The Man‐Made World
As a matter of fact, there is a “woman‘s sphere,” sharply defined and quite different from his; there is also a “man‘s sphere,” as sharply defined and even more limited; but there remains a common
sphere—that of humanity, which belongs to both alike.
In the earlier part of what is known as “the woman‘s movement,” it
was sharply opposed on the ground that women would become
“unsexed.” Let us note in passing that they have become unsexed in
one particular, most glaringly so, and that no one has noticed or objected to it.
As part of our androcentric culture we may point to the peculiar reversal of sex characteristics which make the human female carry the burden of ornament. She alone, of all human creatures, has adopted the essentially masculine attribute of special sex‐decoration; she does not fight for her mate as yet, but she blooms forth as the peacock and bird of paradise, in poignant reversal of nature‘s laws, even wearing masculine feathers to further her feminine ends.
Woman‘s natural work as a female is that of the mother; man‘s natural work as a male is that of the father; their mutual relation to this end being a source of joy and well‐being when rightly held: but human work covers all our life outside of these specialties. Every handicraft, every profession, every science, every art, all normal amusements and recreations, all government, education, religion; the whole living world of human achievement: all this is human.
That one sex should have monopolized all human activities, called them “man‘s work,” and managed them as such, is what is meant by
the phrase “Androcentric Culture.”