The Nature as a Woman Paradigm and the Resulting Harmful Societal Effects by

Central Post

mcf21006 — 2025-05-04 17:45:16 UTC

Throughout the history of our civilizations, we have used stereotypes and patterns to both make sense of our world, and to maintain order and power. One such stereotype, which has remained relatively constant over time, is that surrounding women. Women have been seen as caretakers, incapable of fending for themselves and instead turn to taking care of menial tasks for the stronger, more capable man. This cultural view of women being submissive, weak, caretakers has allowed for their consistent exploitation across every sphere of life. They are underappreciated within the workforce, academic fields, and overall seen as less than. This widespread devaluation of women has facilitated an understanding amongst more power groups, that them and their resources are free for the taking. As discussed within our lectures, this same stereotype and the cultural implications are reflected within the Nature as a Woman issue. When wilderness is framed in gendered terms, such as the concept of virgin land or virgin wilderness, it reinforces both sexism and ecological abuse. While women are identified with virgin land, or the obligated caretaker of mother nature, men are presented as those conquering and experiencing nature. Both taking it for themselves and disregarding the harm they cause in their overconsumption. The cultural stereotypes we have created for women are so powerful, they practically authorize the same abuse across different objects or concepts. The stereotypes we have placed upon women and nature, as passive, weak, and obligated caretakers have lead to exploitation of nature, the abuse of women, and an inequal responsibility in the context of climate change and our future.

(Lecture Context) Theme as Provider Within Nature

mcf21006 — 2025-05-04 17:45:44 UTC

The issue of nature as a woman has two potential implications. One of which being the concept of "Mother Nature". As previously discussed, the idea of Mother Earth or Mother Nature causes the idea of nature or wilderness to be associated with maternal qualities. Although it has been useful in terms of environmental protection, to see earth as a member of a family, or someone looking out for you. By associating nature with a maternal figure, we are creating the idea that nature provides nourishment, and is obligated to provide regardless of how much we take from it. This encourages a risky relationship between humans and nature, rather than respecting a balance to allow nature to thrive, it becomes parasitic relationship.

Theme as Provider (Translating to Abuse of Nature/Inhabitants)

mcf21006 — 2025-05-04 17:46:32 UTC

When nature is associated with women, it inevitably receives similar treatment. As society has consistently taken advantage of, and exploited their women; it treats it's land the same way. Alongside the Mother Nature implication, the Nature as a Woman paradigm creates the Virgin Land and Virgin Wilderness implication. By describing the unexplored American continents as virgin land, it is implying that something pure within the land is free for the taking. It was used to encourage the early settlers to get out there, taking the land for themselves before others could. In associating this land with the idea of a virgin, it reinforces the female stereotype of passivity, a need for conquering, and value being solely placed on what men can take from them. The reinforcement of these stereotypes practically encourages the abuse the land receives, causing it's inhabitants to suffer right alongside it.

(Lecture Context) Theme as a Provider, Real Life Consequences

mcf21006 — 2025-05-04 17:46:55 UTC

The association of maternal qualities with the environment is undoubtedly harmful for nature itself, but the concept of inherent maternal qualities are equally as harmful for women around the world. When we think of mothers we think of an ever flowing fountain of effort, support, and resources. They are expected to be biologically predisposed for selfless care, endless patience, and unconditional nurturing. In many ways, once a woman becomes a mother, society expects their own lives to end. A child means a never ending duty and with that comes the need for complete and unquestioned sacrifice. This same mechanism operates in how we view nature. Although referring to Earth as "Mother Nature" may seem affectionate, it conceals the dangerous assumption that like a mother, the planet exists to give endlessly, to absorb harm without protest, and to regenerate without the need for rest or repair. It fosters a sense of entitlement, like how we feel we are entitled to maternal acts from women, that nature will always provide, always replenish, and always forgive. In the face of climate change, this natural duty of caring places harmful responsibility upon mothers. Forcing them to grapple with the implications of bringing a child onto a dying planet.

