Sharing Some "Oh My!"

I came across The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould recently when I was reading some essays by Barbara Kingsolver. I don't have much to say about it except that it was a really interesting read. I wanted to share this particular section about female brains/skulls because I just thought it was too interesting not to.

Gustave Le Bon was a follower of Broca's school of thought in the field of craniometry. In La psychologie des foules (published 1895), Le Bon wrote:

"In the most intelligent races, as among the Parisians, there are a large number of women whose brains are closer in size to those of gorillas than to the most developed male brains. This inferiority is so obvious that no one can contest it for a moment; only its degree is worth discussion. All psychologists who have studies the intelligence of women, as well as poets and novelists, recognize today that they represent the most inferior forms of human evolution and that they are closer to children and savages than to an adult, civilized man. They excel in fickleness, inconstancy, absence of thought and logic, and incapacity to reason. Without doubt there exist some distinguished women, very superior to the average man, but they are as exceptional as the birth of any monstrosity, as, for example, of a gorilla with two heads; consequently, we may neglect them entirely. [....] A desire to give them the same education, and, as a consequence, to propose the same goals for them, is a dangerous chimera....The day when, misunderstanding the inferior occupations which nature has given her, women, leave the home and take part in our battles; on this day a social revolution will begin, and everything that maintains the sacred ties of the family will disappear" (pg 104-105 of Gould)

To think, to give woman the same goals as man would mean the ruination of family! I guess you could see why I went, "Oh My!," when reading this. Of course, there was a bit of giggling at 3 am when I read this, but I still think it is important to discuss things like this. Undoubtedly, someone in America, or even the world, still thinks like this.

More Anticpation

Now, I have something to look forward to after the new Byatt is published in May. Margaret Atwood's new book is coming out in September (unless they move the publication date).

Here's some scoop I found out, (thanks Fantastic Fiction)

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

"An epic of biblical proportions, The Year of the Flood is a feast of imagination and a journey to the end of the world. Adam One is the leader of the God's Gardeners, a religious group devoted to living under the command of the natural world. They wear beige cloth-sacks, cultivate mushrooms, harvest honey and curse each other by shouting: Pig-Eater! Their community is only tolerated by the CorpSeCorps, the ruling power, because they are not perceived as threatening. But, this is a world where gene-splicing is the norm; where lions and lambs have become Liobams and pigs have human DNA. The times, and species, are changing at a rapid rate, and with loyalites as thin as environmental stability, the future is a dangerous place. And, if the Waterless Flood does indeed arrive, as predicted by the Gardeners, will there even be a future to contemplate? Ren is a trapeze dancer at Scales and Tails, and can work a plank just as well. After a rip in her biofilm she is placed in solitary confinement until they can guarantee she is without disease. Her story is one part of our gateway into this uniquely constructed world. The other is Toby, an ex-counter-girl at SecretBurger ('Because we all love a Secret'), a natural cynic and source of extensive homeopathic knowledge; she knows her aminatas from her puffballs. Their stories weave beneath the holy teachings and saintly-songs of Adam One to create a truly apocalyptic vision, a world that harnesses Atwood's wit, dystopic imagination and sharp insight. The result is a collective blast of a novel and one that will remain with you until the Waterless Flood comes."

I love Atwood's novel. If you haven't read anything by her, I would recommend starting with The Handmaid's Tale or Oryx and Crake. Check her out when you get some time.