Gender is Always a Performance

I am currently taking a Sociology class about the body. One of the things we discussed is that gender is always a performance, from a sociological point of view. That is because gender is largely socially constructed. Gender is a performance that makes people “put on” masculinity and femininity in order to embody socially prescribed roles about what is appropriate for their biological sex. I felt that the readings about the female pirates show the social construction of gender, thus raising interesting issues that the other fallen women narratives did not raise.

There are still many situations in the modern world where people are forced to put on gender (it could be argued, as I stated above, that we are constantly doing gender). One of the most obvious is how men and women often have to put on traits usually assigned to the opposite sex. For the female cross-dressing pirates, putting on gender was a way to cross societal gender norms. Now it is primarily a way for people to cross occupational norms. Think about Hillary Clinton. In her run for the Democratic nomination, she was often accused of being to masculine because of her assertive business personality and pant suits. In order to achieve her political aspiration, Hillary has had to take on “masculine” traits. Interestingly, her adoption of masculine behavior has both helped her succeed an earned her intense criticism. Politics is not the only arena where women often have to act masculine to achieve- this is very true in the business world. Females who are high on the corporate ladder often have to dress in more masculine attire and act aggressively and assertively in order to compete with male competition. Like Hillary, these women are often criticized for crossing the gender barriers, showing that taking on male attributes is often considered, even in modern society. Men often have to assume feminized roles as well according to their occupations but the examples aren’t as prevalent or clear.

One huge way that people have to “put on” and “take off” gender is in the case of transgendered individuals- who are neither male nor female. We live in a society where a person must be assigned a sex- so these individuals are either assigned/or choose a sex. However, many of these people feel they are constantly acting a part. They feel that they have to act feminine or masculine when the either truly identify with the other gender or with neither.

In short, it is kind of shame that people even feel they have to “put on” traits of the opposite sex. Our society places too much of divided emphasis on what are female traits and what are male traits. Psychologically, a healthy individual will have both female and male traits. The dualism that society assigns to gender makes people feel they have to put on masculinity or femininity. Perhaps it would be healthier if we had a more integrated view of gender. Who says women have to be caring, overly emotional and wear pink dresses? Who says men have to be aggressive and like cars and hinting? It would probably be healthier if we did not assign such rigid gender norms at all. Maybe then we wouldn’t have cross-dressing pirates.

Try as you might, sometimes it is about character...

At the start of the text, Charlotte is an angel, the epitome of sweetness. Her parents were very caring and never abused her, unlike the parental figures in some of the earlier texts we have read. Her father, Mr. Temple, and her mother, Lucy Elderage, married for love even though it resulted in the loss of fortune. Her father is an amiable man whose worst quality seems to be that he is too easy going and too charitable. He gives what little money he has out to those who ask for it. Charlotte is treated very affectionately by her parents, and at her death scene her father is present to mourn. Charlotte is like her father in that she is too easily influenced by the wishes of others. This makes hear easy prey for the lusty Montraville, and she listens to keenly to the advice of Mme. LaRue. Charlotte’s fall is not her own fault per se, the only fault of hers was the unlucky tendency to be rather to easy going. This malleable nature makes her the prey of those who want to profit off her, and therefore it is these manipulative wills who are responsible. The parents and Charlotte are just too weak to fight off those who are more cunning, and this is not their fault.

The only way that Charlotte Temple’s fall could have been prevented would be by changing either her nature or that of her parents to be more cunning and strong-willed. If they were keener to the ways of the world they would not take the predator’s advice. A little street smarts and stubbornness could have done Charlotte a world of good. And even if she lacked it, a strong assertive parent who kept watch over her may have done the trick. All of the trouble seems to start when she is away at boarding school. If she had been educated closer to home and under someone’s watchful eye, perhaps the tragic events may not have occurred. The father is shocked to find out his daughter’s elopement, but he ought to have kept closer watch on her.

Modern parents often find themselves too easily manipulated by their children or too into their own interests to be adequate parents. These weaknesses of will or the abundance of selfishness lead many children to unhappy ends. For example, a parent may want to keep their child happy by giving into all the child’s demands and wishes- even those that are not good for them. In order to appease a headstrong child they might let the child run the show- watching adult materials, going out late, setting their own rules. It is not that the parent does not care about their child- they just have a nature that allows them to be trampled on my stronger parties. On the other hand, the parent may be busy with their own lives and not watch the child carefully enough. The parent may want to go on their own date night or be absorbed in word- letting the child fall prey to bad influences. In both cases, the fault may not be with the parent not caring for the child. The issue is with parental authority and control. The modern parent must find a healthy balance between nurturing their child’s individuality, letting them grow, and deciding what is best for the child. The best way to keep the child safe is to be a model of consistency- always have a watchful eye over the child, make sure expectations are known and exercise authority in the household. If this is done, there is a good chance the child will avoid horrible pitfalls. However, like Charlotte, some children have an easily malleable nature that makes them prey to stronger characters. If this is the case, all the care in the world may not protect them.

