Feminist Utopia: Charlotte Perkins Gilmans Herland - Essay Example

Task: Introduction Feminism is a radical notion founded on an assumption that, similar to men, women have equivalent human, political as well as social rights. Similar to Cheris Kramarae, an activist as well as a historian, once remarked that women just as men, are humans and that women ought to be given same opportunities in their individual preferences as far as profession, expression or politics are concerned. As much as equality of human kind was concerned, some acknowledged an exceptional notion that women were not just equal to men but rather a distinctive species whose quality was heightened to be more superior to men. A text authored by a feminist depicting feminism mainly objectifies the position of a woman and her struggle within a patriarchal society which tends to oppress women and the consequent formation of protocols and standards within this social system. These texts highlight deficiencies within the society with gender inequalities as the issue and to create awareness to the readers. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s Herland Charlotte Perkins Gilman is an American writer who explored the feminist utopia using her fictional novella “Herland”. Gilman created an imaginary society occupied by just women, with no need for men. They use parthenogenesis to produce their daughters and portray a superior morality. This society that was women-centered advocated for industriousness as well as motherhood and avoided approaches to life that perpetrated individualistic competitions. She figured out that this society would be appropriate for women to relate with each other in a more cooperative manner since there would be no necessity to dominate one another. In this novella Gilman tends to nurture and merge the finest feminine virtues with the finest masculine virtues together as a unity to make up human virtue. According to Gilman, for a society to be virtuous, it should use her fictional utopian society of Herland as an exemplary model. She believed that women have no reason to be slaves to their fellow humans by dedicating their lives to please them when they can survive on their own without the men and even lead better lives. Through the eyes of Gilman, our narrator, we get the view point of the men. She uses three men to show us their perspective about women. Gilman reverses the typical women stereotypes completely and that everything that was previously considered in terms of masculine or feminine standards was done away with. Here women wore cloths that were lesser provocative and that advocated for convenience and comfort. They cut their hair short and had more muscular bodies. They were neither flirtatious nor shy. They practically needed no men to live. They schooled, built, did farming and moreover mothered hence depended on no one but themselves. The women of Herland did not recognize gender biases, a raging phenomenon in the world. They lived in harmony and togetherness (Allen 102). Gilman as well uses Jeff to stand for a feminist voice and uses Terry to stand for the male’s voice. Jeff felt like women were creatures that deserved to be protected as well as served whereas Terry regarded them as creatures to be conquered and by all means be won. She provides a complementary view on the women as well as their roles at her time. She displays her admiration on the fact that women are independent of men. Gilman proceeds to promote the equality of women to men but she doesn’t stop there, she also portrays them as being superior compared to men. This is so unlikely in the world where Jeff and the other men came from. Here they are presented as the weaker ones and the women are much strong and virtuous. The narrator conveys the women to be smarter and kinder unlike the men. Smart in that although they are isolated from the rest they still survive. They also teach men like any other student. They bred-out and did away with segments of nature that stained their society in any way for instance dogs and some butterfly species. In addition they also bred-out defiant or less virtuous girls; the girls of her land were prohibited from reproducing. The women of Herland took education as their utmost art, the main reason for their prosperity. Unlike the men of the world, they did not force feed education. Education as a theme is highly valued and very crucial. The three men are later imprisoned making their hair grow, something Gilman does intentionally to depict some sort of symbolic link to womankind. Gilman also tried to pay tribute eugenics through ‘Herland’. There was a group of people who lived in the valleys of ‘Herland’ who Gilman consistently referred to as ‘savages’ without solid evidence. She seemed to be convinced that humanity can breed-out character ‘flaws’ and remain with the finest and most virtuous people as she stated in the novella that less virtuous women were denied the privilege of mothering (Gilman 79). Gilman explores feminism from two perspectives that just like men, women are human and deserve all the privileges and rights men enjoy and that in another perspective women are better or even superior than men. This is evident in ‘Herland’ when she reveals that women can do all that men can do and that they can survive comfortably without men. At the same time she also reveals that women can do what men do even in a better way with the right conditions. Gilman explores the disparity between matriarchy in a society and patriarchy, the necessity of a balance between the sexes and predominantly gender performance. The social setup or construct regarding sexuality is so deeply embedded in all cultures of humanity (Gilman 97). Globally there is variation of expectations regarding masculinity as well as femininity nevertheless disparity pervade universally. In ‘Herland’ girls no reason to devote themselves to femininity since such thing is not in existence. Femininity sets an unreachable goal that forces womankind to remain slaves to their biology; simply the double chromosome. According to Simone de Deavior’s, the woman race is controlled by what is believed to be nature’s lot. But in Gilman’s utopia, a number of issues are highlighted, for instance is it really nature or is it nurture? What would possibly happen given that gender was now uniformity in culture instead of a separation? Will that be the end of the ‘woman question’? What impact does it have for the modern situation of gender? (Doyle 47). Gilman emphasizes the superiority of women over men in ‘Herland’ as compared to equality of the two. This is mainly due to her desire to reveal the social construct of gender and the significance of being womanly in a society where a woman is never expected to embody a caricature that is normally idealized and imposed on her. She juxtaposes the women from the native female dominated land with the men from a patriarchal society in America and thus exposing the female utopia in terms of gender as a social issue. ‘Herland’ gives birth to a race of female warriors, intellectuals and above all mothers that flourish away from sexual stereotypes as well as commoditization. Gilman boosts the ‘woman’ at least two levels ahead, in other words in a normal social setting men are viewed as more superior than women but Gilman goes as far as making women equal to men and goes even further to make them even better than men. Gilman also depicts women as autonomous. In other words they can govern themselves properly and live harmoniously contrary to the belief that women are better when under a male command. She tries to undermine an ideology that was first developed by Aristotle that naturally women live better when they belong to section of those governed or ruled by man unlike when they rule. Although this argument was supported by many scholars after the era of Aristotle, it has greatly lost its validity. In our contemporary society women have proved to be even better rulers than men could ever be. Even Gilman reveals this in her fictional world. Gilman uses a unique technique to highlight the ‘super qualities’ of women by isolating them at the same time undermining the qualities of men and their role in society. She also neglects or avoids highlighting flaws and weaknesses of women other than those with less virtues, an obvious phenomenon in both men and women. Although at some point she points out that if the finest qualities of both men and women are isolated and nurtured a perfect society would be created at the long run (Allen 113). Conclusion It is evident that women disserve as much as men do and that viewing them as lesser humans who only deserve to be conquered like Terry perceived them is a totally misguided view point. It is also crucial to highlight the fact that men and women have unique capabilities that if combined the product would be a better society than even Gilman’s utopian society. However for this to be achieved humankind must not dominate each other, they must view each other as equals and appreciate each other’s uniqueness and not to view it as weaknesses. Works Cited Gilman, Charlotte P. Herland. Auckland: Floating Press, 1915. Internet resource. Print. Doyle, William T. Charlotte Perkins Gilman and the Cycle of Feminist Reform. California, CA: University of California, 1960. Print. Allen, Judith A. The Feminism of Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Sexualities, Histories, Progressivism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009. Print. Read More