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@ Sky: It was less a comment on his eloquence than on his use of the word 'manly' in that context :P Rousseau and indeed pretty much all 18th century thinkers and political philosphers had a tendency to use that word to describe anything and everything worth having or being. From radical politics, to 'true feeling': women were considered more or less incapable of sharing in these, beyond their duty to raise radical sons.
'True feeling' or 'sentiment' was 'manly'. Women, though emotional creatures (entirely emotional) were not capable of 'true feeling' and 'manly sentiment'. We were capable of beauty but denied the 'sublime'. From the radicals to the conservatives; it was all 'manly'. The heights of feeling; the depths of logic, none of this was 'feminine'; it was always 'manly'.
Hearing someone use that term in that particular context was slightly startling. If 'antitotalitarianism' is a manly creed, does that mean antitotalitarian women must adopt a form of manliness in order to share in it?
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02-03-2010, 06:39 AM
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