Ipazia e la guerra tra i sessi

by Dora Russell, Marina Calloni (Contributor)

"Perché Ipazia? La concezione della natura e delle relazioni umane di Dora Russell mira a non reprimere gli istinti, ma a guidarli con l'intelligenza, l'educazione, la democrazia. Questa visione distica della vita in cui il sesso è parte determinante della personalità individuale e relazionale viene condensata nel pamphlet "Ipazia e la guerra tra i sessi", scritto nel 1925. La brevità del trattato non deve però trarre in inganno rispetto al contenuto e alla sua attualità. Diviso in cinque capitoli, il testo parte da figure di donne e uomini storici e mitologici - da Ipazia a Giasone e Medea, Artemide, Aspasia, Ecuba, Admeto - con l'intento di mettere in luce come problemi nei rapporti fra uomini e donne abbiano trapassato l'antichità fino ai giorni nostri, senza soluzione di continuità. Dora cerca così di dare immanentemente forma e contenuto alle sue idee e a definire le sue pratiche di libertà e amore. Mette pertanto a fuoco la natura delle principali relazioni i rapporti di genere (fra uomini e donne), intergenerazionali (fra bambini e adulti, genitori o insegnanti), politici (fra governanti e cittadini) ed economici (fra datore e lavoratore), civili (fra cittadini che hanno a cuore questioni pubbliche). Queste prospettive sono tutte cogenti e strettamente interconnesse nel libro che qui presentiamo." (Marina Calloni)

100 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1925

About the author

Dora Black, Lady Russell was a British author, a feminist and socialist campaigner, and the second wife of the eminent philosopher Bertrand Russell. In 1909 she joined the Heretics Society, co-founded by C. K. Ogden. It questioned traditional authorities in general and religious dogma in particular. The society helped her to discard traditional values and develop her own feminist mode of thought.

In common with other radical women of her generation she had realized the extent to which the laws regulating marriage contributed to a woman's subjugation. In her view, only parents should be bound by a social contract, and only insofar as their cooperation was required for raising their children. Implicit was her conviction that both men and women were polygamous by nature and should therefore be free, whether married or not, to engage in sexual relationships that were based on mutual love. In this she was as much an early sexual pioneer as in her fight for a woman's right to information about, and free access to, birth control methods. She regarded these as essential for women to gain control over their own lives, and eventually become fully emancipated.

In 1924, Russell campaigned passionately for birth control, joining with H. G. Wells and John Maynard Keynes in founding the Workers' Birth Control Group. She also campaigned in the Labour Party for birth control clinics, with only limited success.

Reviews

[Simona Tota · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scritto nel 1925, dopo quasi cento anni ricalca problematiche e temi ancora oggi spinosi per coloro i/le quali si interessano di femminismo.

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book smells so olddddd. This is why I love university libraries.

Anyway, this is a lovely compact book written by Dora Russell, exploring the developments in feminism in the early 20th century. I quite admire it because she’s clearly behind the general movement, but is not hesitant to criticise the ways it seems to be heading down undesirable directions. (I’ll cover a few of what I see to be her main points.)

‘Each class and sex has that to give to the common stock or achievement, knowledge, thought, which it alone can give, and robs itself and the community by inferior imitation.' p21

Women should not strive and try to be like men, but be true to themselves – they have something unique and valuable worth contributing to society, different to what men can offer. So they shouldn’t try to prove themselves to men, but be the best they can be.

'Everything is to be gained by training a woman in knowledge, courage, and physical strength’ -p46

'The way of life is not back to nature, [...] but onwards, to greater knowledge.' -p54

Men and women should both be educated in a full, unashamed, modern way. Women shouldn’t be told to turn to feminine and maternal instinct, and men shouldn’t be ignorant of women’s experiences. Both should be knowledgeable of women’s experiences, pain, pleasure and health. Russell also strongly advocates the use of contraception and the importance of women’s enjoyment of sex. She notes that already, women reared in feminist traditions have a more modern and less old-fashioned education and outlook than men. Modern education (of/for both mind and body) for all is the way forward, leading to greater freedom of choice.

