Femininity Begins At Home by Louise Paine Benjamin Article Analysis

In the article “Femininity Begins At Home,” Louise Paine Benjamin argues that femininity relates to domesticity and women’s relationships with men. She crafts her argument by drawing from her personal beliefs and the beliefs of a self-proclaimed expert. However, her ideas are remarkably sexist, dismiss female autonomy, and lack any reliable evidence. Therefore, this article fails to convince me what it means to act in a feminine manner.

The article explains how femininity begins in a woman’s mind, and that it is a specific attitude of life. According to Benjamin, being feminine is not just about wearing dresses and skirts. It involves women taking pride and satisfaction with their feminine duties of life. They should not do activities such as competing with men, especially on the job front, because that is considered inappropriate. Therefore, the author claims that women simply must stay home and be subordinate to men, and that should make them happy.

Benjamin makes an excellent point when she explains that femininity is a mindset. However, she wrongly claims that a woman's relationship with a man defines how feminine she is. Benjamin states that “her whole future happiness will be largely determined by this ability, and willingness, to respect herself as a woman, instead of feeling that she is in a race against man, and handicapped at that” (136). This idea is beyond sexist because she is implying that men are superior to women instead of equal. Benjamin also claims that “true femininity does not compete with man, but prefers to co-operate, or, better yet, to enlist his co-operation charmingly” (136). So, once again as stated by Benjamin, feminine women are not to be their own person; they must be subordinate to men. But, Julia Serano, an acclaimed author, scientist, activist, and feminist, provides a different stance on the topic. According to Serano, being feminine means “being verbal and communicative, emotive or effusive, being nurturing and having an appreciation for beautiful or aesthetically pleasing things.” She does not mention once that femininity relates to a woman’s relationship with men or anybody else. However, she does allude that people often distort feminine traits, such as nurturing, into their relationship with men. Yet, that this is just a distortion, not true femininity.

Benjamin also elaborates that a woman is lucky to be someone’s sweetheart, wife, or mother. This idea completely dismisses women’s autonomy by saying that they cannot be their own person. Her relationships with the men in her life define who she is as a person. Benjamin implies that these are the only roles a woman is good at serving and that she is not capable of having a career. However, Benjamin is disproving her argument by writing this article. She is getting paid to be an editor of the Ladies Home Journal while telling other women not to get jobs because that would be competing against men. So, this whole argument is hypocritical because she is doing the exact thing she is instructing other women not to do.

Mrs. Margaret Durham Robey also gives an ample amount of advice throughout the article. Though, her credentials to speak on this topic are unknown. Robey is a director at a southern seminary in Virginia where young girls are at “constant cultivation in the direction of well-rounded womanhood” (Benjamin 136). She shared a vast amount of her wisdom throughout the article. Robey explained that to be feminine, you must have good etiquette, groom yourself regularly to have more confidence, be nice to everyone, be a crowd-pleaser, and have a pleasing voice. Most importantly, she claims a woman should “never ignore [her] current partner in favor of more attractive possibilities in the stag line. Make yourself look so sweetly engrossed in the person you are with that every man watching you will wish he were that man” (136). Clearly, Robey communicates some controversial advice about the topic of femininity. But, her credentials are questionable. Just because she runs a seminary does not mean she is automatically qualified to tell people how to act. M. Neil Browne and Stuart M. Keeley, the authors of Asking The Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking, explain how this is an issue. When evaluating evidence from authority figures, Browne and Keeley state that “unless we know that these authorities have special knowledge about this issue, we must treat this reason as a fallacy” (109). Considering Robey is only brought up as the director of a seminary, we cannot assume that she is a credible source. Therefore, this is an example of an appeal to questionable authority fallacy, which signifies “supporting a conclusion by citing an authority who lacks special expertise on the issue at hand” (Browne and Keeley 110). Therefore, nothing Robey stated in the article can be taken seriously.

I believe that Benjamin had good intentions with her article “Femininity Begins At Home.” I want to think that she wrote this article to help women feel better about themselves by giving them life advice. However, I think the advice provided throughout the piece is more harmful than helpful. Telling women to live being subordinate to men and not having a career can be detrimental to young women. Also, I know that this article is from the past, but I feel like some parts of it are still relevant today. Most people are more accepting of different appearances and personalities now than in the past. However, there is still a war on women eventuating because women cannot break free from these rules set in the past. For example, even though it is more acceptable for women to have jobs, they are still grappling with men because men get paid more than women for doing the same job. Also, women are still referred to by their relationships with people. For example, in headlines across news platforms, when accidents involving women occur, the women are addressed as “mother of” and how many kids they have. Therefore, even though Benjamin is unsuccessful in convincing me of what it means to be feminine, some of them do hold some relevance today.