(Source: tumblr) Bob Montana via: http://riverdalegirlsrule.tumblr.com/post/42342896444
In the west there is a concrete idea of the Nuclear Family. The mother is the homemaker, and the father pays the bills. The woman minds the children, does laundry, cooks, cleans, and keeps everyone’s schedules. The man goes to work in an office. In a relationship, it is expected that both partners put equal work towards a common goal. So why is there a profound lack of empathy towards the struggles of women in the household? Why do we base our level of empathy towards women on their ability to perform duties that align with traditional gender roles? With the rise of the information age, the outdated midcentury ideals of the nuclear family have rapidly changed, but our level of empathy is still based on the traits we once sought in women that would denote them as “a proper wife”. When comparing our modern world to the fictional future society presented in the 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick, we can identify the social expectation of women at the time, and in turn relate that mindset to our current level of empathy towards seemingly liminal women. Two major factors have shaped our view of the value of the woman in the household; heterosexuality and patriarchal standards.
In America, historically, the idea of the idyllic family life with a mother and a father has been the accepted “normal”. The 1950’s standard is still locked at the core of many people’s idea of family life. This isn’t necessarily the reality. There have been several instances where the vast majority of the country did not have these standard heterogeneous relationships. In the late 1800’s the prevalence of romanticism, and marrying for love, not status was prevalent, causing divorce rates to “triple between 1860 and 1910”. Women leaving their partners for seemingly frivolous love interests were deemed treacherous, and not loyal to the family unit, and thus were demonized. The marriage rate eventually leveled in the 1920’s and throughout the Great Depression, as divorce was a very expensive process for those who were already struggling to scrape by on meager salaries. Though they were not officially divorced “as many as 2 million partners lived apart” by 1940. In Do Android’s Dream of Electric Sheep, the main character, Rick Deckard and his wife Iran can be seen almost mimicking this structure. Iran is resentful towards her husband, calling him a “murderer hired by the cops”, and her demeanor can be further interpreted to denote that though they live together, Iran doesn’t truly love Deckard and stays because she cannot afford to leave (Dick 1) Towards the end of the Great Depression’s, the archetype of the single, independent mother began to emerge. She not only ran the household, but also went to work in order to combat the depression. This was in turn seen by some as a betrayal and abandonment of children within the context of fundamental patriarchal family structures.
Following the chaos of the Second World War, Americans began to settle into the ideal family grouping we model our own familial structures on today. The national birthrate in the 1950’s doubled, and women settled into the role of homemaker for husbands who had survived the war. Women married young, and were expected to rear children, as children were seen as “emotional assets”, not an avenue of economic gain as in the depression era. This emphasis on the emotional importance of children is echoed in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. In this post war society, those who are deemed the most valuable are those who can sustain life. People who live in the terrestrial wasteland previously called earth walk around with lead codpieces to protect their reproductive organs from the effects of nuclear fallout, as the ability to create life is held sacred in a toxic world devoid of it (Dick 19). Additionally, those who cannot procreate either because their genes have mutated to render them infertile, or because they are androids are classed as subhuman.
Dick’s novel also metaphorically discusses some then radical inventions that were prevalent during the time in which it was written. In the 1960’s, Americans were faced with the moral dilemma surrounding birth control. With the invention of the prophylactic birth control pill, women reached a new level of sexual autonomy. With this, there was both a rise in second-wave feminism, and socialist ideology. This rise in socialist-feminism sympathy, and new sexual freedom threatened the patriarchal ideals that governed our country from its conception, causing a backlash against these liberated women, and a call to return to fundamental familial ideals. Philip K. Dick personifies the sexually liberated woman of the 1960’s and 1970’s in the android Rachael. During a sexual encounter with the protagonist of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, she mentions her inability to procreate. Androids like her are unable to proliferate their own race, and within both the Post- World War Terminus society and the political climate of the 1960’s, this infertility is condemned (Dick 177).