Rap Music- The Cause of Female Depravity!!!

If the author were railing against a new subject today, I believe they would pinpoint rap music as the “corrupter of women.”

The ominous words are no longer on the page- they are in a more dangerous musical form that seduces the listener with rhythm and beat. At the same time this poetic sin pushes on women an urban culture and set of values that undermine the white, patriarchal order. This vulgar genre is an assault on the ears that can hardly be called music. These rappers spend exorbitantly and wear ridiculous clothes, such as backwards hats and giant clocks on their necks. They do not pronounce their words correctly and use obscene language. Rappers talk about turning over the status quo, a very dangerous idea, and about “poppin' caps on people.” They mean to incite violence in the streets! What is worse, they have no education or manners and have managed to slip through society into a higher status than they deserve. But what is worst of all is the fact that their siren songs seduce women into harlotry and licentiousness!

The “music” that they create is a vulgar and ridiculous blend that results in female sin. They sing about women with large buttocks and giant breasts- not the subject of fine music! These rappers claim to be poets of sound- but a true poet does not say he “likes big butts and cannot lie.” What is more shocking is the way they use their raps to lure women into a life of sin. I have seen those vulgar videos on BET with fallen women barely dressed and grinding on these men in their clubs. They shake their bottoms and turn into harlots! It is not uncommon for one of these “rappers” to seduce young women when they are on tour, taking once nice girls and luring them into a life of sin and apple bottom jeans. Once they have turned these women to prostitutes, they start to call them words that a lady should never be called (they cannot be spoken here, but they rhyme with witch and bow). But the women are so fallen that they do not even hear these insults and continue to grind of the men as they sing insults at them. How evil!

So I don’t feel this way about rap, but I am sure that the writer of “Novel Reading- A Cause of Female Depravity” would. What could be worse than something that calls itself art but valorizes disrespect for authority and slutty women? That is what they would say.

Wishing Times were a Changin...

The past several weeks of class have been dedicated to reading and discussing various articles from popular magazines of the early 1800s. I have been repeatedly intrigued by the style in which these pieces are written; their unique blend of reprobation and flamboyance. They were meant to be both and instructional and entertaining to their readers- much as the articles in popular magazines such as Cosmo and Glamour are today. Perhaps it is this strange blend of artful language and didacticism that makes these articles confusing. Their ridiculousness sometimes entices the reader to think them devoid of serious subject matter; however, the subjects covered are extremely serious (libertines, pregnancies, abuse).

Moreover, I have been frustrated at how similar the narratives are to their predecessors. At the start of the 1800s, the core ideas and morals of these narratives seem sadly close to those of texts fifty or more years before them. Women are still seen as fragile and sinful, with some exceptions and additions. So perhaps the slow class discussions are coming from frustration with lack of social change coupled with confusion about the texts’ strange writing style.

In my mind, many of the articles we have read for recent classes tend to blend together. They have the elements of the fallen woman narrative: sensibility, libertines, seduction, punishment, and death. We have remarked again and again that the women face death due to loss of virtue at the end of many of the texts. They are being punished for giving way to their feelings, however, they are living in a time period where many valued exuberant emotion and expected it in their literature. How strange and almost hypocritical that these woman be punished for having ardent emotions that the era seemed to call for. It just shows me that even in the Age of Sentimentality, women were forced down and kept in check.

One of the only articles that seemed to make some progress was “The Passenger.” I think this was a difficult piece to discuss in class because of its dark subject matter (abuse). Despite the grim material, this was a happier read for me because it was one of the first to show that the man could be made accountable or blamed for a situation. We talked in class about the great line that insinuates that marriage is a contract, but unlike other contracts the man is not punished or forced to pay for breaking it. That really struck a cord with me because it seemed like the author felt the husband was capable of censure. In fact, the whole article suggests this.

Finally, the women in the articles sometimes speak out against their offenders. They say that they hope the rake “gets his for what they have done.” But such reproofs usually come from the female characters voice, and in very silly language, and not from the narrator. I am ready for some narratives where the man really does get paid back for his sins and the woman is forgiven (or does not die) for hers.

