Defining Gender Roles Through Public and Private Spheres

TRANSCENDING TRADITIONAL GENDER BOUNDARIES Defining Gender Roles Through Public and Private Spheres JACQU I E SMYTH CONTROVERSY OVER GENDER ROLES IS A MAJOR ISSUE IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY. THE DEBATES SURROUNDING GENDER AND SEXUALITY HAVE EXTENDED TO ARENAS FAR BEYOND THE HOME; POLITICAL PLATFORMS AND RELIGIOUS VIEWS HAVE INHERITED THE TORCH, CONTINUING THE ARGUMENT IN TO THE 21ST CENTURY. THIS ESSAY WILL SHOW THAT THE DISCOMFORT ARISING FROM THE BLURRING OF TRADITIONAL BOURGEOIS GENDER ROLES WHICH ALLOCATED PUBLIC LIFE TO MEN AND PRIVATE LIFE TO WOMEN IS AT THE HEART OF THESE DEBATES. BY FOLLOWING THE HISTORICAL PROGRESSION OF THESE ARGUMENTS AND TRACING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF GENDER ROLES BACK TO THEIR ROOTS, THIS ESSAY INTENDS TO BETTER THE UNDERSTANDING OF BOTH THE ORIGINS OF THIS DISCOMFORT AND THE APPLICATION OF GENDER ROLES TODAY. For centuries, the roles of men and women have been political stance. In business, her presence was felt very changing, but not until recently have women demanded slightly, if at all; perhaps she helped her husband by such equal treatment in the form of the right to choose handling the money that circulated around the house for abortion, the right to vote, and the ability to work in the the purchasing of food or furniture. Beyond the reach of business world. With these demands, women are reaching the home, however, a woman was rarely seen, save in a outside their traditional domains of home and family life, a marketplace or walking with her children. Her education shift that disrupts traditional patterns of gender distinction focused around the maintenance of the home, rarely in the Western world. The correlation between the men's extending beyond her mother's knowledge, who educated and women's spheres of influence and the spheres of the her daughter in domestic tasks from a young age. public and private is strikingly ap- parent in European history. It is These spheres were well defined: the blurring of these spheres that the stereotypically stronger figure sparks the controversy evident in handled the potentially harmful present-day Europe. outside world, while the milder, gentler figure maintained the The traditional image of the home. Uneasiness accompanied Western European bourgeois any attempt to cross these male was that of a public figure. spheres—an uneasiness that In the Christian world, the head of sparks discussions about the each family was the father, who genders, their roles, and whether enforced the practice of to maintain or break these Christianity in his home and spheres of influence. Men and ensured his family's church women have been engaged in attendance. The churches them- this discussion for generations. selves were primarily a man's world, with all leadership posi- Before entering into that discus- tions occupied by males. In busi- sion once again, however, the ness, men conducted financial assumption that forms the transactions, handled the family's foundation of this argument money, and entered into the job must be discussed—namely, the market either by opening his own THE TYPICAL FEMALE SPHERE establishment of gender-specific business or by working as a spheres of influence as a basis for laborer or tradesman. Additionally, men in the family were European society. The gender roles outlined in this paper often formally educated, gaining access to resources that are not a natural establishment; they were created outside women were denied. of nature as Western society "modernized." In addition, these roles are clearly not inflexible, as demonstrated by the A woman's sphere, in contrast, was far more limited in the Celtic community, which involved both men and women in traditional bourgeois society. She was instructed to remain its religious society, as well as the African tribes today that home so she could raise her children and provide their ed- are matriarchal. Thus, these spheres have a deeply rooted ucation. Her involvement in politics was nearly nonexist- history but are not universal because they are taken solely ent, as she was forced to identify herself with her husband's from the views of middle-class society in modern Europe. ELEMENTS SPRING 08 However, these views on gender, while more widely The idea of a homosexual Jesus evoked more of a negative disputed, are still evident in our own middle-class culture. reaction than did a sexually ambiguous Savior, because "a This is clear by our continuing debates over the roles of sensual, heterosexual Jesus was preferable to any sort of women in the world of business and the home, as well as homosexual Christ."lv In the case of Christ, the fear that the role of a homosexual male in a woman's sphere. Once "men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in one is able to examine these gender roles in their historical their lust toward one another"v overrode