It seems that lots of things are putting this Madonna/whore discussion front and centre for me at the moment.
I've been following two blogs with brilliant posts,
Dangerous Women and
Emmanuelle de Maupassant, and then there's the Donald Trump escapades in the presidential campaign in the US. Everything at the moment is making me question women's role in society and how true I am to myself.
This latest
Dangerous Women post is about Eve, and it reflects a discussion I had a while back. I love this post, especially at the end where Lilith is introduced. How I'd love it if Lilith was more widely known. I think she's my new heroine :)
The fact that Lilith, in the story quoted, refused to sleep with/submit to Adam, and then leaves Eden, voluntarily, is fantastic. That she runs off with demons makes my heart sing! She did what she wanted, bucked the system, broke away from what was 'required' of here - as punishment, she's struck from records. In my mind, that's what seems to happen if you buck the system - the world tries to obliterate you, or at least forget about you.
If you want to stand up for women, stand up for what you want, you're howled down. Society tries to push you away, shove you down and keep you quiet.
I'm not saying that everyone does this - there are people who don't. There are men who like strong women and can respect someone making their own choices.
But as a whole, I don't think this is true. Look at the whole US presidential election. Donald Trump is like so much of society - he has to climb over others, shove them away by belittling them, to make himself mighty.
He is standing against a woman candidate, and his treatment of women is appalling (not to mention his treatment of other minority groups too). He has no respect for anyone. He is selfish. But watch how he tries to put Hilary Clinton in her place over and over again - he drags up her husband's affairs to smear her, as a woman who can't keep her husband happy. If the male has an affair, it's not wrong, it's the female's fault for not doing everything to keep her man beside her. I find that appalling.
I don't find affairs appalling. I find blaming anyone for them, much less the 'outsider' in the affair, appalling. Affairs are conducted between two consenting adults. They're a choice made between the people involved. Those extraneous to the arrangement are not involved. To blame a woman for a husband's actions disgusts me.
But it's the double standard for women - again. She has to be beyond reproach, not having the affairs herself. A Madonna. Yet, she has to privately be a whore, so she keeps her husband satisfied. And if the husband strays, then she's failed as a whore and we'll proclaim that to everyone...because just being a Madonna is not enough. Although, heaven help her if she's a whore elsewhere!
I'm so furious about the treatment of women in general society. I loathe double standards.
I don't know what I can do about it, but I'm going to try to write stronger women who won't accept society's double standards for their gender.
What else can we do?