Bleeding Love: Using Heartbreak and Romance to enforce Patriarchy

It is an obvious trend that the narratives we have been reading have been getting increasingly romantic in nature. Our semester began by looking at texts that dealt with the very unromantic subjects such as witchcraft and infanticide- so any change toward positive sentiment seems a huge leap! However, though these magazine texts often utilize beautiful language and heartfelt emotion, they also have some gloomy subject matter. The women in these narratives love deeply, but in turn they are deeply wounded by their love. The objects of their affection often are duplicitous libertines who trick their victims into surrendering virtue and into a downward spiral of depression. Therefore the love in these stories is largely a negative force. Love has everything to do with the plotline, but very little to do with the outcome and the impact of these tales. I believe that these narratives became increasingly prominent at the end of the 1700s due to the marketability of romance and the patriarchal lessons established by these cautionary tales. The practical applications of these tales as warning devices impresses on the reader that this was still a society where love had little to do with life.

Like the Leona Lewis song, the women in the seduction tales are often bleeding love- meaning they love so deeply that the betrayal of their sentiments often kills them. They try to harshly reprimand their unworthy lovers, but the results of their fallen virtue are still largely with them. The men seem to run off free to continue with their deceptions without paying a price. This plotline runs throughout the seduction narrative, and the drama of the material and the flowery language made great reading the 1700s. These magazine pieces were often mini dramas for their authors and audience, and took on the language and actions of a stage play. Talk about melodramatic. However, the exhuberance of feeling seemed to be in balance with the emphasis on sensibility of the age. While previous times had labels like “the age of reason” this seemed to be an era of emotion. By writing to cater to this emotional audience, the author was guaranteeing their work would be printed and read. So in this case, love is an exploitable, trendy emotion that can lead to profits.

However, there was a latent function of these narratives, and this was to subvert romantic ideas in women by showing the adverse effects that could come from this type of extreme romance. Since the era was obsessed with sensibility, people were beginning to get silly notions: like love should be a factor in marriage. But the society was still male dominated and structured in such a way that many thought it necessary to still arrange marriages based on wealth and class status. These views were often held by older generations and those who wanted marriage to still be a largely arrangable institution. Most people in this age were still expected to marry and hope that, in time, love would blossom out of the union. For people whose fortunes depended on the connections their daughters’ marriages would make, the idea of marrying for love was dangerous. It could ruin a family’s prospects. So these magazine texts always ended dismally, with the woman heartbroken and dying, as to show that love did not lead to happiness. They were entertaining reads with an alarming message that love was not an emotion to be trusted.

The Modern Rake

I thought our class discussion about the emergence of the seduction tale and the changing makeup of society was very interesting. It makes sense that people became increasingly fearful when they were no longer able to discern another’s character easily (by knowing their breeding and history) and when strangers became a figure in communities. Even today, it is a very alarming prospect for young women that we cannot judge a man’s character easily, and instead must take him to be as he presents himself. That is why the rake is such a disturbing archetypal figure, and such a prominent one.

I found a great example of a rake in a novel- that though it is not contemporary literature, it is a book that is often read today. Willoughby in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility is the epitome of a rake. Like Florio in our seduction narrative, he is a gentleman who uses he appearance and manners to give the false impression of his worth. Willoughby is a selfish character that lacks virtue, which is typical or a libertine. He flirts shamelessly with the heroine Marianne, making her believe he loves her and even leading her to believe he will propose. However, when financial circumstances are hard he abandons her and marries a wealthy woman. He admits that he was playing with Marianne’s feelings in order to flatter his own ego. Even worse, Willoughby one ran away with a young lady, got her pregnant, and abandoned her. After that, he immediately tried to attach himself to Marianne. Willoughby is able to attract these young women because of his good looks, his flirtatious manner, and his status as a gentleman. In reality, his fortune is very small due to gambling debts, and his flirting often sets aside propriety. Near the end of the novel, he does express some remorse and admits that he has been a libertine. But then he falls back into bad habits. The novel was written in the early 1800s, so it is near seduction tales in the time of its composition. However, the novel seems more accessible to the modern reader. The texts to do not seem so foreign as the seduction texts.

