Historical Thoughts on Mens(fu)stration

          Menstruation has always been seen in a negative spotlight.  Some African tribes believe that a woman will affect a man's virility if a menstruating woman is sleeping in his bed (Gomez-Sanchez, 373).  The Ubangui believe that if a woman prepares food while she is menstruating that she will give her husband bad fortune while he is at war and will be shot to the point where his blood runs freely (Gomez-Sanchez, 374).  According to other cultures, menstrual blood had evil qualities.  Similar ideas spread throughout Western Europe where it is believed that menstrual blood prevented germination of plants, make fruits fall from trees, make animals abort, cause the skies to be pitch black and dark, cause rust and iron to blackened, and turn mirrors foggy. (Gomez- Sanchez, 374).  Some cultures absolutely believe menstrual blood to be a symbol of impurity.  Ironically, the vagina is a self-cleaning organ and has unique maintenance.  Even now, notorious discomfort persists when dealing with the topic on menstruation.  Menstruation should be seen as a biological event rather than a taboo topic.

 

         Comparing history to modern day, the menstrual cycle is still a taboo topic.  According to a 2016 online Huffington news article, "Menstrual Cycle Still a Barrier to Achieve Gender Equality," the menstrual cycle is still not a topic that is ever mentioned in Nepal.

Resources:

Gómez-Sánchez, Pio Iván, et al. "Menstruation In History." Investigacion & Educacion En Enfermeria 30.3 (2012): 

377. MedicLatina. Web. 29 Apr. 2016.

Neofem: New Approach?

Recently, I found some social media commentary on a popular feminist trend called, Neofeminism.  I came across this term while scrolling through my Moment’s timeline on Twitter (via Amber Rose Twitter). I am still learning about what this effort entails, but I found it relatively applicable to the Wife of Bath's Prologue. There isn’t as much literature on Neofeminism as I hoped for, but I managed to find a broad definition of it: Neofeminism describes an emerging view of women as becoming empowered through the celebration of attributes perceived to be conventionally feminine…a female assumes or believes that females should lead and be more dominant in work, life, etc. than men…It glorifies a womanly essence over claims to equality with men (wiki, quora). A Neofeminist approach to the Wife of Bath's Prologue would support the representation of the Wife of Bath, Alys, as an empowering figure because her character asserts dominance over men.

            As we discussed in class the prologue reveals a female character that can be analyzed in different ways. The Wife of Bath is a complex portrayal of a medieval woman. One that is explicitly shameless about the way she uses sexual power to get what she wants. So, by portraying her in this way, Neofeminist would deny Chaucer is using the character to confirm negative stereotypes about women (manipulative and deceitful), but that she is a woman rightfully exuding her power in a male-dominated society.

            Through a Neofeminism lens, the prologue would be read as an encouraging piece for women.  The Wife of Bath would be deemed powerful because she is not only showing that she has control over one man but several.

 

The approach would highlight the fact that the Wife of Bath uses her sexual attributes for personal gain instead of focusing on proving her equal status with men. Her demeanor is one that emanates an authoritative attitude and reiterates the Neofeminist idea that women are more superior:

                 “At the end I had the better in every way,

       By trickery, or force, or by some such thing”  (408).

 

So, was Chaucer saying women are better than men? Mm.*shrugs*.

 

 

 

 

 