(Lecture Content) Ecology and Romanticism in terms of Treatment and Abuse

mcf21006 — 2025-05-04 17:47:23 UTC

As discussed, romanticism was characterized by placing the value within the natural, associating living within the wilderness as being closer to god and a sublime existence. It created a value system of untouched land having inherent value in the face of developed land. It created a strict nature/culture divide, implying that human involvement within wilderness diminished it's value tenfold. Within the ecology movement, this nature/culture divide is replaced with the understanding of a deeply interconnected relationship between the two. Ecology emphasizes that everything the land is subjected to, is inflicted back on those who live there. In the face of female stereotypes, both women and nature are subjected to the same treatment, and suffer the same consequences. The association of femininity with nature not only causes the resulting abuse, but normalizes the poor treatment of both subjects.

(Analysis) Clan of One Breasted Women

mcf21006 — 2025-05-04 17:47:36 UTC

This interconnected relationship of environment and inhabitants is illustrated through Tempest Williams The Clan of One Breasted Women. As the land was exposed to nuclear testing and severe levels of radiation, it's inhabitants were suffering from the same treatment. Ironically, those who suffered most directly were the women living there. Tempest Williams' own family suffered generational loss from the radiation inflicted history of breast cancer. In the case of these women in Utah, this history of loss and abuse created a kinship alongside the land. As both suffered from similar treatment, being a woman created an understanding in being nature. Williams writes, "The women couldn't bear it any longer. They were mothers. They had suffered labor pains but always under the promise of birth. The red hot pains beneath the desert promised death only, as each bomb became a stillborn. A contract had been made and broken between human beings and the land. A new contract was being drawn by the women, who understood the fate of the earth as their own." (Williams, 288). Again, the association of femininity with nature lead to exploitative treatment and abuse.

(Scrapbook) Climate Anxiety: "I don't want to burden the world with my child"

mcf21006 — 2025-05-04 18:03:19 UTC

The same exact sentiment Lizzie shares throughout Weather, of guilt and uncertainty in bringing children into our world during this time of climate uncertainty, is shared within women across the globe. One such article, sharing the results of an online survey concerning women's feelings about the current state of the world, revealed how climate anxieties not only affected their mental and physical health, but causes them deep panic concerning having children. One young woman, named Julia, stated "How can we think about children in the future if the children of the present are already in danger?" (Singh Khadka). The same maternal qualities that cause poor treatment of our environment, cause disproportionate stress in mothers concerning climate anxiety. We place every facet of childcare in the responsibility of mothers, so much so they are forced to grapple with as large scale of an issue as climate change and come up with a plan for survival.

(Lecture Context) Weather and Climate Anxiety

mcf21006 — 2025-05-04 18:03:33 UTC

Throughout our lecture, we looked at how climate change, both it's large scale consequences and it's personal effects, have been represented through different forms of media. One such form was an instance of Cli-Fi known as Weather by Jenny Offill. This book operates as a controlling metaphor for the everyday experiences of climate change and the overall atmosphere of climate anxiety it fosters. The fragmentary style of writing creates a lifelike feel, while creating an anxious feeling building up throughout the course of the book. The book does a great job of encapsulating a realistic depiction of climate change, but it also does a great job centering in on climate anxiety and it's many facets. Climate anxiety has been defined in lecture as an emotional response to climate change and environmental issues. Weather discusses how it impacts different people in different spheres of life in different ways, but it also centers in on climate anxiety surrounding children and their futures.

(Analysis) Weather and Anxieties Surrounding Children

mcf21006 — 2025-05-04 18:04:01 UTC

One of the largest themes within our reading, Weather by Jenny Offill, was that of the main character Lizzie's feeling of impending doom. Throughout the book, we are subjected to how Lizzie deals with her climate anxiety, and her feelings of dread specifically attached to her children's future. She grapples, like many women do today, with what it means to bring children into an uncertain world with an uncertain future. Offill writes, "I had that thought again. The one with numbers in it. It bent the light. Eli is at the kitchen table, trying all his markers one by one to see which will work. Ben brings him a bowl of water so he can dip them in to test. According to the current trajectory, New York City will begin to experience dramatic, life altering temperatures by 2047." (Offill 106). While her son Eli is being a kid, playing with his markers, Lizzie is forced into grappling with her son's uncertain future. Climate anxiety may be disproportionately felt by women, as they are forced into responsibility for their children and their futures. This is reflected through Lizzie's own ownership of climate anxiety and doomsday preparation for her family throughout the book.

