A3 Book section, Chapters in research books
Complex Relations : Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Olympe de Gouges on the Sexes (2023)

Reuter, M. (2023). Complex Relations : Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Olympe de Gouges on the Sexes. In N. Harris, D. Bosseau, P. Pintobtang, & O. Brown (Eds.), Rousseau Today : Interdisciplinary Essays (pp. 129-149). Palgrave Macmillan. Political Philosophy and Public Purpose. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29243-9_6

JYU authors or editors

Reuter, Martina

Publication details

All authors or editors: Reuter, Martina

Parent publication: Rousseau Today : Interdisciplinary Essays

Parent publication editors: Harris, Neal; Bosseau, Denis; Pintobtang, Ployjai; Brown, Owen

ISBN: 978-3-031-29242-2

eISBN: 978-3-031-29243-9

Journal or series: Political Philosophy and Public Purpose

ISSN: 2524-714X

eISSN: 2524-7158

Publication year: 2023

Publication date: 31/05/2023

Pages range: 129-149

Number of pages in the book: 270

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Place of Publication: Cham

Publication country: Switzerland

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29243-9_6

Publication open access: Not open

Publication channel open access:

Abstract

The chapter shows that we can best understand Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s and Olympe de Gouges’ views on women when we interpret them as part of an ongoing discussion about the equality, similarity, and differences between the sexes. The first section examines Rousseau’s early writings on women from the 1740s. Contra previous scholarship, it is argued that Rousseau never defended a view of the equality of the sexes. Section two presents a close reading of the first pages of book five of Emile. It is argued that in these passages, Rousseau is positioning his view of sexual difference against previous views on the equality, superiority, or inferiority of women. It is concluded that the main difference between the early and later writings is that Rousseau drops the view that men’s rule over women is a form of tyranny. The final section examines Gouges’ critical dialogue with Rousseau. It is argued that she radicalizes rather than rejects his views on sexual difference. Joan W. Scott has famously argued that Gouges’ attempt to combine equal rights and difference is doomed to fail, because the discourse of universal rights has in itself constructed the concept of sexual difference. The chapter argues that rather than adding women to a universal ideal of rights, Gouges is questioning the very idea of gender-neutral universality. Her approach is truly radical in its attempt to gender men.

Keywords: gender; equality (values); woman's status

Free keywords: Jean-Jacques Rousseau; Olympe de Gouges

Fields of science: