Woman-Nature Connections - Part 1.

Source: https://goo.gl/eAi7aZ

There are at least eight sorts of connections that ecofeministshave identified. These alleged connections provide sometimescompeting, sometimes mutually complementary or supportive, analysesof the nature of the twin dominations of women and nature. A casual,albeit philosophically uncritical, perusal of these eight allegedconnections helps to identify the range and variety of ecofeministpositions on woman-nature connections.

1. Historical, Typically Causal, Connections. One allegedconnection between women and nature is historical. When historicaldata are used to generate theories concerning the sources of thedominations of women and nature, it is also causal. So pervasive isthe historical-causal theme in ecofeminist writing that Ariel Sallehpractically defines ecofeminism in terms of it: "Eco-feminism is arecent development in feminist thought which argues that the currentglobal environmental crisis is a predictable outcome of patriarchalculture" (Salleh 1988).

What are these alleged historical-causal connections? Someecofeminists (e.g., Spretnak 1990; Eisler 1988, 1990) trace theseconnections to prototypical patterns of domination begun with theinvasion of Indo-European societies by nomadic tribes fromEurasia about 4500 B.C. (see Lahar 1991, 33). Riane Eisler describesthe time before these invasions as a "matrifocal, matrilineal,peaceful agrarian era." Others (e g., Griffin 1978; Plumwood 1991,this section; Ruether 1974) trace historical connections topatriarchal dualisms and conceptions of rationality in classicalGreek philosophy and the rationalist tradition. Still other feminists(e g., Merchant 1980, this section focus on cultural and scientificchanges that occurred more recently--during the scientific revolutionof the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: it was then that an olderworld order characterized by cooperation between humans and naturewas replaced by a reductionist, "mechanistic world view of modernscience," which sanctioned the exploitation of nature, uncheckedcommercial and industrial expansion, and the subordination of women.

What prompts and explains these alleged historical and causalwoman-nature connections? What else was in place topermit and sanction these twin dominations? To answer thesequestions, ecofeminists have turned to the conceptual props that theyclaim keep these historical dominations in place.
2. Conceptual Connections. Many authors have argued that,ultimately, historical and causal links between the dominations ofwomen and nature are located in conceptual structures of dominationthat construct women and nature in male-biased ways. Basically three such conceptual links have been offered.

One account locates a conceptual basis of the twin dominations ofwomen and nature in value dualisms, i.e., indisjunctive pairs in which the disjuncts are seen as oppositional(rather than as complementary) and as exclusive (rather than asinclusive), and value hierarchies, i.e., perceptions ofdiversity organized by a spatial Up-Down metaphor, whichattributes higher value (status, prestige) to that which is higher("Up") (see Gray 1981; Griffin 1978, Plumwood 1991, this section;Ruether 1974). Frequently cited examples of these hierarchicallyorganized value dualisms include reason/emotion, mind/body,culture/nature, human/nature, and man/woman dichotomies. Thesetheorists argue that whatever is historically associated withemotion, body, nature, and women is regarded as inferior to thatwhich is (historically) associated with reason, mind, culture, human(i.e., male) and men.

A second account expands on the first by housing the problematicvalue dualisms and value hierarchies in larger, oppressive conceptualframeworks--ones that are common to all social "isms of domination"(e.g., sexism, racism, classism, heterosexism as well as "naturism,"i.e., the unjustified domination of nonhuman nature (see Warren1987,1988, 1990, this section) A conceptual framework is a sociallyconstructed set of basic beliefs, values, attitudes and assumptionsthat shapes and reflects how one views oneself and others. It isoppressive when it explains, justifies, and maintains relationshipsof domination and subordination. An oppressive conceptual frameworkis patriarchal when it explains, justifies, and maintains thesubordination of women by men.

Oppressive and patriarchal conceptual frameworks are characterizednot only by value dualisms and hierarchies but also by "power-over" conceptions of power and relationships of domination (Warren1991b) and a logic of domination, i.e., a structure ofargumentation that provides the moral premise that superiorityjustifies subordination (Warren 1987, 1990, this section). On thisview, it is oppressive and patriarchal conceptual frameworks, and thebehaviors that they give rise to, that sanction, maintain, andperpetuate the twin dominations of women and nature.

A third account locates a conceptual basis in sex-genderdifferences, particularly in differentiated personality formation orconsciousness (see Cheney 1987; Gray 1981; Salleh, 1984). The claimis that female bodily experiences (e.g., of reproduction andchildbearing), not female biology per se, situate womendifferently with respect to nature than men. This sex-genderdifference is (allegedly) revealed in a different consciousness inwomen than men toward nature; lt is rooted conceptually in "paradigmsthat are uncritically oriented to the dominant western masculineforms of experiencing the world: the analytic, non-related,delightfully called 'objective' or 'scientific' approaches" (Salleh1988, 130)--just those value dualisms that are claimed to separateand inferiorize what is historically female-gender identified.These sociopsychological factors provide a conceptual link insofar asthey are embedded in different conceptualization structures andstrategies ("different ways of knowing"), coping strategies and waysof relating to nature for women and men. A goal of ecofeminism then,is to develop gender-sensitive language, theory, and practicesthat do not further the exploitative experiences and habits ofdissociated, male-gender identified culture toward women and nature.
One project of ecofeminism is to expose and dismantle theconceptual structures of domination which have kept various "isms ofdomination," particularly the dominations of women and nature, inplace. If ecofeminists who allege various conceptualwoman-nature connections are correct, this will involvereconceiving those mainstay philosophical notions which rely on them(e.g., notions of reason and rationality, knowledge, objectivity,ethics, and the knowing, moral self).

