Prof. James Cooper to Make TV Appearance Today

April 20, 1973

April 20, 1973, Greencastle, Ind. - Jim Cooper, associate professor of history at DePauw University, will appear with his wife, Sheila, on Indianapolis television station WRTV today to discuss their new book, The Roots of American Feminist Thought. The Coopers are to be interviewed on Afternoon/6, which airs from 12:30 to 1 p.m. on the NBC affiliate. (photo: the Coopers walking on the DePauw campus)

Published by Allyn and Bacon, the book is an anthology of works written by feminists over the past two centuries. Originally book-length essays, all of the selections in the Coopers' new volume have been edited and abridged.

"Although the conditions of subjection and feminine response to it have varied, men have dominated women in the Western world since ancient times," note the Coopers in their introduction to the book. "There have been important legal, educational, occupational, medical and technological advances for women, especially since the 18th century. Yet, nearly all (women) still face sexual discrimination, and the greatest number follow the traditional domestic role from cradle, to altar, to housework and motherhood, and finally to grave.

"A woman's world, though it has improved, remains more intellectually limited, culturally derivative, socially atomized, geographically restricted and economically dependent than a man's of the same socioeconomic class," they write. "Although improvement in women's lot has not ended her subjection, modernization has shaken confidence in traditional beliefs concerning the biological and psychological differences between the sexes and called into question the appropriateness of the conventional social roles of females. Modernity has consequently aroused interest in 'the woman question,' given rise to arguments for sexual equality, and spawned a feminist movement dedicating to eradicating sexism," the Coopers declare.

James L. Cooper joined the DePauw faculty in 1964.

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