fMartin has 12 post(s)

In “Skeletons in the Closet,” the anatomy of white women and men became a critical project for the medical community during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as these differences were used as basis for social and political differences between the sexes. Science began to progress to be the standard of thinking, viewed as the answer to social issues. However, the majority of the scientific community consisted of white males, with barely any females in the group, so there was no dispositions regarding the “observations” about women. An example of these “observations” would be that females would have “smaller” skulls when compared the anatomy of males, which meant that they were less intelligent in the opinion of the scientific community. Even though this was proven to be false later on, that women have a larger skull in relation to their body size when compared to males, the scientific community had another explanation, which was that the female body was similar to that of a child, still promoting an androcentric point of view. These sex differences between males and females not only pointed out physical differences, but also gave way to various ideas such as differentiating masculinity/femininity and the concept of females being prematurely developed.  Other ideas developed, such as it was “nature” that created these differences between the sexes, that females were the complements to males, which would later be used as justification to exclude women from opportunities of higher levels of education/profession. The exclusion in the scientific community not only affected women, but also affected people of color as well. The status of being a white male was considered the “standard of excellence” as some would call it, while being a female or being of a different ethnicity to be of a lower ranking and with none of these individuals in the community to argue their opinions. Even though the scientific community aimed to move from philosophical thinking to a more factual way of thinking, it still retained its roots of being sexist and racist.

I think Davis is trying to tell us that the Seneca Falls Convention had brought into light many issues that were absent in the convention, which would be later be the focus in future meetings. The focus of the convention was to discuss equality for women, but most of the individuals involved wanted to deter from actually talking about women’s suffrage. Like in the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention in London, the women did not have a voice. However, the difference between these two conventions is that in the London convention, the women did not have a say for anything that was being discussed, they were merely spectators in the crowd, while in the Seneca Falls convention, there was no primary focus regarding the rights of women, only various issues were acknowledged such as the effect marriage had on the status of women and reforming conditions for white working women. Marriage stripped away whatever a woman had to her name, such as her education background and skills. This was the case for Elizabeth Cady Staton, who had studied mathematics and Greek, and was studying law under her father, but soon after she was married, her status was changed to fulltime housewife and mother. This was known as the middle-class woman’s dilemma. Another issue was brought up in the convention, the issue of the working conditions of working-class white women. While this issue did not directly relate with many of the women in the convention and was neglected in a sense, it still affected the working women in there, such as Charlotte Woodward. The struggle Woodward had dealt with as a working woman can be compared to the middle-class woman’s struggle as both seek to be valued as equal to men, whether it be through the economic support provided or through the social status they hold in the family. Another issue that was also neglected was the struggle of Black women. The absence of this group of women in the convention showed the disregard the people have for them, when it is the Black women that suffers from both racism and sexism. However, this exclusion had brought upon a stronger presence for Black women in later years, in which Sojourner Truth would speak out at women’s rights meetings, fighting against racist and sexist oppression.