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‘Does Sex Matter to Democracy?’– A Comment
Author(s) -
Pateman Carole
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
scandinavian political studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.65
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-9477
pISSN - 0080-6757
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9477.1990.tb00104.x
Subject(s) - subordination (linguistics) , citizenship , antithesis , democracy , duty , relation (database) , sexual difference , meaning (existential) , gender studies , politics , sociology , political science , epistemology , psychology , law , psychoanalysis , philosophy , linguistics , database , computer science
Two aspects of the relation between sexual difference and democracy are discussed: (i) the construction in classic contract theory of the ‘natural’ difference between the sexes as a relation of superiority and subordination; (ii) the peculiarities and paradoxes of women's standing as citizens as the ‘different’ sex. This is illustrated by the examples of motherhood ‐ women have been seen as having a distinctive political duty as mothers, but motherhood is also seen as the antithesis of citizenship ‐ by the difficulties surrounding women and consent, and by the questions raised by contemporary feminists about the meaning of (‘normal’) ‘sex’.