Dorothy sayers are women human
Are Women Human? Astute and Witty Essays on the Role of Women in Society
Sayers has been referred to as a female CS Lewis—she was a friend and fellow Oxford graduate—but I think her work is an under-appreciated treasure. Her essays “The Other Six Deadly Sins” and “Why Work?” (both from Creed or Chaos?) are two of my all-time favorites. I’ve reread them many times and think of them often.
This little book contains two brief essays by Sayers plus an introduction by Mary McDermott Shideler. Both essays are worthwhile and display the intellectual firepower and cleverness you’d expect from her.
Here are a few passages I highlighted:
“Indeed, it is my experience that both men and women are fundamentally human, and that there is very little mystery about either sex, except the exasperating mysteriousness of human beings in general. And though for certain purposes it may still be necessary, as it undoubtedly was in the immediate past, for women to band themselves together, as women, to secure recognition of their requirements as a sex, I am sure that the time has now come to insist more strongly on each woman's—and indeed each man's—requirements as an individual person. It used to be said that women had no esprit de corps; we have proved that we have—do not let us run into the opposite error of insisting that there is an aggressively feminist "point of view" about everything. To oppose one class perpetually to another—young against old, manual labour against brain-worker, rich against poor, woman against man—is to split the foundations of the State; and if the cleavage runs too deep, there remains no remedy but force and dictatorship. If you wish to preserve a free democracy, you must base it—not on classes and categories, for this will land you in the
Enough Light
Are Women Human? Astute and Witty Essays on the Role of Women in Society by Dorothy Sayers, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing,
This book was #39 of the 40 books I read in I&#;d long wanted to read it, and finally got myself a copy. I should have read it before now! After the book list post, someone left this comment: &#;Of all the many (not to mention great) books on your list I’m the most excited to see that you read&#;Are Women Human? &#; I keep buying copies of this book to give to others!&#;
I&#;ll assume you are familiar with Sayers, but quickly&#;She was a British Christian, scholar, author, and friends with some of the Inklings such as CS Lewis. She is known for writing both non-fiction and fiction, the later would be the detective stories featuring Lord Peter Wimsey.
Are Women Human? is only 69 pages long, and that includes a 15 page introduction and then 2 chapters which are essays. The first chapter begins &#;When I was asked to come and speak to you&#; so it was apparently originally a talk. With the book&#;s brevity, I don&#;t want to reveal too much to you, as it deserves to be read in its entirety. Her writing is easy to read, witty at times, as she covers this thoughtful topic and offers keen analysis.
Essentially Sayers peels back the layers to get to the underlying reasons for women (and sometimes men too) being treated in a certain way. I&#;ve shared my frustrating experiences and observations in this regard on the blog, but I was only sharing the symptom not the root cause.
As a woman with certain proclivities and a seminary degree, it was/is assumed that I want to do women&#;s ministry. Why is this the assumption?! Especially since working exclusively with women does NOT appeal to me at all. I prefer mixed-sex settings, or using my gifts more broadly in the church. A man in the church with similar proclivities as me does NOT have everyone assume he wants to do exclusive men&#;s ministry!!!
Dorothy Sayers gets to the heart
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