When I think of a modern day rake, I think of Sebastian from the movie Cruel Intentions. The movie is an adaptation of a classic French novel, Les Liaisons Dangereux, which was written in the 1700s (strangely close to the seduction narratives). In the movie, Sebastian is a wealthy Manhattan socialite who derives pleasure from seducing and bedding young women. Growing bored with all the easy conquests, he looks for a challenge. His step-sister/twisted object of his desire, makes a bet with him that he can’t seduce the headmaster’s virginal daughter. If he fails to bed her, he has to give up his car to his stepsister. If he wins the bet, he gets to have kinky/almost incestuous sex with her. Anyways, Sebastian spends most of the movie in pursuit of the virginal character (played by Reese Witherspoon). He also seduces and sleeps with other women in order to fulfill his desires and as a form of revenge on others. Like other rakes, Sebastian is handsome, well-dressed and smooth talking. He knows exactly what to say to draw in a woman’s heart, and then turns cold after he has had her. This combination of insincere motives but outward charm makes his a horrible combination. Of course, he is reformed at the end of the movie. This is where the modern rake tends to differ from those of old. Many modern rakes are seen as redeemable if they meet the “right woman.” However, this gives them no excuse to treat the other women who were not “right” for them like crap. The rake is still a prominent figure in our current entertainment pieces because he is both alluring and alarming- he seems like a great deal but is a walking disaster.

The Perfect Woman

“To preserve the deilicacy of mind, which nature furnishes; which constitutes the glory of your sex, and forms the principal guard of your own virtue, is the business of education.”
- Alphonzo, “An Address to the Ladies.

Oh, Alphonzo. I think you summed things up quite nicely. The common theme of education in these narratives (though in some cases it does pertain to literature and the arts) is the education of the self to be a proper and virtuous woman. All of the writings seem to offer advice that one would find in a finishing school. Not a very interesting read if you ask me. I guess my idea of a page turner is not being told how to act. But texts that offer advice on genteel manners and ladylike conduct are still popular. However, many of these handbooks on etiquette are written by women, who at least seem to be experts on the subject and therefore have some right to offer advice to others. What makes many of these texts, Alfonzo’s in particular, quite aggravating, is that they either were (or probably were) written by men. Therefore, they seem very patriarchal and condescending. They are indeed constructing their “ideal” woman, and they are providing moral censure to any female who does not adhere to that standard.

These often male authored texts seem to imply that a woman’s education need not extend far beyond that of chastity and gentility. Yes, it is a plus to be well read, but that is really secondhand to the more important characteristics of an elegant female: beauty, virginity, hospitality, sweetness of character and a rock-solid reputation. The women painted by these narratives are very much like the woman of Cosmo today- a picturesque, airbrushed portrait of what a patriarchal society deems a perfect woman to be. It can be summed up that the educated woman of the 1700s would be a largely domestic figure. Her accomplishments would be found in her manner of talking, her ability to paint delicately and her ability to sing and dance. These were accomplishments, and it was a plus to have a woman that was intelligent (not to much so!) and well read. However, these were on a lower tier of importance to the writers of these narratives. They place female virtue, delicacy, civility, and reputation above all else. The manners of “education” that writers like Alfonzo tend to address are cautions to the gentler sex. They are warnings not to fall into the hands of a seductive rake, not to be too coquettish, never incautious, and to avoid being to assertive to her husband. The woman is meant to be “educated” to be the epitome of social class, with a kind heart but a virtuous body. Books for ladies are not those despicable novels, full of nonsense, but more prudent literature, such as those that are religious or tell women to leave a chaste life.

The moral of this literature is simple. The perfect woman, in the view of the authors, is one that is always cautious of her reputation and beautiful. She must be all that is delicate and sweet, for that is the true glory of her sex. Education is not book-learning, it is watching the self and protecting the mind and body from falling into the traps of seduction and impurity. Many of the women in this time period did not fall into what these texts paint to be the ideal female. However, these texts were educational- written with the hope that a woman can learn from reading (as long as she is not wasting time with novels).

From Whore to More...

The female subject of the Panther Narrative is indeed almost a different creature than the beaten-down, stigmatized woman that Cotton Mother preaches about. Though, in terms of relative historical length, these texts are not far apart, their context and views of women represented in these narratives are worlds away.

The first texts we focused on, principally the witchcraft tales of Cotton Mather, were filled with high-flow, religious language that was developed to be a moral guidance to the reader. However, it is evident through the outrageousness of the literature (the descriptions of specters torturing victims and girls coughing up crooked pins) that these were also meant to be entertaining. The primary goal however, is to preach to an audience about the evils that are befalling the New World because they did not live up to God’s expectations. The fantastical elements only serve to draw the reader in and to show the otherworldliness and evil of the “witches.” These texts are didactic tools and warning reproaches of fallen women. The female characters are given little characterization rather than evil, supernatural deeds from the witches and fits of hysteria from the afflicted girls. The audience of these texts was, at least in Mather’s view, God-fearing folk who wanted a reason of why these “evils” were befalling Puritan America. He suspected that these people believed heavily in the devil and the wrath of God.

