Gendering Nature in Language and Art:
Exploring The Woman = Nature Equation
Alexander Hogue, Mother Earth Laid Bare, 1938
(1)
This learning module attempts to question
the ways in which the sociocultural need to ascribe gender to nature influences
human views and attitudes toward nature. This module requires that you proceed
from sections 1 through 6, and it concludes with a written assignment that
relies on your responses to the material in this module. It would be useful
to take notes on your impressions as you work through these pages.
For the purposes of developing your ideas about this module,
please go through the sections below in linear order to begin with; then
of course skip around as you need to, to develop your own connections prior
to writing your response.
The following picture, Botticelli's "Primavera,"
(2) provides an image with which we can
begin to ask how our views of nature are affected when we see it specifically
connected to images of women. Along the way, we will ask how those connections
are culturally created, and we will critically analyze the values represented
by those connections.
Botticelli's "Primavera" is an allegory on the
harmony of nature and humankind, with specifically female figures metaphorically
representing certain virtues and values: Venus stands in the center, the
link between nature and civilization; the Three Graces' dance announces
the arrival of Spring; pregnant Persephone represents fecundity, and at
the far right, Zephyr, god of winds, pursues earth nymph Chloris, who runs
away from his embrace. As she runs, her breath turns to the flowers that
will root all over the countryside.
This painting relies on images of women to act as symbols
for different aspects of nature; Western ideals of beauty, grace, and femininity
are portrayed connected with the concept of nature. The women in this painting
are all barefoot, further symbolizing their connection to and rootedness
with the earth, whereas males are airy, disconnected from the earth. Mercury,
on the left, is an airy god of communication, constantly in transition;
Cupid, at the top of the picture, is also of the air and is not in contact
with the earth.
Western culture has inherited the Graeco-Roman mythological
belief system that attributes the Earth (Gaea) feminine qualities; the winds
and heavens (Ouranous or Uranus) are figured as masculine. The Greeks made
Gaea the Great Mother and she personified the earth, but Demeter
and Persephone (see the painting above) personified the fertile and
cultivated soil. We will explore how this cultural inheritance colors our
perceptions about women, and the ways in which women as symbols of nature
affect our attitudes toward both women and nature, as well as affecting
our relationship with nature.
Other cultures have also imaged the earth as female and
the heavens as male, although this is certainly not a universal division
of gender relationships to the elements. Look at the following picture,
which is called "Blue Mother Earth, Black Father Sky." (3) This is a traditional sand painting from Arizona
and it is another instance of a cultural heritage that not only genders
nature, but also separates spheres of existence into dualities: one "belongs"
to the feminine, and one "belongs" to the masculine.
Think about why cultures might perceive a need to gender
these elements of earth and sky, and contemplate the impact an emphasis
on separation and duality has on people's relationship with those elements.
Which do you identify with--the male sky or the female earth? Do the representative
colors mean anything to you about gender roles--if so, ask yourself why
is color important to represent the gender separations seen in role divisions
of heaven and earth? How would it affect your perception of their respective
gender roles if the earth "belonged" to the male and the heavens
"belonged" to the female? These colors and pictures are symbols
of attitudes and beliefs that are important to this nature-centered religion,
so what do these representations of the realities nature mean to you? In
your opinion, should the earth be represented (symbolized) by woman or man--or
should it be gender-neutral? Can these roles
be shared, or should they remain separated by gender-specific terminology?
What do you think?
Blue Mother Earth, Black Father Sky (3)