Sex Role Change and Autonomy

Abstract

When philosophers talk about practical issues in public, the situation sometimes seems to me comparable to that of a clergyman trying to deliver a sermon after his false teeth have fallen out-everyone pays respectful attention, but no one knows what was said. Though I am told it is wrong to disappoint expectations, my chief objective is to lend some clarity to thinking about sex roles changes and the evaluation of them. I want to clarify the nature of sex roles, the sorts of changes they can undergo, and the sorts of values that are at stake. I am especially concerned with such values as freedom and equality, which, I shall maintain, are embodied in the notion of being an autonomous person. It is these values, I believe, that are appealed to when it is said that present-day sex role changes have aided the liberation of women, and that this is a good thing. While I agree with this assessment, I think that the points I make concerning autonomy can provide a basis for evaluating sex role changes, and will lead to the conclusion that not all sex role changes are truly liberating.