3. Empirical and Experiential Connections. Manyecofeminists have focused on uncovering empirical evidence linkingwomen (and children, people of color, the underclass) withenvironmental destruction. Some point to various health and riskfactors borne disproportionately by women children, racial minoritiesand the poor caused by the presence of low-level radiation,pesticides, toxics, and other pollutants (e.g., Caldecott and Leland1983; Salleh 1990, this section; Shiva 1988; Warren 1991a). Othersprovide data to show that First World development policies result inpolicies and practices regarding food, forest, and water, whichdirectly contribute to the inability of women to provide adequatelyfor themselves and their families (e.g., Mies 1986; Shiva 1988;Warren 1988, 1989 1991a). Feminist animal rights scholars argue thatfactory farming, animal experimentation, hunting, and meat eating aretied to patriarchal concepts and practices (e.g., Adams 1990, 1991;Kheel 1985; Slicer 1991). Some connect rape and pornography withmale-gender identified abuse of both women and nature (e.g.,Collard with Contrucci 1988; Griffin 1981). Appeal to such empiricaldata is intended both to document the very real, felt, lived"experiential" connections between the dominations of women andnature and to motivate the need for joining together feministcritical analysis and environmental concerns.

Sometimes, however, the empirical and experiential connectionsbetween women and nature are intended to reveal important culturaland spiritual ties to the earth honored and celebrated by (some)women and indigenous peoples. This suggests that somewoman-nature connections are features of important symbolsystems.

4. Symbolic Connections. Some ecofeminists have exploredthe symbolic association and devaluation of women and nature thatappears in religion, theology, art, and literature. Documenting suchconnections and making them integral to the project of ecofeminism isoften heralded as ecofeminism's most promising contribution to thecreation of liberating, life-afffirming, and postpatriarchalworldviews and earth-based spiritualities or theologies.Ecofeminism is then presented as offering alternative spiritualsymbols (e.g., Gaia and goddess symbols), spiritualities ortheologies, and even utopian societies (e.g., see Gearhart).Appreciating such symbolic woman-nature connections involvesunderstanding "the politics of women's spirituality" (Spretnak 1981).
Some ecofeminist theorists draw on literature, particularly"nature writing," to unpack the nature of the woman-naturelinguistic symbolic connections (see Bell 1988; Kolodny 1975; Murphy1988, 1991). Literary criticism of the sort offered by Patrick Murphyclaims that patriarchal conceptions of nature and women havejustified "a two-pronged rape and domination of the earth andthe women who live on it" (Murphy 1988, 87), often using this asbackground for developing an ecofeminist literary theory (Murphy1991).

Some theorists focus on language, particularly the symbolicconnections between sexist and naturist language, i.e., language thatinferiorizes women and nonhuman nature by naturalizing women andfeminizing nature. For example, there are concerns about whethersex-gendered language used to describe "Mother Nature" is, inYnestra King's words, "potentially liberating or simply a rationalefor the continued subordination of women" (Y. King 1981). There areconcerns about connections between the languages used to describewomen, nature, and nuclear weaponry (see Cahn 1989; Strange 1989).Women are often describe in animal terms (e.g., as cows, foxes,chicks, serpents, bitches, beavers, old bats, pussycats, cats,bird-brains, hare-brains). Nature is often described infemale and sexual terms: nature is raped, mastered, conquered,controlled, mined. Her "secrets" are "penetrated" and her "womb" isput into the services of the "man of science." "Virgin timber" isfelled, cut down. "Fertile soil" is tilled and land that lies"fallow" is "barren," useless. The claim is that language that sofeminizes nature and naturalizes women describes, reflects, andperpetuates the domination and inferiorization of both by failing tosee the extent to which the twin dominations of women and nature(including animals) are, in fact, culturally (and not merelyfiguratively) analogous. The development of theory and praxis infeminism and environmental philosophy that does not perpetuate suchsexist-naturist language and the power over systems ofdomination they reinforce is, therefore, a goal of ecofeminism.

