Is Female to Male as ­Powerless is to Powerful?

In one of the greatest essays ever written by a social scientist, American anthropologist Sherry ­Ortner asked if “Female is to Male as Nature is to Culture.” Marshalling evidence from across the globe, she noted the systematic association of women with humanity’s biological dimensions (childbirth, breastfeeding, etc.) and men’s apparent transcendence of the same. Two leading feminist writers – American public intellectual Katha ­Pollitt , longtime columnist for The Nation, and Dutch political scientist and IWM Permanent Fellow Mieke Verloo – extend the debate to the tropes of power and powerlessness. What does it mean that we live with the discursive legacy of a “weaker” (and “stronger”) sex? Should we show that women are plenty strong or should we question the differences between the sexes altogether? Austrian political scientist Birgit Sauer moderates.