Virginia Held | on Feminist Ethics

Virginia Held | On Feminist Ethics
Held lays out the consequences of centuries of creating ethical theory purely from a male point of view. The most important is that a feminist ethics cannot simply add to a structure built of concepts that are themselves based on a patriarchal view of the masculine and feminine but rather must transform ethics completely. She focuses on three main issues: (i) that of equating reason with males and emotion with females; (ii) associating the public arena with men and the private, household arena with women; and (iii) creating a caricature of the moral self that is exclusive to males.
-The human/natural distinction has NOT been traditionally used to justify

A) men's transcendence of their animal nature to create human history.
B) men protecting society as warriors.
C) men requiring women to take care of their "natural needs" in the household.
D) women's expression of art and philosophy.