Sunday, April 25, 2010

Traditional Embrace and Sexism

From Elizabeth Anderson's Value and Ethics in Economics (p.18):
"West European and North American societies lack adequate normative vehicles for expressing heterosexual affection on egalitarian terms, although many members of these societies seek to establish loving relationships on such terms. Norms for bodily contact between heterosexual lovers- for example, that the man may express his affection by wrapping his arm around his lover, or by leading her on the dance floor- also express a status hierarchy in which the man is the protector and leader, the woman the dependent follower" (Anderson cites Tannen (1990) here).

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