Sex in Medieval Times

Sex in Medieval Times

         Augustine is thought to be the only Church Father who has wrote in great detail about church and sex (Finn, 47).  He argued that marriage served to restrain and focus on sexual desires and thoughts, which he claimed to be a dangerous and destructive human energy that is capable of tearing society apart (Finn, 49).  Even so, Augustine proposes marriage to be a sacrament, in addition to fidelity and offspring (Finn, 52).  It is thought that his teachings are what developed Christian thoughts on marriage.  In Western Christendom; marriage was formed by the consent of both parties.  Marital promises followed by sexual intercourse created an indissoluble marriage (Karras, 1).  Even then, during the medieval times,  any extramarital relationships were looked down upon and considered as an adulterous sin.  Christian couples who were married accordingly with the secular and familial world were considered to be validly married (Finn, 46).  It was during the twelfth century that christian marriages was not only found in church but also increasingly prevalent under ecclesiastic jurisdiction (Finn, 47).  Marriage was solely seen as a process to reproduce.  Anyone who indulged in sex with the use of contraceptives was seen as engaging in "lustful cruelty" (Finn 63).  Peter Lombard considered a couple of this special category as "fornicators" and no longer "spouses" (Finn, 63).  In The Book of Margery Kempe Margery is a woman who would be considered as a fallen woman who has transformed into a fornicator rather than a spouse for being tempted by desire. 

        Although Margery seems to be mad or unstable she only portrays reality through her eyes of society's own instability.  Was there any particular reason why her husband John did not go "mad" or crazy as Margery appeared to be?  She was a victim of rape, yet she felt as if she were the criminal.  Rape was not considered if it occurred in a marriage.  Even today there is still controversy whether rape is committed within a marriage.  Read "Sex, Dementia, and a Husband on Trial at Age 78" to observe that the line of rape in marriage is still blurry.  During the medieval ages, women were held accountable for any sexual accounts.  However, men were held accountable for their personality characteristics rather than the sexual morality standards society created.  Margery goes through great distress when she becomes tempted by lustful thoughts.  Unfortunately, today there are still double standards. 

         

         

Resources:

Finn, Thomas F. "Sex And Marriage In The Sentences Of Peter Lombard." Theological Studies 72.1 (2011): 

           41. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 28 Apr. 2016.

Karras, Ruth Mazo1. "The Regulation Of Sexuality In The Late Middle Ages: England And France." Speculum 86.4 

           (2011): 1010-1039. Humanities Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 28 Apr. 2016.

Excalibur: Arthur’s Phallic Show of Force and Post-Castrative Sexual Dominance

Let me open by stating that, while the implications surrounding the readings of medieval literary texts including swords can easily be swayed to assume all swords are extensions of their wielder’s masculinities, this post is not concerned with that generalization. Here I am concerned with one sword and some of the most explicit underpinnings of a scene in Morte Arthure. Excalibur, Arthur’s lynchpin for the kingdom of Britain and a sign of his dominance, is used in a duel to successful effect, but in a way that can be read as an assertion of masculine force if interpreted under certain linguistic contexts. In the final climactic duel between the king and the treasonous Mordred, Arthur drives his sword into a gap in Mordred’s armor, effectively killing the usurper only after being mortally wounded himself (Sutton 280).
        Previous scholarly debated has centered around the poem and its approach to wounds as having a tradable quality, echoing the adage “an eye for an eye” (Sutton 282). Arthur’s wound is often translated to have occurred on the loins, and in this stands the common reading of Mordred’s treason as castrating Arthur’s sense of leadership and “virtus,” here meaning masculine virility. To keep with the sense of trade, an equal or more damaging wound would thereby need to be inflicted. To keep with this, Sutton argues about the location of the blow delivered by Arthur to Mordred’s fente, or armor flap.
Usual translations site this armor to be a part of a helmet or breastplate, but Sutton contends that fente in previous translations misses the clear comparison to another Middle English word of etymological relation: vent. This word, while possibly meaning gap or open space, also has a more bodily connotation. Given the way the term is used, and the nature of the description of Mordred’s death, Sutton contends that the flap described here covers the buttocks, and the final mortal blow delivered by Arthur impales Mordred through the anus (284).
This would not be the first instance of such a wound in medieval literature. In fact, Sutton contends that for a British audience, the wound would call to mind the demise of Edward II, who is likewise described as being pierced in his final moments.  The parallel then stands to accentuate the ideas that failure in war is tantamount to ultimate disgrace, even to the point of regal, physical evisceration. In this reading, Arthur’s slaying of Mordred is as much a show of masculine dominance as it is an act of combative aggression. In many ways, these functions are perhaps more synonymous in Medieval literature than in modern retellings.
One point still remains after Mordred is slain. Arthur’s wounds are fatal, and the symbolism stands twofold. Mordred removed any means for Arthur to continue his line, eliminating the patriarchal power from Arthur’s sense of authority. Genealogically speaking, Arthur is already dead. There’s something Oedipal in the underpinnings, but more importantly, this notes how fragile the sense of masculine strength present in a king truly is. In the end, the wounds signify a loss of something that Arthur was likely destined to lose anyway, and the returning of his blade to the Lady in the Lake in other tales seems to echo the destined returning of power. In the end, all power, whether usurped or absorbed, must be returned.

