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Keerim Kim completed Assignment 02

In “Skeletons in the closet,” Linda Schiebinger illustrates the social, scientific background of seventeenth to nineteenth century in European society.The first illustration of the female skeleton appeared in European science, in late eighteenth century. Since then, among various people such as scientists, anatomists, philosophers, and sociologists, analyzing the physical differences of human body affected physiological, social and scientific areas. Without a doubt, female body was primarily acknowledged as “inferior” to men’s, and therefore it was considered as suffering intellectual and social weakness. Moreover, several scientists and anatomists defined that women and children had similarity in body forms, which were less sharply developed than men’s. They were classified as “primitive” peoples. Also, white men were considered as having the most natural dignity and the superior of all types, even when compared to men in other races. This idea of iconizing white men worked as a prerequisite and thus, had become a critical issue among every study. However, some anatomists argued that individual body is uniquely equipped and comparing them was useless. These opinions were usually ignored under influential scientists or philosophers, such as Rousseau, who emphasized the superiority of men, by confining women’s physiology to be resulted in intellectual weakness. By late eighteenth to nineteenth century, race and sex symbolized social worth, and science was largely controlled by social forces. The scientific community was dominated by white males, so it could be easily defined that women as having lower social status, that meant lower level of intelligence. By connecting the mistaken physiological issue to social part, this worked as a starting point of categorizing gender roles, which having its effectiveness even in contemporary days. Schiebinger gives many examples from different people in various fields, which helped to analyze the social and political circumstances of gender. In spite of Social and educational reform, the society defined subordination of women and linked physiological measurements to moral characters.