The next set of historical works that we read were categorized into infanticide narratives and confessionals. Women in these texts were much more colorful than in Mather’s prose, however they too are confined to a limited set of feelings. Though these texts were supposedly written by women, the complex stylistic devices and lack of emotionality about difficult subject matter seems to suggest otherwise. The infanticide narratives track the journeys of wicked women who killed their young babies, and were subsequently punished for it. These women often trace their evil ways to childhood and their seemingly simple faults there, and then in a slippery-slope manner they fall into a life of debauchery. Another pattern in these texts is that the women all come to a realization before their execution and come to repent their fallen ways. The same is true for the confessional narratives, where the women have committed other crimes as wickedness other than (though perhaps including) infanticide. The language after their conversion is very high-flown and overdone. Their newfound religiousness is sudden and overwhelming, suggesting that the authors believed that there were only two types of women: saints and whores. It can be concluded that these texts were also largely didactic in nature, especially the early ones. This can be seen through the intense religious overtones and the fact that the women always see the error of their ways and are redeemed through a gracious God. However, these texts are also sensationalist and were written to “shed further light” on infamous female criminals of the time. They were capitalizing on the notoriety of women convicts and writing fake confessionals for them. These male authors were writing for an audience that wanted the dirt on female convicts, and the authors took advantage of this hunger to feed them stories about repentance and the glory of God.

These earlier texts are marking a small progression in their view of the audience and of the fallen woman. However, the Panther Narrative, also known as “A Very Surprising Narrative of a Young Woman, Who was Found in a Cave” is a drastic change from the previous texts we have read. For the first time we are seeing a woman who has some degree of agency in her own life. Though the female pirate’s tale was imbued with a sense of more dynamic femininity, this tale represents a more drastic demarcation. The young woman leaves society and ends up alone in a cave for nine years. She must protect her chastity against a savage giant (who in later editions turns into an Indian, then a Negro), and kills him and chops him up in defense. This female is also quite wild is some ways, disobeying the will of her harsh father and living in the wilderness. But she is not a total change from the previous accounts of women: the audience still gets the feeling that she is a fallen woman. She does not follow societal norms exactly, but she does not fully depart from them. The young woman is remarkably well kept for living in the wilderness, and she tries to domesticate her cave. In the end, she returns to civilization. The lesson the audience receives is somewhat ambiguous, but it can be interpreted that society triumphs in reclaiming the wild woman. Her return must be acknowledged, because even though the text is by no means condemning of her, she is not allowed to continue to dwell outside the constraints of society. Even when she is in the wild she is domesticated and feminized. This is a narrative written to be fantastic and entertaining to an audience that was apprehensive about the effects of travelers moving westward. They were also an audience that craved sensational tales and entertainment. The audience is not quite ready for a fully independent, assertive and transgressive woman. This is evidenced through the ending of the Panther Narrative. But it is definitely a step in a more feminist direction. The fallen woman is no longer the object of such strict social stigmatization or religious reprobation as she was in the past.

Modern Warnings to Our Young Girls

I found that the literature of “Pillars of Salt” was archaic and heavy-handed, however, I recognized that some of the basic sentiments about the “fallen” women in the texts were similar to modern society’s sentiments regarding transgressive women. Though several centuries have passed, our modern culture still has a way of stigmatizing and punishing women who traipse across the boundaries of “acceptable” feminine behavior. And our modern narratives have ways of warning the youths not to “fall” just as the fiery preachings of “Pillars of Salt” were meant to dissuade Puritan youths from transgression.

Just as there were a set of standards for a Puritan woman, there are a set of social norms that are demanded of women today (though they are much looser than those of two hundred years ago). Today’s girls are expected to remain chaste (or at least maintain the appearance of chastity), to behave in a way socially prescribed for their gender, to fit the mold of idealized feminine beauty, and to abstain from large amounts of drink of drugs. If a girl “falls” far from adhering to these norms, she has transgressed her prescribed social boundaries and will be stigmatized for them. This does not mean that she will become a social pariah as in the olden days or will be hanged. However it means that she will face a degree of stigmatization, reprimanding, taunting and that she will be faced with prejudice and labeling. Let’s say a TCU girl goes out at night to have casual sex with several men, and then speaks openly about it or stumbles out of the boy’s lodging in “shacker” wear. Chances are this girl’s reputation will be seriously damaged, and other girls will think ill of her and cast her out of their circle. Boys will treat her as damaged goods and expect her to be a sexual object. She has not been cast out of society, but has been relegated to a tier of society that is considered seedy and shameful.

