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Assignment 02

In the essay “Skeletons in the closet” by Londa Schiebingers, she wonders why the female skeleton grasped the attention of anatomists to begin with, or was it relevant to scientific objectivity she questions. She realized these dissectors focused on the parts of the body that would be politically important. Reason being, the first skeleton would become visible when  the position of woman in the European society would come to surface. A published drawing of the female had shown the skull appearing to be smaller than a males, and their pelvis’s being larger. For no other reason then showing woman weren’t as smart as men, and their pelvis’s being larger related to the thought that women were “naturally destined for motherhood the confined sphere of hearth and home” (Schiebingers,3).

Nature and equality play an important role in this article, as it did with Davis’s chapter 3. When woman asked for equality it wasn’t granted to them, and the study of nature of women became a specific topic during the time. During the 18th century women and men had very different roles, and woman’s qualities were always associated with children and nonindustrial jobs.

She relates back to the ancient world, where Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Galen drew pictures of the nature of woman trying to justify a women’s inferior social status. One of these philosophers actually claimed that women were colder and weaker than men. Along with the accusations that women are lazy while men are active. Poullain a French feminist who stated a very needed appeal on behalf of the equality of women claims “their eyes see as clearly, their ears hear with the same degree of accuracy, their hands are as dexterose, and their heads are the same” (Schiebingers, 6). The sex differences in men and women shouldnt determine them politically or socially, their simply skin deep.