There’s also a consistent denial of dualism, and the reflection of it being an outdated and uninformed outlook. This is reflected in her comparison of dualism being masculine whilst feminist women have a more modern education, and how modern science is leaving dualism behind. Russell also rejects dualism in the nature of love. Lovers love both mind and body - they know each other mentally, spiritually and physically - there's no need to distinguish between mind and body.

'First and foremost, man or woman, we are human beings.' -p79

This denial of dualism also emphasises the barriers between the two separate paths offered to women, rather than a unified fulfilling life. Russell identifies the problem of women having to make an ultimate choice between their independent freedom/ career and becoming a wife and mother. (This is putting women off marrying, or at the least delaying it, which is problematic.) She stresses the importance and value of motherhood, and argues that women must demand for the mother’s hard work to be recognised, for her to have the freedom to choose her number of children and amount of rest between them, and for her to retain her participation and inclusion in public life.

Russell does a good job of recognising the differences between men and women (their unique experiences and different attributes) whilst also recognising that they are both ultimately human, both having unified minds and bodies, both able to benefit by learning about themselves and each other, and allowing each other to flourish. We are not so different as we might be led to believe, nor is the other as mystical as we might believe, if only we seek to understand each other. And the unity of mind and body, and the unity of man and woman, is a powerful thing.

'Men and women are [...] things of fire intertwining in understanding, torrents leaping to join in a cascade of mutual ecstasy. There is nothing in life to compare with this uniting of minds and bodies in men and women who have laid aside hostility and fear and seek in love the fullest understanding of themselves and of the universe.' -p80

Russell’s work aims to work towards a future of education and increasing knowledge, where men and women are educated equally and seek to understand each other fully, where their different contributions and attributions are equally recognised and valued, where they can all live in health and harmony of both mind and body together. Although there were a couple of aspects in her work reflecting her time and traditions that made me twitch a little (it was written almost a whole century ago, after all!), overall her work is passionate and informed and still meaningful today.

[Hall's Bookshop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dora Russell presents a vision of a humane, sensible society, which allows women to fulfill their potential without destroying family life. Nearly 100 years later, some of her ideas, particularly those relating to child-care, still sound like science-fiction in the English-speaking world - a revelation which must be a source of great shame to all of us who have failed to put her workable solutions into practice.

jm 23/12/19

[nullx002 · Rating 4 out of 5]

outdated in many senses yet..

[LaNi95_ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un saggio che mi ha regalato l'uomo con cui ho scelto di condividere la vita e che non vedevo l'ora di leggere per le tematiche importanti e profonde che tratta senza troppi giri di parole. Uno scritto diviso in 5 capitoli, in ognuno dei quali l'autrice esamina un'importante figura di donna o di uomo storica o mitologica, andando ad indagare con assoluta maestria i rapporti tra i generi dall'antichità fino ai giorni nostri, incastrando nell'indagine anche tutti gli altri argomenti interconnessi e importanti che perneano la vita degli individui sociali. Dora cerca quindi, di definire le sue pratiche di libertà e amore mettendo a fuoco la natura delle principali relazioni umane: i rapporti di genere, intergenerazionali, civili, politici ed economici, dando vita a un affresco che, oggi come nel passato, chi vuole soffermarsi a leggerlo, capirlo ed ascoltarlo, può fermarsi a guardarlo per riflettere introspettivamente su ciò che esattamente è la lotta femminista contro i costrutti sociali che continuano a condizionare le azioni degli individui, soprattutto di coloro che non fanno niente ma accettano semplicemente questa imposizione sociale. Un saggio leggero, senza tempo e coinvolgente, che si legge in pochissimo tempo e che può essere considerato di grande utilità, perché aiuta a capire le cose che "si fanno così", ma andrebbero cambiate, cambiando il modo di vivere e di pensare.
Consigliato a tutt* i curiosi, e soprattutto a chi vuole ampliare la propria visione sulle differenze di genere e sul femminismo.