Biology as a Tool of Oppression?

We only briefly talked in class about biology as a factor in gender and gendered conflict, and I think that there’s a lot more to delve into on that subject. While doing the argument analysis paper, I read the two contrasting articles by Ruth Hubbard and James C. Dobson about whether or not biology determines gender roles. Personally I tend to be interested more in the biological differences than cultural differences, so I was looking forward to the article supporting biology. Instead, what I got was an article by a conservative evangelical Christian about “traditional” gender roles for men and women, and how they should apply regardless of whether the supposed differences between men and women are biological or cultural. I thought it was a horribly chosen article to support the side of biology, because Dobson is not a biologist and real biologists don’t support his sexist, outdated views. I think the reason we get his point of view and not a scientist’s is because feminists are afraid of biology.

A lot of feminist authors argue that any gender differences are cultural, in part because they talk about how biology has been used to oppress women in the past. Men think of women as capable of reproduction and that’s it, and they make women out to be the “weaker” sex and use that to their advantage, rationalizing the sexism with “science.” But the same thing goes on with Christian scientists, who use “scientific evidence” to support their beliefs that the Earth is only 6000 years old and evolution is a lie. In the 1920’s and 30’s, a ton of people tried to justify eugenics and extreme capitalism using Darwinian ideas. Does that make evolution untrue, because people can twist it to rationalize their own bad morals? No, evolutionary theory is still fact. 

Accepting biological differences doesn’t have to mean we’re rationalizing sexism. Biology, in principle, is not sexist, it’s not political, it just is. The way we take it is what matters. I think it’s important to embrace scientific findings regarding gender differences and similarities. People will twist anything into supporting their views, but that doesn’t make it less valid. It’s also important not to censor scientific findings if they don’t support our views. Science can help us come to a better, more rounded understanding of life.