Anyone who’s heard a lecture or two of mine knows how I feel
about the way male-centered cultures often ignore important distinctions
between the real-life experiences of men and women. And if you’ve got any
doubts about this, surely, the recent mind-blowing conservative male blather
over controlling women’s bodies is proof enough of what I’m saying.
But this isn’t new. As we all know, double standards have had a serious impact on the experiences of women over time. A few centuries after Pythagoras,
a Greek woman named Aglaonike mastered the art of predicting the timing of an
eclipse. As one might imagine, a woman with such an ability was both celebrated
and feared. Women such as Aglaonike, with specialized and esoteric scientific
knowledge, were thought by their male contemporaries to be able to “draw down
the moon.”
These amazing women were, of course, referred to as
“sorceresses” during their lifetimes, and they remained so in subsequent
Grecian writings. In fact, women who could forecast lunar eclipses during the 3
centuries before the birth of Christ became known as the famous (or infamous) “Witches
of Thessaly.” Odd how such knowledge in the hands of a woman gets referred to
as witchcraft rather than science!
On a more positive note, many ancient societies attributed
lots of agency and power to women, especially OLD women, wise women, who were thought to have special knowledge of the
natural world. In fact, some of those ancient cultures valued the sexual
knowledge of old women more than that of other members of society, so much so
that often, younger men were encouraged to offer themselves sexually to these older,
wiser women, in hopes that they’d be
accepted as students - eager learners about the wonder of women’s bodies. They also hoped that the old women would teach the young tutees a thing or two
(or three) about making love.
Some agrarian African societies practice this today;
contrary to jungle-movie stereotypes, the women in these groups generally dress
demurely. However, the older a woman becomes, the more of her naked skin she is
allowed to expose in her daily dress. First the ankles are bared, then the
knees and finally the thighs. In this way, young men can tell which women are
the oldest, and therefore, considered the best, most skilled, most resourceful
sexual teachers. In pursuing an “arrangement” with such an old woman, a young
man asks with respect, and it’s up to the woman herself whether or not she’ll
accommodate his desire to learn.
I can’t forget to mention here that certain European groups
practiced similar traditions, wherein careful fathers would turn over their
teen-aged sons to trusted, experienced older women for their first sexual
encounters.
So for older women who, through no fault of our own, begin to feel less than, in comparison to our younger counterparts, it helps to focus in on exactly what makes us better, wiser, more knowledgeable lovers/sex partners/intimate companions than we were in our salad days. It's quite an impressive list, when you think about it.
So for older women who, through no fault of our own, begin to feel less than, in comparison to our younger counterparts, it helps to focus in on exactly what makes us better, wiser, more knowledgeable lovers/sex partners/intimate companions than we were in our salad days. It's quite an impressive list, when you think about it.
photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/meanestindian/2303679368/">Meanest
Indian</a> via <a
href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/">cc</a>
photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/feargal/5122512441/">Fergal
of Claddagh</a> via <a
href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a
href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/">cc</a>
After reading this post I can say that when I was young growing up min Chicago we just wanted sex , young or old. But if we could date a older girl we were considered being taught by a vet. So I guess we were just carrying out something that made sense to us. And that a older women could teach us something. And who doesn't want to learn.
ReplyDelete