5. Epistemological Connections. The various allegedhistorical, causal conceptual, empirical, and symbolicwoman-nature connections (discussed above) have also motivatedthe need for new, ecofeminist epistemologies. Typically theseemerging epistemologies build on scholarship currently under way infeminist philosophy, whigh challenges mainstream views of reason,rationality, knowledge, and the nature of the knower (see APANewsletter on Feminism and Philosophy 1989). As ValPlumwood suggests in this section, if one mistakenly construesenvironmental philosophy as only or primarily concerned with ethics,one will neglect "a key aspect of the overall problem, which isconcerned with the definition of the human self as separate fromnature, the connection between this and the instrumental view ofnature, and broader political aspects of the critique ofinstrumentalism" (1991, this section). For Plumwood, ecofeministepistemologies must critique rationalism in the Western philosophicaltradition and develop views of the ethical, knowing self that do notmaintain and perpetuate harmful value dualisms and hierarchies,particularly human-nature ones.
Some feminists (e.g., Mills 1987, 1991) appeal to thecritical theory of Horkheimer, Adorno, Balbus, and the Frankfurtcircle, claiming that "their epistemology and substantive analysisboth point to a convergence of feminist and ecological concerns,anticipating the more recent arrival of eco-feminism" (Salleh1988, 131). For these feminists, "critical theory" provides acritique of the "nature versus culture" dichotomy and anepistemological structure for critiquing the relationships betweenthe domination of women and the domination of nature.

6. Political (Praxis) Connections. Francoised'Eaubonne introduced the term "ecofeminisme" in 1974 to bringattention to women's potential for ecological revolution (1974,213-52). Ecofeminism has always been a grassrootspolitical movement motivated by pressing pragmatic concerns (seeLahar 1991). These range from issues of women's and environmentalhealth, to science, development and technology, the treatment ofanimals, and peace, antinuclear, antimilitarist activism. Thevarieties of ecofeminist perspectives on the environment are properlyseen as an attempt to take seriously such grassroots activism andpolitical concerns by developing analyses of domination that explain,clarify, and guide that praxis.

7. Ethical Connections. To date, most of thephilosophical literature on woman-nature connections hasappeared in the area of environmental philosophy known as"environmental ethics." The claim is that the interconnections amongthe conceptualizations and treatment of women, animals, and (the restof) nature require a feminist ethical analysis and response.Minimally, the goal of ecofeminist environmental ethics is to developtheories and practices concerning humans and the natural environmentthat are not male-biased and provide a guide to action in theprefeminist present (Warren 1990). This may involve developing anecofeminist ethic of care and appropriate reciprocity (Cheney 1987,1989; Curtin 1991, Warren 1988, 1990, this section),ecofeminist kinship ethics (Plumwood 1991, this section), ecofeministanimal rights positions (Adams 1991; Slicer 1991), an ecofeministsocial ecology (Y. King 1981,1983,1989, 1990) or ecofeministbioregionalism (Plant 1990). As Plumwood and Warren claim in theiressays in this section, mainstream environmental ethics areinadequate to the extent that they are problematicallyanthropocentric or hopelessly androcentric.

8. Theoretical Connections. The varieties of allegedwoman-nature connections discussed above have generateddifferent, sometimes competing, theoretical positions in all areas offeminist and environmental philosophy. Nowhere is this more evidentthan in the field of environmental ethics. Primarily because of spacelimitations, the discussion of "theoretical connections" offered hereis restricted to environmental ethics.

In many respects, contemporary environmental ethics reflects therange of positions in contemporary philosophical ethics. The latterincludes traditional consequentialist (e.g., ethical egoist,utilitarian) and nonconsequentialist or deontotogical (e.g., Kantian,rights-based, virtue-based) positions, as well as challengesto them by nontraditional (e,g., some feminist, existentialist,Marxist, Afrocentric, non-Western) approaches. Such is alsothe case in environmental ethics. There are consequentialist (e.g.,ethical egoist, eco-utilitarian, utilitarian-basedanimal liberation ethics) and nonconsequentailist (e.g.,rights-based animal liberation, stewardship ethics) approachesthat extend traditional ethical considerations to include animals andthe nonhuman environment. (Some would argue that these are notbona fide environmental ethics, since they do not make thenatural environment itself deserving of moral consideration.) Therealso are nontraditional approaches (e.g., holistic Leopoldian landethics, social ecology, deep ecology, ecological feminism) that raiseconsiderations underplayed or omitted entirely from mainstreamphilosophical ethics. Feminists who address environmental issues canbe found advocating positions within this broad philosophical range.So where do ecological feminists fit in?

Where one thinks ecological feminists fit in will depend largelyon what one means by "ecological feminism." If ecological feminism isan umbrella term for any feminism that raises feminist concerns aboutthe environment, then presumably ecofeminists can be found along thecontinuum of feminist-inspired and advocated environmentalethics (or, environmental philosophy). If, however, the term"ecological feminism" is used as I am using the term and as it isused by the authors in this section, viz., as the name for a varietyof positions expressly committed to exploring woman-natureconnections (of the sort identified above) and to developing feministand environmental philosophies based on these insights, thenecological feminism is best viewed as one of several nontraditionalapproaches to environmental ethics and philosophy. We are back towhere we began: "ecological feminism" is the name of a variety ofpositions that make visible different sorts of woman-natureconnections, claiming that an understanding of these connections isnecessary for any adequate feminism, environmentalism, orenvironmental philosophy. Whether the connections alleged and thearguments advanced in support of them are accepted on feminist andphilosophical grounds is a question the friendly critic must answer.