A Woman's Land

Sallie Bingham is an old time feminist. This is evident when reading her essay A Woman’s Land. She applies inherent traits to each gender in her writings, saying men are incapable of letting land lie fallow while women find this task easy. Although, I can see where she’s coming from I would say these traits are not biological but rather societal. Proving self-worth is a large part of masculinity. Sometimes this manifests in economic success’s like turning an unprofitable piece of land into a farm or other profitable function. There is the stereotype of a men being providers. It is quite possible that a woman could destroy Bingham’s plot for economic gains, too.

Feminism has changed greatly in the past ten years. I do not think this is a good representation of eco-feminism because it is rooted in the similar thinking to that of gender roles. Gender is a spectrum and I think men and women are equally capable of learning Bingham’s views towards her land. She could have tried to instill the importance of said land to her sons. There is a great spectrum of beliefs in feminism, as in every movement, but I think Bingham’s articulated point in this essay is more harmful than proactive. Already there is the misconception that feminism is only for women when in reality feminism is the collective movement of both genders and everything between.