4 ms·

With respect to O'Connell's highlighting of Borges' apparent anti-woman views, I think that there is an interesting conversation to be had about looking at auth

With respect to O'Connell's highlighting of Borges' apparent anti-woman views, I think that there is an interesting conversation to be had about looking at authors from prior eras with ethical standpoints only developed relatively recently. I recall a professor asking me whether Plato was sexist because there were no women in the academy (a clearer example), and having similar thoughts to those I had when reading that section of this article.

slurry 13y ago
At the same time, it's naive to look back on the past as a monolith, where just everyone was racist, sexist, etc. until - what's our cutoff point, the 60s, 70s, 80s? 90s, even? Borges' best work was arguably done in the 40s, and he was at the peak of his fame probably in the late 70s (thanks in part to promotion by the Videla dictatorship, which he supported). That's a while ago but not classical Athens. There were a lot of people with more progressive views on women around during those years, many of whom Borges considered political enemies.