Patriarchal Institutions and Women
In November 2019, the Washington Post carried the story of US Rapper T.I (Clifford Joseph Harris Jr). In the article titled, “Rapper T.I. says he takes his teen to the gynecologist to confirm her hymen is still intact”, the rapper was reported to be policing over his 18-year-old daughter’s virginity. Each year, the rapper takes his daughter to a gynecologist to have her hymen checked on whether it is still ‘intact.’ This kind of reasoning is not based on one man’s fear or wanting to control his daughter; in fact, black women from religious families are raised to believe that their sexual organs are linked to their self-worth and value as women. Because sexual messages are more often communicated through religious authorities or religious institutions, religious commitment may impact how women perceive themselves sexually. In addition, most religious authorities and institutions are patriarchal. This was the case as well during the Medieval Ages. This paper will discuss how women’s sexuality is confirmed through institutions that are patriarchal, including the church in America and the establishment of pro-chastity and virginity movements. The ideology of virginity is also seen as a precursor for undermining women as capable of leadership in the church and business world.
Politics and sexual identity are issues of concern for women in relation to their values and morals. Several institutions offer women ideal images in multiple forms and definitions of what comprises a good girl or a bird girl. The general overly stressed message is that a good girl is one who stays virginal, pure and clean until the day she gets married to a man (the man does not necessarily have to be a virgin). These keywords are used repeatedly in numerous events, reading material and even books on chastity to encourage women, in particular, to live a virginal or pure lifestyle.
Sexuality plays a major role in enhancing a woman’s self-esteem and also shaping her self-image. It also provides a mechanism through which a woman can express her intimacy; sexuality is linked to self-worth. This can also be seen as women shape their sense of self-worth to their sexuality. That said, the question remains; why is the importance of virginity continuously being promoted in the church, education, life, and even governance? Why is it that women need to remain as virgins? Why do women continue to wait until they get married to have sex? The media continuously and relentlessly bombards women with messages that contradict abstinence, chastity, and virginity and sell what women ought to be instead. Ludacris (Christopher Brian Bridges), an American rapper, in his song “Nasty Girl”, encapsulates this by saying that men want “a lady in the streets but a freak in bed.” This expectation shows just how contradictory and complex society is when it comes to defining the boundaries set for women and which they are supposed to navigate to satisfy their partner’s sexual needs while at the same time conforming to the norms set by society.
Being a virgin is an ideal state that many abstinence religious, educational, and political leaders promote to youth in the hopes that the latter will actively participate in the movement. At the center of promoting purity are evangelical Christians who have created movements outside of school structures. These movements persuade young people to pledge to abstain from sex until they get married. These leaders place a boundary on what virginity means, enforce a standard for behavior, and create acceptable norms. Institutions seek to define and even promote moral practices and boundaries as to what is acceptable in society and what women can and cannot participate in. Those running the said institutions are often men who instruct women on how not to discuss or express their sexual gratification as these go against the institutions’ respective codes on how women should and ought to behave. When these leaders discuss sexual matters, they insist that it ought to be in the context of marriage.
Women then are supposed to learn how to control their sexual desires if they want to attract the recognition of men as well as their approval and acceptance. The sexually pure woman is romanticized as the ideal woman shaped for a not-necessarily ideal man’s companionship. This image of the ideal woman is imposed through media and institutions. The Wife of Bath also believed that a woman was to be married the first time as a virgin; however, if her husband died, it was the woman’s right to seek sexual gratification by getting remarried (“Chaucer: The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale — An Interlinear Translation”, n.d.).
As social institutions promote virginity for women while the media portrays the exact opposite, women are caught in between. Conversely, men can inform, regulate, and create acceptable and unacceptable sexual behavior as well as women’s sexual and social practices. The sexual freedoms and pleasure of women are often completely dismissed. Women are often not involved in discussions on female sexuality. The traditional gender roles reinstate men and empower them to have control over the sexuality of women through purity-promoting institutions. The abstinence campaign groups promote the message that while sex is great, it should be practised in the confines of marriage.
In conclusion, women need to analyze the position that society and media place them and should thus seek to demand, obtain and also control their sexuality. More women need to steer the conversation and action over their well-being and health and, by extension, on leadership roles. Women should uphold their own sexual virtue and sexuality. The dominant patriarchal discourse that dictates the gratification and sexuality of women should not be re-imposed. As the Wife of Bath asserts, Different schools make perfect clerks (scholars/clergymen), Different methods learned in various works; Make the workman perfect, certainly (“Chaucer: The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale — An Interlinear Translation”, n.d.). Women should be allowed sovereignty over their sexuality and also in other areas of their lives, including leadership in the church and other institutions. As leaders, women will be in a better position to express their opinion and hopefully change society’s mindset and expectations of women.
References
Chaucer, G. (n.d). The Wife of Bath’s Prologue and Tale — An Interlinear Translation. Sites.fas.harvard.edu. Retrieved 10 November 2020, from https://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/teachslf/wbt-par.htm.
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Essay 2
Professors instructions: Keep in mind that the most important thing about Essay 2 is that it is interesting, as was the case for Essay 2. Just because you are engaging part of a required text in Essay 2 does not change that fact or make this into a research paper or a book report. Instead, you should use specific(s) of a required text from Unit 1 to both provoke you to think deeper and to anchor your ideas so that they do not float off into vague generalities.
Patriarchal Institutions and Women
Therefore, the specifics of the required text may act for Essay 2 as an anchor, just as your experiences did for Essay 1. You may also bring in experiences, perhaps if they fit, but Essay 2 is relatively short, just a little bit longer than Essay 1: about 600 to 900 words long. This should allow you to use some specific of one required text to help you develop your ideas. I have provided feedback for a few proposals and many more are coming in. I have to work on other things (such as the Lectures, preparing the readings, the Zoom meetings, etc.). I hope to provide feedback in a timely manner.
As usual, on Wednesday, I will provide the new Lecture and open up a BB for the Forum for Module 9 on Wednesday. Please keep up with the readings and Forums, but it is always better late than never to catch up on a forum. If you fall too far behind, it will be more difficult to catch up, so please try your best to do your best and to keep up with the work in this course, which I believe is challenging, but interesting, timely, and highly educational.