When I first started reading, I was a little confused and really bored. I had no idea what Evelyn Fox Keller was talking about. I had to read this a couple of times before I was able to consciously write about it. I now have a little better understanding of the purpose of this reading and am better able to compose my own thoughts in regards to it. Keller says her point is "that however eager we seem to be to divide the world of personal attributes into categories of male and female, we are not always sure which is which." Keller, along withe the past authors we have read in Feminist Theory, somehow always open my eyes to aspects of feminism and what it is to be woman that I guess I knew, but didn't really realize. Keller talks about the tradition of femaleness being obscure and secretive. When I think about it, there are aspects about being female that could be considered "secretive". For instance, she gives an example using pregnancy.
It's interesting because pregnancy and conception are like the biggest mysteries in the world to me! I mean there are books and plenty of research that can break down the stages of conception and pregnancy, but nobody REALLY ever sees it happening. Pregnancy is a mysterious process to me, and when I have known people to be pregnant, I still can't really understand or believe that there is actually a child inside of them. I think that because women posses such obscure and invisible secrets such as the power of pregnancy, it is the job of the people who aren't in on the secret, in this case men, to unveil this secret process. Now I could take that into two directions. In the first direction, I could say that men are exploiting nature's secrets dealing with women, but I think that would be extreme. On the the other hand, men could just be curious about certain things pertaining to women. Keller, along with the other authors we have read in Feminist Theory, somehow always open my eyes to aspects of feminism and what it is to female that I often overlook. Now these ideas and different thought processes have been brought to my attention, I can apply them to my life in hopes of giving others a different way of looking at things.
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3 comments:
Very well written. I am glad to know that I am not the only one who seems to find it confusing yet a little weird when women become pregant. Often times when I hear someone saying he's moving or his hand is pushing against my stomach my first reaction is what! Who? and How?
My curiosity I feel changes along with the situation. Pregancy I feel is a great and wonderful thing, its nice to know that as Women we have something to call our own well at least a little, that men are not able to feel nor bare. Everywhere you look its always a man trying to keep up with a woman athletics,cleaning, cooking and last but not least corporate america. Let's not forget despite nature's secrets, women make it visible for men to realize they need us.
Although I found Kellers “Making Gender Visible in the Pursuit of Natures Secrets” a very difficult read, I do feel that it raised some valid points about how women are viewed, studied and depicted through science. It almost everything in our world can be divided into the categories of masculine or feminine Much like Kellers point that the right brain is said to be feminine and the left masculine. Commonly used statements such as “mother earth” and “father time” speak volumes the presence of gender even when describing natural phenomena.
Kellers example of pregnancy and the mysteries surrounding it engulfs, in many aspects, the “secrecy” of femaleness. The mysteries of conception, as far as the females role in the process is concerned, causes so many questions to arise. It is funny how society quietly discusses pregnancy and the process of creating, barring and delivering a child, yet the state being pregnant is one of the most blatantly obvious parts of the female-experience. Keller writes, “Pregnancy…though visible to all the world in its outward signs, is invisible in its internal dynamics. It is, in fact, the ultimate secret of life, knowable if not visible to the mother, but absolutely inaccessible to the father.” I think there are so many (if not all) aspects of the feminine experience that men, scientist or not, will be excluded from. In there exclusion there is often criticism, fascination, disinterest or disgust for processes that they do not understand.
yes these readings can be boring, no? Definitely something to keep in mind with your manifesto project. I wonder too how our conversation on menstruation figures into visibility and invisibility.
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