Difference feminism is a philosophy that stresses that men and women are ontologically different versions of the human being. Many Catholics adhere to and have written on the philosophy, though the philosophy is not specifically Catholic. Although the title "difference feminism" is a relatively recent addition to the feminist movement, the philosophies of gender relations undergirding this category have their roots as far back as the early Greeks.^[1] Forms of difference feminism often stress a fundamental biological, emotional, psychological or spiritual difference between the sexes. This article concerns how a man differs from women. ... Image of a woman on the Pioneer plaque sent to outer space. ... Feminism is a social theory and political movement primarily informed and motivated by the experience of women. ...

Reverse Gender Polarity

Reverse gender polarity is the form of difference feminism that asserts that women, per se, are superior to men. It developed as the opposite of traditional gender polarity that asserts that men, per se, are superior to women. Traditional polarity was espoused beginning with Aristotle^[2] through more modern proponents like Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir..^[3]

Reverse gender polarity, however, began in the medieval era with the exaltation of feminine virtue by authors like Heinrich Cornellius Agrippa and Lucrezia Marinelli.^[4] It became prominent again in second-wave feminism with women like psychologist Carol Gilligan.

Gender Complementarity

Fractional Gender Complementarity

Fractional gender complementarity argues that men and women complement one another as separate parts that together make up a composite whole. This form of difference feminism was most prominent in the Cult of True Womanhood (Cult of True Womanhood) developed in reaction to other forms of feminism in the 19th century. It originally developed from a neoplatonic unisex theory that one sexless soul was incarnated into two different bodies: male and female. This development occurred in the late medieval/early modern period through the Enlightenment with scholars like René Descartes. The Cartesian dualistic view of sexuality spread particularly among Protestants, with women providing some of the mind's operations (intuition, sensations) and men others (like reason). The two, when added together, were to have formed a single mind. ^[5] The Cult of Domesticity or Cult of True Womanhood (named such by its detractors, hence the pejorative use of the word cult) was a prevailing view among middle and upper class white women during the nineteenth century, in the United States. ...

Integral Gender Complementarity

Integral gender complementarity argues that men and women are each integral, whole beings unto themselves whose result when put together is greater than the sum of their parts. Michele M. Schumacher, for example, believes that there is "one (human) nature, two modes of expression... Together they form a communion of persons..."to exist mutally one for the other" " ^[6]

The metaphysical foundation of this theory was developed by Dietrich von Hildebrand^[7] and Edith Stein ^[8], and later by Personalists like Emmanuel Mounier and Jacques Maritain.^[9] More recently, the theory was espoused by Pope John Paul II as a foundation for a new feminism.^[10] New feminism is a form of Difference feminism which emphasizes a belief in an integral complementarity of men and women, rather than the superiority of women over men. ...

In regards to differences in emotions, styles or reasoning, those who follow integral complementary assert that the differences are not divisional - that women only feel or reason one way and men another. Rather, they claim the characteristic differences can be found in tendencies and inclinations rather than finate generalizations. For example, author Janne Haaland-Matlary asserts that it "is far more profund than simple biological reductionism...or... social constructivism".^[11]. A woman may use her "feminine genius" in practically every profession and vocation. Pope John Paul II asserted that the challenge facing most societies "is that of upholding, indeed strengthening, woman's role in the family while at the same time making it possible for her to use all her talens and exercise all her rights in building up society."^[12] For feminists who believe in integral complementary, like the New feminists, biology is not "destiny", but it is essentially important. Official papal image of John Paul II. His Holiness Pope John Paul II, né Karol Józef Wojtyła (born May 18, 1920 in Wadowice, Poland), is the current Pope — the Bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic Church. ...

Criticism

Difference feminism has been criticized both inside and outside of the feminist movement. For example, difference feminism has been criticized for claiming that the sexes differ in their style of reasoning. Recent empirical research, for instance, asserts that such claims are false. Evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker writes: Steven Pinker Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18, 1954) is a prominent Canadian-born American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, and popular science writer known for his spirited and wide-ranging advocacy of evolutionary psychology and the computational theory of mind. ...

Carol Gilligan has become a gender-feminist icon because of her claim that men and women guide their moral reasoning by different principles: men think about rights and justice; women have feelings of compassion, nurturing, and peaceful accommodation. If true, it would disqualify women from becoming constitutional lawyers, Supreme Court justices, and moral philosophers, who make their living by reasoning about rights and justice. But it is not true. Many studies have tested Gilligan's hypothesis and found that men and women differ little or not at all in their moral reasoning. (Jaffe & Hyde, 2000; Sommers, 1994; Walker, 1984) So difference feminism offers women the worst of both worlds: invidious claims without scientific support.^[13] Carol Gilligan (1936– ) is an American feminist, ethicist, and psychologist best known for her work with and against Lawrence Kohlberg on ethical community and ethical relationships, and certain subject-object problems in ethics. ...

See also

• Cultural feminism
• Ethics of care
• New feminism

Cultural feminism is the ideology of a female nature or female essence reappropriated by feminists themselves in an effort to revalidate undervalued female attributes. ... The ethics of care movement is a movement in twentieth century normative ethical theory that is largely inspired by the work of psychologist Carol Gilligan. ... New feminism is a form of Difference feminism which emphasizes a belief in an integral complementarity of men and women, rather than the superiority of women over men. ...

References

1. ^ Allen, Prudence, RSM. The Concept of Woman: The Aristotelian Revolution 750BC - AD 1250. Montreal: Eden Press, 1985
2. ^ Allen, The Concept of Woman. p. 89-126
3. ^ Allen, Sr. Prudence Allen. 'Man-Woman Complementarity: the Catholic Inspiration.' Logos 9, issue 3 (Summer 2006), p. 1-5 http://www.endowonline.com/File/spComplementary.pdf
4. ^ Allen, 'Man-Woman Complementarity, p.3
5. ^ Allen,'Man-Woman Complementarity.' p.3-5
6. ^ Schumacher, Michele M. 'The Nature of Nature in Feminism, Old and New: From Dualism to Complementary Unity'. p.17-51 in 'Women in Christ; Toward a New Feminism.' William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. Grand Rapids, Michigan. 2003. p. 45
7. ^ Von Hildebrand, Dietrich. Marriage: the Mystery of Faithful Love. Manchester, New Hampshire: Sophia Institute Press, 1991. p. 53-55; Von Hildebrand, Dietrich. Man and Woman: Love and the Meaning of Intimacy. Manchester, New Hampshire: Sophia Institute Press, 1992, p. 91
8. ^ Stein, Edith. "Letter to Sister Callista Koph" in Self-Portrait in Letters: 1916-1942. Washington DC: ICS Publications, 1993. Stein, Edith. Essays on Woman.
9. ^ Allen,'Man-Woman Complementarity.' p.5-18
10. ^ John Paul II, 'Letter to Women' in 'The Genius of Women' (Washington DC: United States Catholic Conference, 1997)
11. ^ Haaland-Matlary, Janne. "Men and Women in Family, Society and Poltics." L'Osservatore Romano. Vatican. January 12, 2005. p. 6-7. http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=6309&longdesc
12. ^ John Paul II, "Welcome to Gertrude Mongella, Secretary General of the Fourth World Council on Women," May 1995. No 8, as included in "The Genius of Women."
13. ^ Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate, Chapter on Gender.