PHIL 150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 24: Euthanasia, Male Privilege
Document Summary
Feminism: moral outlook that a) is opposed to all forms of oppression (sexism, racism, homophobia, etc. ) b) believes that there exists a patriarchy that supports oppression. (i am open to hearing any counterexamples you might come up with. ) Patriarchy: a social system that works (perhaps unwittingly) to insure male privilege. Women understand their value in relation to men. Each of these works to insure benefits to males at the cost of females. Gender role traditionalist: there are substantive psychological and emotional differences between men and women. Because of these differences, men and women should play different roles in society. Wolf argues, on feminist grounds, that active euthanasia should be illegal because of the history of oppressive cultural images regarding women as self-sacrificing. She thinks woman are likely to seek out euthanasia when it is not good for them. Woman more often attempt suicide, but less often complete it. Women are more likely to suffer from depression.
