Abstract:
This paper will explore a number of contradictions to the theme of a special relationship
between women and nature by examining associations between men and nature
and ways that women may be considered distant from nature. I will suggest a variety
of reasons why literature in women and environment, ecofeminism, and feminist
political ecology has chosen this particular story about a special connection between
women and nature (and thus failed to include other stories), and I will ask whether
ecofeminist constructions of gender inadvertently reinforce the very social and ecological
relations so many of us critique. Although much of my discussion will be directed
towards ecofeminism, the fields of women and environment and feminist political
ecology share the emphasis on women and nature to which I refer. I recognize
that whether theorists see relationships between women and nature as biological or
social has been the subject of much writing and criticism between theorists who consider
themselves to be in different fields. But at this point, the fact that there is now
such a large body of literature focusing on relationships between women and nature
(or environment) sets up a cultural story that is present across fields. I will use the
term special relationship to refer to the full range of ways that women and nature have
been connected.