/lit/ - Literature

>>23064645

Adam Johnson, an anthropologist teaching at University of North Carolina at Charlotte (he was called a hero after his actions during the 2019 mass shooting on campus. He was teaching an Anthropology class when the shooter entered the room, did not hesitate to react.

>Montagu is arguing that women are not only culturally superior but naturally superior to men. While I agree with the general sentiment, the argument isn’t particularly convincing.
>Montagu also discusses women’s cognitive superiority, whether it be intellectually, sexually, or creatively. While arguing for women’s cognitive superiority, he relies too heavily on Freudian theory. It becomes reductive and attributes a lot of men’s behavior to their jealousy of women’s ability to have children while neglecting the cultural context that produces and constrains gendered behavior. Montagu writes, “… women are, on the whole, more quick-witted than men, because they were born that way…” (p. 102)
>While I disagree with women’s natural superiority, I do agree that women are superior in other ways, which Montagu illustrates beautifully. Women are enculturated to be patient, strong, nurturing, and less aggressive, but it doesn’t follow that these features are derived from their biology. The features are likely a product of their historical subjugation and living within a patriarchal society. The Natural Superiority of Women does something very interesting; it serves as the antithesis, the negation of the thesis of men’s superiority. As Hegel argues in the Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences (1830) there is a conflict between a position and its counterposition, each containing parts of the truth but also exaggerations of the whole truth. In their conflict, a synthesis is worked out, getting closer to the truth. I think that Montagu’s argument serves to move the discourse along so we, as a society, can better understand the relationship between the genders more thoroughly and create a society that values all members equally, not just genders, but races, abilities, and class.
>Aside: I was once asked: “if you could resurrect any anthropologist to have a chat, who would it be?” I quickly came to a definitive answer, and it is Ashley Montagu. The Natural Superiority of Women and Man’s Most Dangerous Myth have both been incredibly formative books for me.