Monday, October 31, 2005
Woman And Gender in the American West October 31 Class
Women and Gender in the American West is a collection of essays that foreground the history of western women and show the complexity and diversity of their experiences and the importance of their roles. In contrast to the traditional male-dominated western history, these essays view that history from the viewpoint of women and examine issues of race, gender, power, and cross-cultural impacts of various combinations of male-female relationships. All of the authors challenge the construction of a masculine west and mourn the fact that, in Susan Lee Johnson’s words, “the discursive apparatus of white masculinity has not been dismantled.”
The essays are varied and wide-ranging. They demonstrate that when the relevant history is viewed through the lens of women, conceptions of race, gender, culture, and power are transformed and made more complex. The agency of women is shown to be a powerful force in western development, even as it took different forms in different situations. For example, Mormon wives in plural marriages, who had previously been portrayed as victims of a system of female bondage, are shown to have had protection under Utah’s domestic relations laws that allowed divorce liberally.
Susan Lee Johnson argues that the west is a place of “disrupted gender relations, “ which must be studied in order to understand its history. Throughout the west attempts by indigenous women to manage their sexuality were resisted by white males who considered them sexual objects Interracial marriage was a source of disruption in gender relations. Miscegenation laws attempted to control women’s sexuality while granting leeway to men. When a European married an Indian woman, she was a “noble princess,” but when a white man simply wanted to use such a woman, she was a “savage squaw.’ For Spanish-Mexican women the dichotomy was Spanish senorita/Mexican prostitute. In the colonial era marriage between Native American men and white women was a threatening relationship violating the racial and patriarchal order. A white man marrying an Indian woman was not viewed as threatening to society, but a white woman marrying a “savage’ upset the natural racial order and predominant view of gender relations.
Some of the essays provide examples of women asserting their influence in various ways. Women organized benevolence societies in San Francisco, which filled real needs while at the same time enabling them to exercise social and political power. While maintaining the façade of “separate spheres,’ these women blurred the public/private sphere distinction and expanded their role and influence. Another example of women operating outside their "sphere" is provided in a dramatic courtroom battle in San Francisco where a wealthy African American woman comes to the aid of an Irish American woman and takes on a powerful adversary. Much of the trial is devoted to competing characterizations of the two females, either as madam and prostitute or as virtuous women. Observers found it difficult to comprehend a woman deviating from the cultural norms as being virtuous.
. ¶ 8:09 AM
The essays are varied and wide-ranging. They demonstrate that when the relevant history is viewed through the lens of women, conceptions of race, gender, culture, and power are transformed and made more complex. The agency of women is shown to be a powerful force in western development, even as it took different forms in different situations. For example, Mormon wives in plural marriages, who had previously been portrayed as victims of a system of female bondage, are shown to have had protection under Utah’s domestic relations laws that allowed divorce liberally.
Susan Lee Johnson argues that the west is a place of “disrupted gender relations, “ which must be studied in order to understand its history. Throughout the west attempts by indigenous women to manage their sexuality were resisted by white males who considered them sexual objects Interracial marriage was a source of disruption in gender relations. Miscegenation laws attempted to control women’s sexuality while granting leeway to men. When a European married an Indian woman, she was a “noble princess,” but when a white man simply wanted to use such a woman, she was a “savage squaw.’ For Spanish-Mexican women the dichotomy was Spanish senorita/Mexican prostitute. In the colonial era marriage between Native American men and white women was a threatening relationship violating the racial and patriarchal order. A white man marrying an Indian woman was not viewed as threatening to society, but a white woman marrying a “savage’ upset the natural racial order and predominant view of gender relations.
Some of the essays provide examples of women asserting their influence in various ways. Women organized benevolence societies in San Francisco, which filled real needs while at the same time enabling them to exercise social and political power. While maintaining the façade of “separate spheres,’ these women blurred the public/private sphere distinction and expanded their role and influence. Another example of women operating outside their "sphere" is provided in a dramatic courtroom battle in San Francisco where a wealthy African American woman comes to the aid of an Irish American woman and takes on a powerful adversary. Much of the trial is devoted to competing characterizations of the two females, either as madam and prostitute or as virtuous women. Observers found it difficult to comprehend a woman deviating from the cultural norms as being virtuous.
. ¶ 8:09 AM