This idea that women want to overthrow the proverbial patriarchal figurehead to instate a matriarchal society via Marxist-Feminist revolution is absurd. Marxist-feminists’, and socialist-feminists’ modus operandi was simply “to expand the category of labour to accommodate what (some) women did, even when the wage relation was subordinated to a more comprehensive view of labour under capitalist patriarchy”. Due to the value that has been placed on the reproductive ability of women in the context of the nuclear family by an older generation that still holds socio-political power, women who cannot reproduce, choose not to, or are in homosexual relationships are considered still considered liminal.
Relationships in which the pairings can naturally produce offspring are inherently considered less liminal, however the same cannot be said with homosexual couples. This begs to question the nature of our empathy level towards heterosexual couples versus homosexual couples. A woman that cannot conceive naturally on her own is not considered inherently wrong, but a woman who choses not to have a child with her male partner is ostracized. Lesbian mothers also struggle with a societal lack of empathy. Many consider them unable to rear a male child that will be masculine enough, whereas female children raised by lesbians are often thought to be “too feminine”, or grow up with disdain towards men. Likewise, this problem is presented in Dick’s novel via the character Rachael as she is unable to reproduce and is classed as subhuman, despite possessing a range of emotions, sexuality, and memories (Dick, 177). Much like how the denizens of Dick’s Post World War Terminus society use infertility to condemn androids, the myths that run rampant in our society regarding same-sex parents are erroneous arguments that are presented in opposition to marriage equality.
With the trials and tribulations coinciding with the fight for marriage equality, we have seen the idea of the monogamous heterosexual couple shift. Coinciding with the rise of Transgender visibility, and the rise in publicity of the LGBT community, the modern heterosexual couple can be defined in a plethora of new ways. For example, couple consisting of a transgender man and transgender woman has the ability to naturally sexually reproduce. Though these occurrences are rare, they do happen and call into question our 21st century notion of heterosexuality within the context of the traditional nuclear family. Additionally, a bisexual male and bisexual female have the ability to naturally reproduce, and on the outside can seem like a “heterosexual” couple, though term cannot be conflated with their sexual identities. If our definition of a heterosexual relationship can be so fluid, this same logic should be applicable to the future. It is not the case in Dick’s novel. Because it was written in the mid 20th century, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep does not echo the 21st century realizations about the nature of heterosexuality and the modern family structure.
Liminal women are often seen as unworthy of empathy. It is traditionally expected that a woman will do all housework with no complaint. If she is unable to perform those duties, or fails to rear children in a traditional way, she is condemned. Iran proves this in Do Android’s Dream of Electric Sheep when she fails to have a desire to use the Mood Organ. Her husband, Rick, nearly forces her to alter her mood in order to be happy, as not to upset him prior to him leaving for work (Dick 7). Similarly, women are considered unfit if they operate without the presence of a dominant male that represents the overarching power of Patriarchy in western society. Rick is the example of this patriarchal overreach as he literally “dialed 594; pleased acknowledgment of husband’s superior wisdom in all matters” for his wife (Dick 7). With or without her consent, this scene in Dick’s novel is a troubling reminder of how women have been regarded in our past. Single women are still looked down upon, and not empathized with because of the sentiments Americans have towards both divorce, and living outside the control of a patriarch – that it is wrong, and women should be loyal to their male counterparts no matter what; an archaic ideology that traces its roots back to before the Civil War. Conversely, women who cannot conceive naturally within the context of a monogamous relationship in our 21st century society are pitied. There is an implicit importance put on the ability to carry a child, and women who are actively trying to conceive, but cannot are placed above women who rely on birth control in order to stay childless.
Following the pivotal ideological revolution of the 1960’s wherein women began to have the chance to be considered autonomous sexual entities like the android Rachael rather than objectified receptacles of genetic material, the patriarchal nature of our society was finally being contested. More opportunities for women were presented in terms of profession, and higher education thanks to the rise of socialist-feminism. Those who profited from the nature of the nuclear family in which the woman, along with working, also provided the majority of emotional work and support in the relationship began to lash out in the form of decreased empathy. This is an irregularity in our accepted empathetic mindset. Generally “empathy is partial; we feel greater empathy for those who are similar to ourselves”. One would think that as women rose in the workplace, and began to have the same experiences at the men they worked alongside, there would be a higher level of empathy, but this is not the case.
