Ortner - Is Female to Male as Culture is to Nature

Is it true, fact or reality that women, even though society is suppose to be living in a age where they are equal, still are treated differently simply because they are women? I believe Ortner is trying to make a point similar to this. She is arguing that in all societies, cultures and within different world views the socially constructed view of a woman is as a lesser in society. Ortner uses two passages in the beginning of her article that I feel are powerful and helpful resources to use while looking alongside her article. The first states “the universal fact and the cultural variation constitute problems to be explained” which I feel sums up the argument Ortner is trying to make throughout her article (67). There is a huge problem within all societies when it comes to the treatment and reasons for the unequal treatment of women, even though women can now get good jobs, an education, marry who they want and can be proud to be a single career women at the age of 40, it does not guarantee equal pay, equal treatment or equal respect.

These are problems that are rooted in societies and that date back long into history. Still today a woman can work the same job, have the same or higher education as a man but yet is paid less for her ‘human resources’. I believe Ortner uses an example from Chinese society very well and it represents the second point of the problem. More than just using Chinese society she describes Taoism in Chinese society, which has been present for many decades, and how the yin and yang represent equal female and equal male working harmonies and as one (Ortner 68). Ortner examples that it seems simple, functioning and practical in society but one must look deeper to see what really goes on between inequality in society and the treatment of females compared to their male counterparts.
With that being said I can do nothing else but agree with Ortner and her statements about the problem being a universal and socially constructed way of viewing men and women; men and women simply will only be equal in theory but in practice the constructed differences will cause unequal treatment in all cross cultural societies. Because of that the problem may never be fixed unless we dig up the roots society has constructed and rework women into the picture. Ortner searches for an explanation to the problem above and explains how the biological point of view is there but is rarely used as sound proof because all though it is obvious women and men are different, can biology really cause the inferiority problem within society? My personal opinion is that Ortner is on the right track because biology can only make up so much of a person and the second half, the half I feel is used more often in society than the biology, is the learned nature of an individual. Without nature teaching individuals that girls play with dolls, cook dinner, clean and boys play with trucks, fix car and mow the lawn individuals would know and understand sexuality differently. Ortner states that “every human being has a physical body and a sense of nonphysical mind, is part of a society of other individuals and an inheritor of a cultural tradition, and must engage in some relationship, however mediated, with “nature,” or the nonhuman realm, in order to survive” this relationship we make with society is learned, taught and continuously spit out over and over again and has been for years (71). Like I mentioned before, I believe, this relationship will never change because society feeds off of creating differences among males and females. How would society look if we were never taught the differences between sexuality and only taught the biological differences that make up the male and female?
Agreeing with Ortner comes easy when you look out into the world and see first hand what she is talking about. She puts it perfectly when she talks about society devaluing the women, putting her down in a way that is hidden but obvious (Ortner 72). We socialize, make different social status and different social stratification between men and women by using nature to create culture and. By doing this, I believe, Ortner is trying to say we are keeping society pure yet complex. She is saying that the things we are taught in nature and see in nature reflect culture because we focus on relaying traditions, messages and patterns that keep culture strong while maintaining the status quo. Nature is so pure yet societies have used it to formulate their ideas of the world at large.
Not only that but Ortner states that women are closer to nature in the scene that their bodies were made closer to nature, perform more task like nature and their social roles of mothering and creating life reflect nature more so than males. She goes on to states that the males body is made to focus their creative energy in something other than being a mother and reproducing, like what is seen in nature, that is why it might be easier for society to devalue the women because she only uses, or should only use, her energy in the home or in the set roles of being a ‘housewife’ like society has taught her. The context in which a woman lives in society is different than a man as well; women focus on the struggle and conflict in and between home and family. Ortner argues that we as women see the social inequality that takes place, know that we are treated differently but do not do anything to prevent it so we are, in turn, creating the social struggle for equality because we keep dealing with the male driven bullshit that is feed to us as children. Culture and nature are two different realms within society and as long as that is true men and women will be described and represented differently. How do you place value on something that is so different yet so much the same? Society has separated the man and the woman for a reason and the gap is huge but at most only socially constructed so there can be more than biological reason that separates the two sexes (Ortner 80). Because of this separation women and men will value different things, have different morals and be responsible for different roles in society. Women will not be treated as equals until men and women are taught that the only difference between them is their biological background and until they only are taught that there is going to be conflicting problems when it comes to equality.
Women and men must be taught by society that they are equally the same within society and can do the same kinds of activities. Societies universally need to teach similar values, roles, morals to men and women. These new constructed views of the man and women will then need to be carried with them for the rest of their lives so they can teach it to the next generation and so on. Ortner clearly states that until that happens there is going to be a rift between society, males and females and it will keep causing conflict until the root problem is fixed. I end this with the last quote that I feel is important to the argument at hand and show that women are inferior but maybe only because they are different and misunderstood. Ortner says that “Yes, women have certain powers and rights, in this case some that place them in fairly high positions. Yet ultimately the line is drawn: menstruation is a threat to warfare, one of the most valued institutions of the tribe, one that is central to their self-definition; and the most sacred object of the tribe is taboo to the direct sight and touch of women” (70).