Beyond Gender 2000

1. Beyond Gender 2000 In Article 6 in Women’s Studies: 99/00, “Women of the Future: Alternative Scenarios,” Christopher B. Jones suggests five different models for the future of society in regard to gender relations: • Partnership • Male Backlash • Separation • High-Tech Autonomy • Continued Patriarchy Have we all come a long way, baby, from Adam and Eve?

2. The Partnership Model • Men and women work together • Gender-based differences in labor become less pronounced • Men and women share political and economic equality • Shared parenting exists in a variety of forms, like Hillary Rodham Clinton’s It Takes A Village

3. The Male Backlash Model • In a hyper-patriarchy, men reclaim dominance over women • Polygamy is the norm, especially among wealthy men • Female infanticide is common • Work is done by female “slaves” • Fundamentalist male-dominated religions reign supreme • Witch burning becomes common Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale becomes a reality, much like modern Afghanistan

4. The Separation Model • Women form a separate society, doing without men both genetically and socially • Men are banned from some communities; some are sent to space colonies • Inter-generational families become common • Feminist spirituality emerges in the form of goddess worship, neo-paganism, and witchcraft Models for this include John Gray’s Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, which advocates essential differences or any of the Daily Meditations for Women books

5. The High-Tech Androgyny Model • Men and women are freed, due to technological advances, from most work, and a leisure society develops • Gender roles are blurred • Sexual recreation is separated from procreation • Children are genetically engineered and reared by robotic nannies • Children are allowed to experiment with gender and change them before puberty This model is an updated version of Plato’s Republic

6. The Continued Patriarchy Model • Women continue to gain rights, but many are pressured into “Super Mom” roles • Women are increasingly accepted into the workplace but continue to struggle for equal pay and recognition and against the “glass ceiling” • Women tend to be under-represented in politics • The nuclear family is the ideal The model of this is our current President, his family, and his political agenda and administration. Women who work in the White House can no longer wear pants to work

7. Where Does This Leave Us, Beyond Gender 2000? • Choose, discard, adapt these models as you will • Be aware of these gender issues in the world and in your own homes • Commit yourself to working toward your ideal model, starting small and expanding out, as possible What I hope you take is that we are all different and our success—as citizens, as members of the world population, as individuals—lies in us recognizing and using that richness of difference to work together to improve life, even if our concepts of 1) what it will take to improve life or 2) what an improved life is are different.

8. Analyzing The Onion’s Articles in Consideration of Gender Issues • “New Mommy a Lot Prettier” • /onion3605/new_mommy_prettier.html • “Letter D Pulls Sponsorship From Sesame Street: Noted Consonant Alienated by Controversial New Gay Muppet” • /onion3218/gaymuppet.html • “Housewife Charged in Sex-For_security Scam” • /onion3208/sexforsecurity.html • “All Women Don’t Know What They’re Missing” • /onion3715/women_don’t_know.html • “Today’s Women Don’t Like It When You Come to Them as a Bull or Swan” • /onion3514/todays_women.html • “Fairy-Princess Ranks Depleting as Girls Aspire to be Doctors, Lawyers” • /onion3413/fairyprincess.html From http://www.theonion.com

9. Study Checklist for Exam • Reviving Ophelia and Relevant Notes • Gender in Media: Films and Comic Books • Gender, Body Image, Health, etc. • This Lecture • Kimmel: Mostly Chapter Nine and Epilogue