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Marilyn FrenchFeminismMarilyn French is known as one of this country’s leading feminist philosophers and theorists. Her writings criticize the basic structures, or “pillars,” of society including: the media, politics, the legal process, religion, medicine, organizational/corporate dominance, etc. Her primary emphasis is on uncovering and critiquing the discrimination and other injustices done to women. However, much of her philosophy also focuses on the abuse and discrimination against ethnic minorities and children, as well as identifying the issues that divide the feminist movement.
possibly meet. What will improve the current situation is the “feminization,” or the acceptance and appreciation of female characteristics by society. This biographical sketch will highlight some of the major focal points of French’s criticism. In particular, this essay will explain French’s perspective on eco-feminism, her argument that there is a “war” against women, the role of male supremacy in society, the role of the Enlightenment period in male domination, and, finally, the primary areas of French’s social criticism. In her role as an ecofeminist, French writes about the poor treatment of nature and the environment. Feminist authors who write about these issues are typically called “eco-feminists.” Such feminists generally critique capitalist expansion and technological development because of the heavy toll paid by the earth’s humans, animals, air, water, land, etc. Ecofeminists maintain that women are those who generally have shown concern for nurturing the environment and that our patriarchal society has done great damage to the earth. Ecofeminism claims that nature (including women) and animals should be considered a higher value in our society than they are currently. As an example of her critique of patriarchal views of nature, French condemns “male supremacy backed by force,” which indicts male aggression through war and violence as a major cause of the demise of our environment. Specifically, technological developments such as nuclear weaponry and missiles have led to major problems with water and air safety. French blames this type of supremacy by force on maintaining a definite hierarchy in a society that continues to oppress women and ethnic minorities. In what she calls the “war on women,” French maintains that, on the whole, the men of the elite and working classes are deliberately seeking ways to destroy the gains of the feminist movement by gnawing away at its victories. She says that this war is occurring on a global, national and individual level. Examples of this deterioration are seen in the continuing fight over legalized abortion, the lack of upward mobility for women in the workforce, and the social movements that strive to return women to fully subordinate status (e.g., religious fundamentalism). French also maintains that when we look at how individual men are treating women, we can see that men are waging both an economic and physical war against women. This brutal abuse —physical, emotional, and financial—of women, as well as children, in our society is also caused by institutionalized male supremacy, which is a deeply embedded sense of male superiority or dominance over women, according to French. Because we continue to live in a patriarchal society, we are prevented from accepting and using more typically feminine ways of doing and being. These so-called “feminine” ways include behaviors such as connecting with others and cooperating in mutual trust versus the generally typical male behavior of individualism. In French’s philosophy, a more feminized society could reverse the trend of abuse caused by males. French cites the Enlightenment period (modernism) as having a major impact on the development of male domination in western society. It was during this period (circa 1500) that men began to justify their supremacy by declaring that God or nature made women subordinate to men, endowing men but not women with certain traits (such as the ability to use good reasoning, logic, intellect, having souls, etc.). Conversely, women were attributed with undesirable traits (such as chaotic emotionality and unbridled sexuality) that are subversive to good and proper social order. The era of Enlightenment, then, led to the creation of a rationale for making male domination over women seem reasonable. French’s critique of society includes the mistreatment of women by corporations who continue to undervalue women’s contributions monetarily; the medical establishment, which is generally unconcerned with women’s medical problems; the legal profession, which treats female lawyers with contempt and makes biased divorce and custody judgments against women. She writes also about the obsession of men with women’s bodies, and fundamentalist religion and its oppression of women by concentrating primarily on controlling women’s bodies, and which place the burden of raising children almost exclusively on women. Her critiques examine these issues on a worldwide basis making comparisons between the U.S. and other countries. Based on a review of French’s philosophy, it is not surprising that her vision for society includes the freedom for women to choose what happens to their bodies as well as their destinies, to become a political, social and economic force and to live in a world environment which can be passed on to their children without safety or health concerns (i.e., male supremacy has made our environment less safe). She maintains, however, that we cannot accomplish these things within existing social and political structures and that attempts to assimilate into those structures is dangerous. Rather, we must find a way to change those very structures or create new ones. Changing the structures means de-emphasizing hierarchy, establishing a broader acceptance and appreciation of feminine qualities, as well as awakening to the damage done by the narrow perspective that male supremacy provides. Because of French’s emphasis in feminism, the debater could use her theory as part of a critique of sexist practices and values. Initially, much of French’s theory is practical in nature. That is, the debater will probably find it more useful to user her work to critique the practices of contemporary society, rather than specific values. Any debate that centers around the environment would also invite a discussion of French’s work. Her argument that links capitalist expansion with ecological destruction could provide the debater with an avenue to critique “progress-oriented” values. 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