Death, Masculinity, and Hegemony
βAt the center of the symbolic order is the abhorrence of death,β writes Odile Strik in the conclusion of her short essay The Symbolic Order of Life and Manhood. The βsymbolic orderβ of the title connects death and masculinity, and (supposedly) structures the way most people understand reality. The essay is terse and almost poetic, and only presents a rough sketch of this symbolic order, but it deals with a number of important themes β such as masculinity, life and death, and cultural hegemony β and it deserves credit for bringing those themes together. This article is a (long) commentary...
On Gender Chauvinism
abstract β Male chauvinism is the belief that men are morally superior to women. Female chauvinism is the belief that women are morally superior to men. Both depend on the assumption of essential or natural gender differences between men and women with regards to thinking styles, most easily summarized as male principle-based thinking and female empathic thinking. There is no evidence for such a gender difference, however, but there is evidence that differences in experience and circumstances can lead to relevant differences. People who care (often women) become more caring, for example. By implication, gender chauvinism is based on false...