any fear that a context, one is able to trace their development and their man may have been depicted as a womanly man, as long as impact on the 21st century. he remained heterosexual. The sexual sphere of a woman being the receiver was usurped and blurred by the homo- JESUS AND GENDER sexual relationship, therefore the ROLES possibility of Christ's homosexu- Uncertainty of gender began even ality was denied vehemently by with the icon of the Christian reli- those who upheld society's gion. In response to male domi- traditional gender spheres. nance in the Church, some depic- Instead, Jesus was generally de- tions of Christ in art took on a picted as a gentle figure who more ambiguous tone. These im- crossed the boundaries of public ages of "modern gay Christs were and private life but remained serious attempts by homosexual heterosexual. men, and more rarely, women to find a way in to the fortress of MALE FRIENDSHIPS Christian dogma."1 Women and The power of public and private gay men, who were alienated and gender spheres can also be seen feminized by many Christian ide- in male friendships. The friend- ologues, tried to break into the ships described in Alan Bray's predominately male-oriented The Friend, which would, with a world of Christianity. These in- modern perspective, appear terpretations, as would be ex- homosexual, were conducted "in V1 pected, were greeted with indig- a public sphere," and are thus nation and anger from many, if made more masculine in the not most, in the Christian com- JESUS GATHERS HIS MALE COMPANIONS context of the male's sphere of munity. The adverse reaction to influence. In the case of William this interpretation was spurred by post-Biblical ideals of the Neville and John Clanvowe, their entombment together position of masculinity in Christianity. In addition, as was a "hint of the formal and public context for their friend- Graham Robb writes in his chapter entitled "Gentle Jesus," ship," of which the monks in the church where they are V11 many "still widely assume... that Jesus condemned homo- buried were fully aware. The acceptance of the practice of sexuality."11 At the same time, however, Robb explains sev- "sworn brotherhood" was based on the fact that it was a eral ambiguous passages in the Bible that imply a certain public affair; by asserting a masculine love for another homosexuality in Christ's relationship with his apostle man, one was not necessarily asserting homosexuality if John.111 one did so in a public milieu. TRANSCENDING TRADITIONAL GENDER BOUNDARIES Political involvement also created a space for sworn broth- supported sworn brotherhood. The services brothers erhood. Bray explains that "friendship was dangerous, and would willingly have bestowed upon each other were it was so because [of what] friendship signified in a public "regarded not as indicative of intimacy but as menial or sphere."vm The words dangerous and public together show degrading" because they became associated with a a respect toward these relationships, particularly those woman's gender role.5411 With the privatization of the home, made to further political alliances. Friendships made based a woman's sphere began to take shape; the affairs of the on political advantage existed precariously due to the lack of household, like cleaning, caretaking, and child-rearing true love seen in relationships like that between William were now under her jurisdiction. This distinction threw Neville and John Clanvowe. Furthermore, these friend- sworn brotherhood into a different light because the bed- ships often led to betrayals of trust and a false sense of room became the private realm of a man and his wife and camaraderie.154 Because of the tight bonds seen in the was no longer a place for a man and his male friend. The sworn brotherhoods between men with real affection and implications of this arrangement were serious, and trust, political maneuvers attempted to capture that union accusations of sodomy became a threat for many as the and create strong alliances. This shows the general accept- crime of sodomy required the penalty of death.54111 ance of the practice in politics, which gave "the appearance of friendship in the public eye that was itself a kind of A new ideal of friendship, then, had to be defined distin- currency that could be turned to advantage."54 guishing those gestures two men could perform without any homosexual implications from those they could not. In the 17th century, with the elimination of the public Contrary to past relationships, kisses and displays of affec- theater in the great houses of gentlemen and the invention tion had to be curbed because they now became private. of hallways "screening the sharing of beds at night from These actions, in conjunction with the development of a view,"541 the friendships and bedfellows that had previously private space in the home, defined a place for the wife.

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