Other women that are seen as cause for social reprimanding in modern culture are lesbians, overweight women, spinsters, tomboys, ugly women, childless females, alcoholics, druggies, “unfit” mothers, and etcetera. It as is if our modern culture has a range of what is socially acceptable for a female, and women who fall outside of that range are reprimanded and ostracized, or thrown into their own group of “undesirables.” The women in this class make up the “fallen females” of today because they possess traits which isolate them from their prescribed femininity and therefore from society. We are a culture that sees our womanhood, and the socially constructed roles that go with it, as essential to our sense of being. We treat transgressors in a tad more civilized way as did our predecessors. The women in these infanticide narratives are similar to those I have listed above because they fall into the category of a woman who has rejected her social gender role. If a woman commits infanticide, it is a crime that is contrary to her womanhood. Being female means being constructed to breed and nurture, and infanticide is an act that wrecks our idea of what being female is all about. Even if these women did not actually commit the crime, they overstepped their bounds by excessive drinking and blatant sexuality: which are still grounds for condemnation in modern society.

I feel that we have our own versions of the infanticide narratives: messages constructed so as to warn young women not to transgress their prescribed roles or to “fall” into a certain lifestyle. Movies and television shows often teach children that it is a slippery slope between small sins and a life of debauchery. They show characters having a swig of beer at one moment and engaging in prostitution the next. Most of these depictions can be found in Lifetime movies or in shows tailored for the very young. Pre-teen dramas often have plots constructed around a “good girl” encountering a dangerous situation, which she either falls into or escapes and learns a valuable lesson from. Often these preachy shows are directed at teens to impress on them how easy it is to fall into bad lifestyles and to scare them into behaving. Other examples of our modern narratives are the constant warnings parents give their daughters about sex. Girls are constantly warned about sexual activity through threatening them that they will be labeled whores. The idea of being thought of as sexually promiscuous is one that is horrible to a young girl. I remember hearing “warning tales” of girls who were very like myself and who made bad choices and ended up with miserable lives. These stories are our own constructions designed to keep our youths “on the right track.”

Feminists Reclaim the Crone

I enjoyed reading Rountree's academic essay on feminist witchcraft and regaining the "agency" of the crone. On the whole, I found the article very accessible because it enumerated on concepts that I heard about before in other classes. My current class “Sociology of the Body” often focuses on the ways that our bodies are not just anatomical structures but also cultural ones: and that women’s bodies are often labeled and oppressed by patriarchal structures. Also, an assignment in last semester’s “King Arthur” class acquainted me with the concept of the goddess and the divine feminine. For me, Rountree’s thesis was a clear way to bring together these concepts I had heard about but was not totally understanding of. After reading “The New Witch of the West” I feel that I am more educated on the current women’s movement’s treatment of the terms “witch” and “goddess.” I also understand their attempt to reclaim these words and their biased definitions from patriarchal agencies. These feminist witches are showing solidarity for those persecuted women who were labeled witches in the past. They were women who did not fit into the gender roles prescribed by a patriarchal society, and who ostracized and demonized for their independent thoughts. By calling themselves “witches” these new feminists are not casting spells and stirring cauldrons, but are showing a solidarity for their female predecessors while simultaneously expressing their disdain for the rigid norms set by a male-dominated society.

Rountree asserts that Western culture is intent on defining life through dichotomies, and that the archetypes of the witch and the goddess are examples of this. She states that the pre-Christian figure of the Goddess was a multi-faceted figure who was both good and beautiful and chaotic and dangerous. Furthermore, Rountree says that, in the Christian world, the negative aspects of the Goddess were separated out and made into their own purely wicked archetype: the witch. Therefore the goddess was left as pure and her negative traits were cast out so that they could be more clearly punished by society. The “goddess” of pre-Christian religion, as well as feminist witches, want to see the world as holistic, where everything is related and things can be multi-faceted instead of black and white. Therefore, their attempt to regain control of the word “witch” comes with the simultaneous quest to reunite the “crone” with the “goddess,” creating the whole that once existed in one figure. This is what Rountree is expressing when she says that modern feminists believe that a contemporary woman can be both witch and goddess.