MASCULINITY GONE TO SHIT

As you may have noticed there is a rather “shitty” theme that runs throughout Chaucer’s A Miller’s Tale. The subject first comes up as we are introduced to Absolon, the rather effeminate parish clerk from the local church. Chaucer gives a long description of his appearance and musical abilities. Then he decides to wrap things up by telling us this:

Later, poor Absolon is tricked into kissing the ass of Alison, the woman he loves. He is outraged and angrily returns with a hot iron to get his revenge. This time, Alison’s lover Nicholas, who has just stolen her from her husband sticks his ass out the window hoping to fart in Absolon’s face before receiving a kiss of his own. Instead Absolon thrusts the red-hot piece of metal upward burning Nicholas’ rear end.

These passages reminded me of the husband from The Long-Assed Berenger who is forced to kiss his own wife’s ass right after she has had sex with another man. There seems to be some sort of connection between fecal matter, gas, assholes, and masculinity, or rather, the lack thereof. According to Morrison’s Excrement in the Late Middle Ages, “Excrement was a relic of ‘gay matter,’ ‘an intermediate between the living body and dead disintegrating matter that is being transformed into earth, into manure. The living body returns to the earth its excrement, which fertilizes the earth as does the body of the dead’” (2008, p. 6). She goes on to explain how excrement played an interesting dual role, representing both abundance and humiliation, medicine and corruption, as well as renewal and death. Through this duality we see how shit can be related to both the male and female body fluids with the male being controlled and pure and the female being uncontrolled and polluting.

Through this understanding we see how Alison and Nicholas use their asses and farts to humiliate Absolon. In the story, the two lovers hold all the control, they just tricked Alison’s husband into humiliating himself by building a bunch of crazy boats. Then, they trick Absolon into kissing their butts and fart in his face. On their end, the use of “shit” is powerful because it is controlled. Absolon on the other hand is not in control of the shit and therefore embodies the feminine position. It is interesting to note again, that Absolon is “squeamish about farting.” Perhaps this is because he is already insecure in his masculinity, as indicated by his description.

Interestingly, Absolon is not the only man in the story who ends up with a damaged masculinity. The carpenter, who embodies the physical aspects of masculinity and is described only as old and ugly, has his wife taken and is humiliated in front of the other town. Nicholas, who embodies the mental aspects of masculinity as an intelligent scholar gets a hot iron up his ass. In the end, these men’s pursuit of a beautiful woman leads to their ultimate downfall. 

Classism and Female Sexual Deviancy in the Middle Ages

There seems to be a profound difference between the sexual lives of upper and lower class women in the Middle Ages, specifically that upper class women were more heavily scrutinized and judged than lower class women when it came to sexual actions. This isn’t to say that lower class women escaped all scrutiny, but they seemed to have less repercussions from their actions than those of a higher class. Whereas higher class women would be publicly punished and reviled for any sexual promiscuity, sexual promiscuity in middle to lower class women seemed to be overlooked or even found amusing. We can view this difference in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Miller’s Tale” and Beroul’s “Tristan”, where two different women take part in sexual dalliances that lead them down two different paths.

