Date of Defense

4-14-1998

Department

Gender and Women's Studies

First Advisor

Dr. Joseph Ellin

Second Advisor

Dr. Gwen Raaberg

Third Advisor

Dr David Loberg Code

Abstract

Feminists today are complaining of the inequality of the scientific method of inquiry. They claim that it is inherently sexist, primarily because of the basic fact that most of the research in the last two centuries has been conducted by men. They point to historical examples of how science has distinguished between men and women. One example of this distinction can be found in The Light of the Home, a book written by Graham Greene concerning traditions of the 19thcentury. This documentary discusses one example of how women were thought to be physically inferior to men, citing their many illnesses connected to their reproductive organs. Since that time, science (and research into the traditions of that time) has determined that these medical problems were not due to women's physical make-up but rather to the type of dangerously restrictive garments they wore at the time (Green 119-123). However, even while this evidence has now been determined to be faulty, in the 19thcentury, data such as this gave science the authority to declare that there was in fact a concrete difference between men and women.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Campus Only

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