The article which we read was plainly written through a feminist lens, though it raises many good points about the nature of our society and the consequences of domination by one sex. Rountree’s writing showed me the pervasiveness of patriarchy in the Western world, and how it shades all aspects of our society from medicine to religion. I had never before considered that witches were a threat to the male-dominated medicine field because they offered alternative less scientific treatments. It suddenly made sense that these women were to be so harshly persecuted: they were standing in the way of profit! Her article also made me reexamine the place of the female in the Christian religion. It is a sad fact that Christianity views God largely as male, and that most important characters in the Bible are masculine. The Church has been one of the main avenues for the persecution of women and for their relegation to subservient roles. This made me think back to a movie called “The Mists of Avalon” that I saw in my King Arthur class. The women in the film were ones that our culture would label as sorceresses or witches: they were more powerful than the males are worshipped a feminine goddess. The movie was interesting because it showed the gender and religious struggles that resulted when the Christian and “pagan” ways met. The result was the almost complete eradication of the Goddess figure. Women who continued to adhere to these “pagan” beliefs were often cast out from society or killed.

The sad truth is, that like many things in the world, the titles of witch and goddess, and the persecution of women who fall under these delineations, is all about power. The modern feminist is trying to reclaim power, to take back agency, by redefining these masculine marked words. In contrast, patriarchal society was trying to secure their power in creating these terms and splitting the goddess and the crone into two distinct roles. I think it would be better if we as a society could think of things more holistically. Perhaps then we would not be so apt to persecute those who fall outside of our self-creating lines of “good” and “evil.”

I suppose I was a strange child because I was always interested in the supernatural- whether it be witches, ghosts, mystical creatures, fairies, etc. I will just attribute it to an active imagination and a love of being frightened. Whatever the case, I was totally in love with the TV show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" when I was about 16. It had all the supernatural elements mixed in with soap-opera situations, witty dialogue, and hot guys. So I watched the show loyally for all its 7 seasons, even when it went downhill. Besides vampires, there were demons and witches as major characters on the show. Buffy's read-headed best friend Willow was a witch and a very important part of the show. In the first season, she was just a bookish math-nerd with more brains then she knew what to do with. As the show progressed, Willow developed an interest in the occult and started to learn spells out of dust-covered spell books in the school library (yeah, like most schools have that kind of literature). Willows spells and charms were usually harmless in nature and seemed to conjure up traditional images of witchcraft: strange but natural ingredients, incantations, talismans, and potions. Her spells always helped the other characters out of tough jams and gave the viewers the overall impression that witchcraft could be lighthearted and earthy.

But the show went on and Willow's old magic tricks weren't as interesting to the viewers as they used to be. So the writers ditched Willow's werewolf boyfriend for a female witch. Yes, Willow magically became a lesbian a few seasons in. Not only that, Willow's magic began to get darker and more sinister as the episodes rolled on. She started to look in "dark magic" books and become obsessed with learning more powerful forms of magic. She could now erase people's memories, transport herself from place to place, and other large-scale tricks. In one season Buffy died defeating a fallen "god" (yes, ridiculous) and Willow's spells raised her from the dead in the next season's premiere episode. Convenient, I know. But all these powerful spells had an effect: magic became like crack for Willow. Whenever she was "using" magic, her eyes would turn all black and creepy and she would go on spell binges. And when she didn't use she craved the magic. People who got in her way got their skin turned inside out and other dark magic spells performed on them. At the end of that season Willow went so spell crazy that she turned evil and tried to destroy the world. She stood in the middle of a giant pentegram and recited evil incantations until Buffy went to her and told her she loved her and not to do that. Yes, the show had definitely "jumped the shark."

The point of all this is that Willow's role on Buffy the Vampire Slayer was symbolic to me of the way that I feel American society feels about witches and witchcraft. On one hand, we feel that there is an allure to the potions and the naturalism that witchcraft praises. But on the other, our society fears that an interest in witchcraft is addicting and can lead to dark and dangerous beliefs. Not only that, but our culture shows that people must be cautioned against witches. This is shown through Willow's turning evil in Buffy and through the roles of witches in fairy tales. There is definitely a double standard with witches in America: a pull between fascination and unwariness.