In “The Miller’s Tale” the main female character is named Alisoun. Alisoun is married to a man much older than she is and because of this, ends up desiring a younger man by the name of Nicholas. On the sidelines is a third man, Absalon, who also wishes to make Alisoun his own. This leaves Alisoun with three different potential suitors/husbands which was quite a large number of men for a woman to interact with, especially when she is already married. By the end of the tale, Alisoun runs off with Nicholas and faces virtually no repercussions or reprimands from anyone in the story.

For a woman in the Middle Ages, this is quite unusual. Generally one such woman would be castigated and punished for her sexual deviancy on multiple accounts such as adultery, promiscuity, and potential polygamy. But instead of being scorned or at least mocked for her actions, Alisoun becomes an amusing character, one who makes her audience laugh at her sexual antics. I believe this is because of her lower class position in society. As discussed by Judith Bennett and Ruth Karras in their article “Women, Gender, and Medieval Historians”, lower class women were not forced to maintain gender roles as stringently as upper class women did. I believe this carries over into the sexual field for lower class women as well. While upper class women were generally required to maintain an air of righteousness and purity, lower class women were more concerned with daily survival and taking care of their children. Because of this, lower class women were not held to the same standards or scrutinized as thoroughly as high class women.

In juxtaposition to this, the Queen in Beroul’s “Tristan” is vilified and nearly burnt to death for her promiscuity. Instead of remaining faithful to King Mark, the Queen sleeps with her lover Tristan and is caught. Once caught, the Queen is sentenced a publicly punished, at first threatened to be burned but then given over to a colony of lepers. I believe that the Queen would not have received such punishment if she had been of lower station. She suffered the wrath of a King scorned and because such a man is privileged and powerful, the Queen’s death had to be made into a spectacle so King Mark could keep his pride. The Queen residing in the public eye ends up being her downfall, at least when it comes to critique over her sexual promiscuity.  

Margery Kempe: Martyr in the Middle Ages

The Book of Margery Kempe was one of the earliest autobiographies written, but was not entirely an autobiography. The biography was dated back to 16th century Middle Ages and was interpreted from Margery’s word by a monk. Margery’s story details the life of a woman who was scorned and deemed a heretic because of her intense devotion to Christianity. Although Margery was said to have had 14 children and a middle class home, her devotion lead to her to celibacy from her husband and wore only white to represent her renowned pureness. She expressed visions to the public, which in turn titled her a heretic and endured a great amount of suffering.

Margery’s beliefs made her a heretic in the public’s eye and in some cases thought of as a martyr. During the Middle Ages, Saints were often, at first, seen as martyr’s due to the miracles they enacted on others. Martyr’s were admired for their intense persecution and willingness to die for their faith. These Saints were an integral part to Medieval Christianity because without their intense persecution and beliefs, a hierarchy within the Christian religion would have not been established. Saints were then put on a pedestal for their great devotion and lessons they brought into the world. Saints were also said to experience visions, performed miracles, and were extremely blessed in the eyes of their faith.

As a notable theme in the story, Margery felt her suffering was a necessity to be closer to her faith and ultimately God. Her suffering is rooted from the New Testament where Christ informs St. Paul that he must suffer in Christ’s name in order to be closer to God. Margery does not directly cite this verse in her story, but she follows the same notion. In a way, Margery’s interpretation of being scorned from being persecuted is because her suffering is a reminder of the greater suffering that Christ endured. Margery’s visions make her a witness (martyr can also be interpreted as witness) to Jesus and Mary’s suffering, making her connected to the suffering. Margery’s tears then become a sign of her willingness to share that suffering. As a place in the tradition of Christian mystics, Margery’s tears “saving others” acts as a personal union with God. By looking at Margery and saints in the Middle Ages, readers are able to see a more clear distinction. Although Margery was not inactly a Saint, one may say she held saint qualities and should be noted in Christianity’s history.   

Work Cited:

http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/saints/