Feminine and Masculine

I've been wandering through some of the wrtings of Charlotte Perkins Gilman lately. She was a very interesting writer and, for her age, way out there! Talk about far flung!

In the introduction to Gilman's book "Herland," Ann J. Lane writes that Gilman believed that, "What we call masculine traits are simply human traits, which have been denied to women and are thereby assumed to belong to men: traits such as courage, strength, creativity, generosity, and integrity."

We've all seen the comparisons of "masculine" and "feminine" acceptability that show, "He is assertive, she is aggressive; he is strong, she is overpowering, and so forth. Culture decides what traits are acceptable for whom and what behaviors will be tolerated or rewarded in men and women. "The most important fact about the sexes, men and women, is the common humanity we share, not the differences that distinguish us, Gilman said repeatedly."

Isn't that the truth of the matter? We find so many ways to divide each other, to emphasize our differences, partly because the human mind seeks interest, and difference is interesting. But if we instead emphasize our sameness...focus on them majority of ways in which we are similar... we might find common ground. And if we found common ground, allowing each other the full array of expression of personal traits, we would be downright dangerous to the status quo.

This morning on the Today Show, it was said that a new poll was done showing that people's attitudes toward fat people are changing. It said that in the last poll of 1995, 55% of people responding said they find fat people less attractive. In 2005, that percentage fell to 27%. That's pretty good. Maybe we should celebrate.

Beata