The Unwitting Servants of Misogyny
Determined as I am to continually post new blogs to the website, I found that the last week just flew away from me, and I realised it was time to write. I had several ideas in mind as regards what to write about this week. But then yesterday morning I listened to the radio and a report had been published in relation to the Women of Honour in the Defence Forces. Now, this is an organisation that I have been associated with for many years and I have to say that I was both shocked and disappointed by the content of the report. The level of misogyny evident was frightening to say the least. I began to wonder, what can be done to finally eradicate this thing that has blighted our society for many years, and I also wondered about the reasons why it is so ingrained. Most people that you meet would deny any involvement or contribution to its prevalence. You would have to say they are essentially correct, because most people in this world are good people. They live their lives as best they can. They form relationships, have families and do everything in their power to do what is right for them. But with the best intentions in the world are we unwitting servants. Do we go through life unknowingly adding and reinforcing this cruel and most definitely undeserving aspect within of our society.
The American author Henry Miller said that there are only three things you can do with a beautiful woman, “You can love her, you can suffer for her or you can turn her into literature.” A beautiful sentiment and quite true. We have all met women in our lives who inspire and enthral us. If we are lucky, they are the one for us and we get to spend our lives together. If not so lucky, we can dream from afar and invariably if you are that way inclined, you will write about them. So, I began to think about how women have been portrayed in literature. There is no doubt that a love poem is exactly what it says on the tin. An expression of an individual’s love for another person. But within that effort to express the feelings that one person may have for another can the poet objectified the inspiration of their words. Do we unconsciously turn them into objects of possession and neglect the equality of the individual. Are we following a patriarchal idea where a woman is something to be desired or possessed. The words of course can expound the notion that we are unswerving in our devotion to them and will even, to the point of death do everything in our power to protect them. This is of course an admirable trait in anyone, and should not be confined to a particular sex. “It is a far, far better thing that I do now than I have ever done before”. Dicken’s may well have hit the nail on the head in a Tale of Two Cities. However, the point I am making is this, for instance are the lines of a love poem re-enforcing an ideal that a woman is someone who needs protecting, not for the obvious reasons but because of an idea that they are in someway less than their male counterparts.
“So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.”
Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18, one of the most famous love poems which begins with the incredible line “Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s Day” but ends with the above. Will this woman have no life unless she is loved? Does she only survive if men are there to love her?
The portrayal of women in literature has been in many cases that of the weak and vulnerable individual who is rescued from the jaws of death or evil by the strong and capable male hero. Because of that we must say, unconsciously literature has contributed to the idea of women being the lessor of the sexes. We only have to look at Edgar Rice Burrowes iconic hero Tarzan. Poor Jane, a well-heeled and educated individual who we are led to believe is totally dependent for survival on her male hero. But let us look at the said male hero. To begin with he cannot speak save for a few guttural tones. He cannot obviously read or write and there are not enough grey cells working for him to deduce that if he would just start walking and keep going, he will eventually leave the jungle behind and find civilisation. The reader however is led to believe that without this apparently superior being Jane would have no chance of survival. Yes, I know, and I can hear some already screaming at this blog saying, ‘Ah, but he has the brawn, he has the skill’. Poor Jane would not be capable of fighting off a lion. Well, maybe Jane would have the good sense not to confront the lion in the first place. We often hear it said by those who cling to the patriarchal view, especially in the field of sport that men are simply superior due to their physic and by default men must be the superior of the sexes. Now I will let you in on a secret, I cannot fly. So, if we are to follow such a simple rhetoric, the blackbird is superior to all of us.
Time and again in literature we have the hero and the damsel in distress. Only for Van Helsing, just think of the number of unfortunate young women who would have fallen prey to Nosferatu. This I know is all fiction, and the reader is well aware of the fact. I am not purporting that such literature created this idea of misogyny, what I am saying is it helped to compound the idea in the mind of anyone who was not enlightened enough to know that women are equal. Not alone equal but in many ways superior. Some men may think their efforts are enough, they get up each day and provide and for that effort they are entitled to certain rewards. Unfortunately, we see a rhetoric handed down through the generations and some young men display a misogyny which they would be appalled if accused of it. “The woman at home would not be pleased” In a mocked ‘Mé a Culpa’ of respect for their partner they expound the misogyny that exists in our society. ‘The woman’ an object, was she not Christened with a name, in all religions was she not identified as an individual. It is latent and lurks beneath some men’s efforts at being part of an enlightened society. How can men say they are for equality but fervently expect their dinner will be waiting for them regardless of how busy a day their partner may have had. A woman’s effort is by far the purer of the two. It is unconditional and invariably seeks no reward. So, to all my literary friends, whatever is your passion, poetry or prose, write not about the damsel in distress, for they are stronger and more durable than we can ever be. Let your words expound their virtue, let your words express the sense of loss of not holding them in your arms, but never let your words make them less than what they are, equal in all things and superior in most.