Mastodawn

anomalocaris Jul 30, 2023

Here's a botanical gripe that drives me up the wall every so often: using gendered terms for plants. We talk about male and female parts and while reproduction-wise it's understandable how it got to be that way, it's actually massively unhelpful because people can't stop themselves from having all these connotations of gender roles, just like they do for people, but for plants. Which isn't just my conjecture - historically, women were prohibited from being botanists because of these gendered ideas, because of female eggs being impregnated by pollen from male parts, flowers with anthers and styles being described as a bed with so many men and so many women... it was all considered far too hot and steamy for the suggestible female mind.

Which is why for centuries, European women were generally only able to enter the field of botany by becoming illustrators. Most great botanical illustrators from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were women.

(1/3)

Show thread

anomalocaris Jul 30, 2023

Just one example: the mindblowing volume that botanist Anne Wollstonecraft wrote in the 1820s in Cuba, only permissable because she did so under the guise of being an illustrator - beside making exquisite illustrations and detailed descriptions, she interviewed the indigenous people of Cuba and wrote about the ways in which they saw and used plants. Something a gentleman explorer would never ever do! The book was never published, only a single (!) hand-written (!!!) volume exists. It makes one weep at what could have been, had women been permitted to participate in this sexy, horny field of botany. How much richer we could all have been, how much more complete our understanding of the world. All because we had to frontload the whole thing with our own prejudices and sexist nonsense.

(2/3)

Show thread

anomalocaris Jul 30, 2023

Returning to my original point, which I lost sight of almost immediately: I wish we would stop referring to plants by the gendered terms we invented to refer to ourselves. Plants don't have genders, and thinking they do has caused a surprising amount of misery.

A happier postscript: to this day, there's a strong tradition of female botanical illustrators in Europe and the UK; I know plenty personally, all the masters are women. As has always been the case, people are resilient in the face of oppression, and so things improve and times change - though the past echoes on forever.

By the way, the mindblowing volume, "Specimens of the plants and fruits of the island of Cuba", which was discovered only a few years ago, can be viewed here: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924100271489

(3/3)

Specimens of the plants and fruits of the island of Cuba, v.3+.

HathiTrust

Show thread

Margaret, Lady Terpsichore Jul 30, 2023

@anomalocaris thank you for this!

Show thread

rsp Jul 30, 2023

@LadyTerpsichore @anomalocaris The part about female botanists is spot on. The part about gender in plants, I think, is a bit more complicated. Many plants have individuals that produce sperm and individuals that produce ova. Those plants have what I'd call sexes (male and female). Botanists traditionally use the term gender instead of sex for some reason. But most plants are more complicated than male and female. And even in the simple cases, it's only the gametophytes that produce the gametes.

Show thread

Margaret, Lady Terpsichore Jul 31, 2023

@rspfau @anomalocaris I’m not a botanist, but I am a horticulturalist and really only talk about male and female plants as regards dioecious species like Ilex, rather than floral anatomy. I don’t have any feelings about changing this language, nor do I find it confusing to call a fruiting specimen “female”, but I am always open to new concepts and am curious what language OP thinks would be preferable.

Show thread

Margaret, Lady Terpsichore

@rspfau @anomalocaris I do very much appreciate OP’s link and spotlighting of Wollstonecraft’s work. I myself switched from art to plants and find historical plant illustrations to be a source of endless fascination. What a time to be alive that I can flip through the pages of this astonishing volume on the tiny computer in my pocket!