Telling a woman to shut up
I want to start very near the beginning of the tradition of Western literature, and its first recorded example of a man telling a woman to ‘shut up’; telling her that her voice was not to be heard in public. I’m thinking of a moment immortalised at the start of theOdyssey…The process starts in the first book with Penelope coming down from her private quarters into the great hall, to find a bard performing to throngs of her suitors; he’s singing about the difficulties the Greek heroes are having in reaching home. She isn’t amused, and in front of everyone she asks him to choose another, happier number. At which point young Telemachus intervenes: ‘Mother,’ he says, ‘go back up into your quarters, and take up your own work, the loom and the distaff … speech will be the business of men, all men, and of me most of all; for mine is the power in this household.’ And off she goes, back upstairs2.
There is something faintly ridiculous about this wet-behind-the-ears lad shutting up the savvy, middle-aged Penelope. But it’s a nice demonstration that right where written evidence for Western culture starts, women’s voices are not being heard in the public sphere; more than that, as Homer has it, an integral part of growing up, as a man, is learning to take control of public utterance and to silence the female of the species.
Another thing that’s interesting about it is that it had to be said. It’s interesting that Penelope wasn’t already confined to her quarters; that she dared to go downstairs in her own house, and wander into the great hall which was full of men. But perhaps it’s not interesting after all, if it’s there only to give Telemakhos the opportunity to boss her around.
What interests me is the relationship between that classic Homeric moment of silencing a woman and some of the ways women’s voices are not publicly heard in our own contemporary culture, and in our own politics from the front bench to the shop floor. It’s a well-known deafness that’s nicely parodied in the old Punch cartoon: ‘That’s an excellent suggestion, Miss Triggs. Perhaps one of the men here would like to make it.’ I want to look too at how it might relate to the abuse that many women who do speak out are subjected to even now, and one of the questions at the back of my mind is the connection between publicly speaking out in support of a female logo on a banknote, Twitter threats of rape and decapitation, and Telemachus’ put-down of Penelope.
I think about that kind of thing all the time. I always have.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2014/02/telling-a-woman-to-shut-up/
Great piece. Worth the read.
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I think not in this generation, not just yet. Not in my oldest daughters generation. But the young ones. the Steudenvilles aside, are being taught better, interact better.
My kids could care less who is gay or not. Color doesn't bother them, but one of my son in law's-- who moved from Southern California to a town 30 miles from Detroit had a learning experience and an epiphany. He went from using casual racist epithet's to understanding doing that was complete bullshit. He had never been around people of color and was quicker to learn than an older generation would be. My daughter's all know I'm a feminist, and that they were raised by a feminist. and that influences how they interact with society, the choices they they make for their children and how they teach them. We are making a difference. We just have to put up with a lot of shit for another generation or so.
You know how I love Sci-Fi-- not every story is a dystopia- some are what seem almost a natural progression, with gender as an afterthought or a plot device for romance. Sexually orientation doesn't matter either, nor does race. One auther, in one of his books will identify characters race, but will identify them as white as often as black-- in other words, doesn't use whiteness as the default. Pretty cool. Change is happening everywhere.
P