The presence of shows like Buffy, and their popularity, shows that there is still a fascination with the idea of “evil” in the modern world. In the show, the fight against evil was an enduring theme, and evil could be embodied in a variety of different ways: through vampires, demons, ghosts, devils, and corrupt humans. Each time evil came into the world, Buffy, the essence of good, would fight and conquer it. The show is symbolic of humanities fears that evil truly exists in the world. Mather believed that evil was an active agent that sought to corrupt the world. This view is still widely held- oftentimes in the Christian religion. I have several friends and a mother who believe that demons are present in this world and corrupt those who are not careful. I believe that our contemporary society is still uncertain as to the nature of evil. We heartily believe it exists, but cannot always identify it. In fact, evil is a concept that is socially created. We see it represented in the archetypal figures of Satan, demons, ghosts and other supernatural beings, yet we are also painfully aware that evil is a force that may lurk within the human heart.

An Introduction...

Hello all, my name is Megan Murphey and I am a senior English and Strategic Communications major. I was born and raised in Arlington, Texas, home of the new Cowboys stadium. I am an only child but I have my pet cat and all my sorority sisters to keep me company. Traveling is one of my big loves but I also really like art history and drawing. I am excited about this course become I am interested in gender studies, history, and scandal. This is a great combination of all three! It reminds me of the quote, “Well behaved women rarely make history.”

I came to TCU back in 2005, when the campus was still in tact and we had to suffer with our old, out-dated student center. My cousin had gone to TCU and the location was close to home so that sealed the deal for me. Though I love the school, I would change a few things if I were made chancellor. For one, I would cap tuition. I think I should pay the same as I did back when I was accepted. Also, I would change the strict new rules about dining at the new student union. Seriously, I think 20 year-olds can decide if they want to take their food to go. And paying $9 every time I want a meal, even if it’s a tiny one not worth that much? There has to be a more economical way. If you ask me, I think they are just trying to recoup the costs of the new construction because parking tickets didn’t do the job.

On the other hand, one thing I really love about TCU is the professors. They are dedicated to giving their students a real learning experience and personal attention. I think a good professor is one who is passionate about teaching and uses whatever creative they can if it helps a student learn to love their subject. And I think a good student is one who works to the best or their abilities and is excited to learn. Education is a two-way street, and if one party is not doing their job then nothing will be achieved.


In regards to the question of which three people I would have to ask if the answer could also be a fictional character. There are many make-believe people I would love to have attend- all the characters of my favorite books and movies. But for now I will go with real people. I would choose Audrey Hepburn, Theodore Roosevelt and Hugh Hefner. Strange combination, I know. It’s bound to be an interesting dinner party! I choose Audrey for her elegance and humanitarian work. Roosevelt would be there to recount stories of adventure and to tell about his extraordinary life. Hugh Hefner would be there because I think he would be a fun guy to meet because he knows everyone and seems like a fun-loving guy.

Three things you should know about me are 1) I am a dedicated learner and enjoy creative teachers who use humor and visual aids 2) I am a slow reader, 3) I do not like timed, in-class writing. I try my best at whatever I do but get very anxious about not having enough time to do my best. Things I would want to know about the two of you are your personal teaching styles, why you chose to teach this course, and your favorite hobby.

I chose to take this class because I thought it was the most interesting American Literature class offered at TCU. The course description was intriguing to me because I love things that are scandalous and historical. It’s always fun to me to learn about people who don’t play by the rules- because I am someone who always plays by them. Living vicariously, I guess.

I enjoy reading but I read fairly slowly because I really like to absorb the work and what I am reading. Inside the classroom I read mostly fiction. I have read a lot of Milton and Shakespeare but also a lot of works of Existentialism such as The Stranger. Outside of class, I have to admit I read chick-lit and magazines. The New York Times is also a great read. Usually I am pretty exhausted from the novels I read for class so I don’t read as much as I should. My favorite books are those with beautiful language that create mental pictures and intense emotions. I like to write, and usually write analytical papers for class. But I also write a lot of emails and texts to friends. I strive to be a good writer, and that means that I write slowly because I carefully consider each sentence. Usually, at the end, I am pleased with my work.

I am not sure what kind of argument my blog is making, but I know what type of argument I would like it to make. My intent is to show that I take my work seriously and that I am interested in creating a blog space that deeply analyzes the works of literature we study. It is also important to me that my blog is well designed, although I am currently experimenting with pictures and layouts. I chose a background that fits with the subject of this class, and I plan on adding colonial artwork and etchings. I hope that this blog becomes a unified whole, not just random blurbs of feelings and interpretations.

Finally, I have read and understand the terms and agreements of the course. I agree to adhere to them.