So why is there such an irregularity in our general acceptance of the new nuclear family and the political nature of marriage equality? Simply put, the generational gap has weakened our sense of nationalist identity. Like in Dick’s novel, there is a central event that changes our viewpoint on women that determines the level of empathy felt towards them. In Rick Deckard’s reality it is World War Terminus, in our reality it is the Cold War. The millennial generation has been raised to be more open regarding their sexuality, and many have been raised in single-family homes. They recognize the post-modern woman as a liberated entity, who is able to make their own decisions, just as a man would. This archetype taught to modern young girls by women who were raised in the midst of the ideological revolution, and seek to pass on those ideals to their offspring.
Conversely, the politicians who currently hold office are from the Baby-Boomer generation. They were raised in a socio-political climate in which their mothers didn’t work, and divorce was seemingly taboo. The lawmakers who run our country are passing legislation to counter progressive movements, in an attempt to return to their “comfort zone”, in which a monogamous heterosexual couple is the perceived social norm. There is a lack of empathy towards women who do not fall into that category of submissive, family oriented vocation because the men in power cannot empathize with the modern woman. It is so divorced from their idea of the societal norm that it is hard for them to fathom. It is the same reason why Rick cannot accept that he is sexually attracted to a feminine looking android, as it is technically a subhuman “thing” in his mind (Dick 132). Simply put, those who control our religious, and socio-political regimes are those who profit largely from the archetypal Post- War woman, but not this new archetype of the Post-Modern woman.
The empathetic deficit is a massive void that contributes to the chaos of American society today. The older generation clings to power in our government in order to hold on to the ideals of their childhood, whereas the younger generation is calling for a complete shift. In order to survive in the 21st century, we must consider the following blockades against our empathetic freedom. Firstly, until the generational shift is more prominent, and those who remember the traditional “nuclear family” of the 1950’s are replaced, there is little legislatively that can be changed. Post-Modern ideology must replace an antiquated set of ideals in order to evolve in the information age. Secondly, with post-modernism thought becoming the new normal, we must instate new and inclusive societal markers that denote our level of empathy for the human race. Because we are so connected through social media, and the 24/7 news cycle, we as humans must identify and thus empathize with the fact that we all share the same struggle; the human instinct to belong to a group. Unlike the denizens of Philip K. Dick’s post-apocalyptic world, our group can no longer be chained to nationalist ties of geographic, racial, or socio-political ideology, but empathy must be understood and practiced homogenously across the globe.
Works Cited:
Dick, Philip K., and Philip K. Dick. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?Del Ray, an Imprint of Random House, a Division of Penguin Random House, 2017.
Haberkorn, Jennifer. “The Baby Boom in Congress.” POLITICO, POLITICO, 1 May 2018, www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/05/01/congress-tammy-duckworth-women-give-birth-in-office-history-218113.
Haraway, Donna. A Cyborg Manifesto. Georgetown University, 1984, faculty.georgetown.edu/irvinem/theory/Haraway-CyborgManifesto-1.pdf.
Hssung, Tricia. “The Evolution of American Family Structure.” Concordia University, St. Paul Online, 23 June 2015, online.csp.edu/blog/family-science/the-evolution-of-american-family-structure.
Katz, Jonathan. The Invention of Heterosexuality. University of Chicago Press, 2007.
Nussbaum, Matthew. “Brett Kavanaugh: Who Is He? Bio, Facts, Background and Political Views.” POLITICO, POLITICO, 9 July 2018, www.politico.com/story/2018/07/09/brett-kavanaugh-who-is-he-bio-facts-background-and-political-views-703346.
Recuber, Tim. “What Becomes of Empathy?” Cyborgology , 26 July 2016, thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2016/07/20/what-becomes-of-empathy/.