the role of men and women in sexual reproduction. A man can spread his seed as many times as his wants, impregnating many women all at once. However, women do not have the anonymity that men have in terms of bearing children. A man could be a father to hundreds of children and he will bear no signs of evidence, while a woman will always know when she is a mother to a child.
ReplyDeleteGiven this obvious, biological fact (that women know when they are mothers), Socrates' plan for the children of guardians doesn't seem to work. It seems hard for a parent to not "know his own offspring, nor a child his parent" (Book 5: 457d), when a mother clearly knows the child she gives birth to.
I definitely agree that men and women's traditional roles in society are 100% based off their play in reproduction. A mother's bond with her child IS different from a father's, stemming even from the difference in hormones and hormone levels between men and women. On top of that, a woman's body is outfit for childbearing. Women naturally do not build muscle mass at the same rate that men do, and women have naturally more body fat in relation to muscle, all for the purpose of childbearing. These traits are due to chromosomes, due to hormones, due to nature, NOT due to societies views and beliefs. Yes, women are a lot more than just mothers, but we need to recognize that it was not at all odd for women to be treated the way they were with the information and time that the text was written.
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