Weather Analysis 2

mcf21006 — 2025-05-04 18:04:15 UTC

As the book progresses, and Lizzie's climate anxiety begins to spiral into full on doomsday prepping, a constant theme is how she could protect her family. She does so by discussing where the best places to live would be and even starts learning survival techniques. "On the way back, she meets me in the city for dinner. I tell her that I've been thinking that we should buy some land somewhere colder. That if climate departure happens in New York when predicted, Eli and Iris could- "Do you really think you can protect them? In 2047?" Sylvia asks. I look at her. Because until this very moment, I did, I did somehow think this." (Offill, 127). Instances like this one reflect Lizzie's overwhelming sense of responsibility towards the children in her life. She consistently worries about how she can protect her son and her niece, even in the face of climate change's unavoidable nature.

(Lecture Context) Stereotypes Across Romanticism and Ecology

mcf21006 — 2025-05-04 18:05:30 UTC

As we've learned throughout the course of our lectures, the ways in which we have framed and understood wilderness and it's qualities have changed to reflect the current values of the time period. We have moved from a time of romanticism, where value was solely placed within virgin, untouched, and pure wilderness. To a time of ecology, emphasizing the importance in understanding the interconnected relationship of humans with their surrounding environments. The interesting thing about these different ideologies, is that these same gendered stereotypes change alongside them. For instance, romanticism placed value in "virgin land", emphasizing the passive nature of women, implying both women and nature were there for the taking. This was used at the time by early settlers to both encourage the conquering of wilderness, as well as stressing the women's proper place. In applying the female stereotype to the land, it caused a societal wide way of viewing the wilderness, causing both women and nature to be taken advantage of. As we have now moved into a more ecological centered ideology, we are able to understand the reciprocal relationship between humans and their environment. There is more of an implied equality, noting that treating nature poorly will result in poor conditions and consequences. Rather than treating nature as an obligated caregiver, we are able to see her as a potential equal. These differences in cultural and historical stereotypes can be illustrated through the differences between Skywoman, and Adam and Eve.

(Analysis) Implications of Female Stereotypes: Skywoman

mcf21006 — 2025-05-04 18:05:41 UTC

Different cultural stereotypes surrounding women create different understandings for not only women but nature as well. Our cultural stereotypes emphasize negative qualities, passivity, an obligation to care for others; which causes environmental exploitation. For others, like those within Native American culture, their concept of Mother Nature stems from the story of the Skywoman. A woman who facilitated a caring, symbiotic relationship with the world and its creatures; creates a better developed and positive treatment of the environment. Kimmerer writes, "On one side of the world were people whose relationship with the living world was shaped by Skywoman, who created a garden for the well-being of all. On the other side was another woman with a garden and a tree. but for tasting its fruit, she was banished from the garden and the gates clanged shut behind her. That mother of men was made to wander in the wilderness and earn her bread by the sweat of her brow, not by filling her mouth with the sweet juicy fruits that bend her branches low. In order to eat, she was instructed to subdue the wilderness into which she was cast." (Kimmerer, 7). Romanticism did not penetrate their culture, and in it's absence a more healthy relationship between nature and it's inhabitants was created.

(Analysis) Skywoman

mcf21006 — 2025-05-04 18:05:49 UTC

The difference in both female and natures stereotypes creates a difference in the treatment of women and nature. These cultural stereotypes are so extremely powerful, as they help us make sense of the world and how we are meant to act within it. The same association of a Skywoman or of a Mother Nature can shape starkly different ways of treating our environments. Kimmerer shares this sentiment, "Same species, same earth, different stories...They tell us who we are. We are inevitably shaped by them not matter how distant they may be from our consciousness. One story leads to the generous embrace of the living world, the other to banishment. One woman is our ancestral gardener, a cocreator of the good green world that would be the home of her descendants. The other was an exile, just passing through an alien world on a rough road to her real home in heaven." (Kimmerer, 7). Although they reference Eve rather than the idea of Mother Nature, the sentiment remains the same. Our culture at large reflects the female stereotypes we hold, and in turn our treatment of things we hold in tandem with women mirrors them.

