The Politics Of The Natural, By Noel Sturgeon

When I think of the word natural, my mind escapes to a serene wooded place, rife with life and fauna. I use the term to define ideas and concepts as predetermined, or in a state of purity. Author and teacher Noel Sturgeon argues in her essay “The Politics of the Natural in U.S. History and Popular Culture” that nature is a word teeming with social and political quandaries that have led people to misuse the term, often to the advantage of white males and other powerful groups throughout history. Sturgeon expertly dissects the word “nature” from a variety of angles by examining the political, cultural, and sociological impact the word has made through its misuse throughout the years. Although I largely agree with her position, I find some of
Their meaning is fluid and has a very different connotation from one person to the next. Sturgeon relates this concept back to human-nature being “understandings of human evolution, inherent human capacities for violence and sex, and differences among humans – have often been used to naturalize and therefore justify social inequalities” (710). She elaborates by showing the reader how these troupes of human-nature are just cultural stereotypes perpetuated by a sort of complacency shared by most people. People often accept these biases because they’ve come to accept them as the norm, and therefore natural. She continues her dissection by next looking at nature from the perspective of its use in popular culture, paying close attention to how nature is used in advertising. Using several ads from many popular publications and consumer products, Sturgeon offers the reader insight on how “Men’s nature is to control nature, while women’s nature is to be nature” (John Berger [1972, 47] Sturgeon 722). She concludes by reaffirming her point that nature is a convoluted term riddled with social prejudices and inborn malice which perpetuate ideas such as cultural stereotypes, sexism, and social