ABSTRACT
Centuries of Western patriarchal values influence how we view and treat nature, women and plants. Ecofeminists have been exploring the deep connections between women and nature. Rhonda Roland Shearer’s research shows that the societal devaluing of women and nature extends also to plants. She uses trends in art history as illustrative guide-posts of society’s values. She probes how our patriarchal hierarchy has been influencing artists’ preference for “masculine subjects” (history painting and monuments) as opposed to flowers and plants, which are historically devalued as a “woman painter’s subject.” Looking at the philosophical underpinnings of our patriarchal hierarchy, she discusses the deep-rooted fears we have of nature and women conditioned by centuries of Orthodox religion, science and philosophy. By examining society’s attitudes toward women, plants and nature, Shearer believes an important transformation can take place. Shearer explores how the new fractal geometry, being a geometry of nature, can be used to put women and nature on an equal basis with men and technology. Before women and nature can be free from violence, all of society (both men and women) must alter their values so that both masculine and feminine characteristics have equal status.