Skywoman

mcf21006 — 2025-05-04 18:05:57 UTC

An image of Skywoman, an important figure in the teachings called the Original Instructions. Which act as ideas or patterns to act inline with, creating a healthy and respectful way of interacting with nature and women (Cameron Trimble, 2020)

Protest at Nevada Test Site (1987)

mcf21006 — 2025-05-04 18:06:47 UTC

Within the Clan of One Breasted Women, Williams' ends her piece telling her audience how she was arrested in Mercury, Nevada for trespassing on military lands. The above image is from a protest at that same site in 1987 (Lane). Williams' writes, "But as I walked toward the town of Mercury, it was more than a gesture of peace. It was a gesture on behalf of the Clan of One-Breasted Women." (Williams, 290).

Operation Plumbbob

mcf21006 — 2025-05-04 18:06:58 UTC

The image above is that of the aftermath of a nuclear test site in Nevada. Within The Clan of One-Breasted Women by Tempest Williams, she references Operation Plumbbob. A series of bomb tests conducted in Nevada in 1957. She goes onto discuss how her mother began developing her cancer that same year (Williams, 286).

March 15th Climate Strike

mcf21006 — 2025-05-04 18:07:49 UTC

Climate change is a real, intense threat to everyone's future. But most of all it is a threat to our children's future. In the face of uncertainty, those who have yet to begin living face the greatest potential loss. On March 15th, 2019 millions of young people skipped classes to protest for stronger climate policies.

(Scrapbook) The Rise of Eco-Anxiety

mcf21006 — 2025-05-04 18:08:27 UTC

Climate anxiety, or eco-anxiety, is a real contributor to decreased mental health worldwide. The article cited in this scrapbook post discusses real-life examples of how climate change is affecting people's mental health. The article discusses a Kenyan farmer named Laureen Wamaitha, who is directly impacted by climate change through the loss of her crops. Through extreme droughts and sudden floods, Laureen has had to deal with the physical effects of climate change, as well as her impacted mental well-being. Wamaitha states, "You get to a situation where you have panic attacks because you're always worried about something." (Pearson). Across the globe we are all feeling some level of psychological response towards the climate crisis.

Works Cited

mcf21006 — 2025-05-04 23:42:24 UTC

Barclay, Eliza. “Photos: Kids in 123 Countries Went on Strike to Protect the Climate.” Vox, 15 Mar. 2019, www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/3/15/18267156/youth-climate-strike-march-15-photos.

camerontrimble. “Piloting Faith: May Skywoman Fall Again.” Convergence, 15 Sept. 2020, convergenceus.org/2020/09/15/my-skywoman-fall-again/.

Kimmerer, Robin Wall. Braiding Sweetgrass. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Milkweed Editions, 2013.

Lane, Taylor. “Lookback: Hundreds Protest Nuclear Testing at Nevada Test Site — PHOTOS.” Las Vegas Review-Journal, 25 Oct. 2022, www.reviewjournal.com/local/local-nevada/lookback-hundreds-protest-nuclear-testing-at-nevada-test-site-photos-2664067/. Accessed 4 May 2025.

Offill, Jenny. Weather . London, Granta, 2021.

Pearson, Helen. “The Rise of Eco-Anxiety: Scientists Wake up to the Mental-Health Toll of Climate Change.” Nature, vol. 628, no. 8007, 10 Apr. 2024, pp. 256–258, www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00998-6, https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00998-6.

Singh Khadka, Navin . “Climate Anxiety: “I Don’t Want to Burden the World with My Child.”” Www.bbc.com, 15 Jan. 2024, www.bbc.com/news/world-67298903.

Terry Tempest Williams. Refuge : An Unnatural History of Familiy and Place. New York, Vintage, 2001.

Nuclearmuseum.org, 2025, ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Plumbbob-Hood%20(CN80-2653))%20LA-UR-06-1068.jpg. Accessed 4 May 2025.