I'm every woman - Lysistrata
In this week's module we studied the sex strike and the seizure of the Acropolis by the band of Greek women under the command of Lysistrata. The tale by Aristophanes takes place in 411 BCE during the Peloponnesian war. In class we examined several themes of this module, the most memorable of which were:
Creativity and Innovation: at a time where the powers of women were limited to those of her husband, these women, under the leadership of Lysistrata orchestrated a non-violent take over of the Greek Acropolis. We examined how this was possible considering they were weaponless in a patriarchal society, in the midst of a great war.
Power: How were they able to gain the upper hand on their husbands and male relatives? What tools were at their disposal for such a usurpation? It is clear that Lysistrata's frustration and their own, was the first tools available to them. They managed to turn their frustration and reservations of the war into political action.
Peace and Salutation: Lysistrata purposed to end the war and bring Peace to Greece. Through this purpose we get insight into the devastating effects of war on the mothers. Throughout this course we have seen war as a sign of strength and an honor towards one's country. Specific examples of this can be observed in the Module on Spartan leadership, "The song remains the same," a Spartan woman famously quoted "with it or on it!" to her son, handing him his shield as he left for war. A stark difference from the Spartan woman under Lysistrata, Lampito. Another module that also covered the Peloponnesian war is Golden Years, where we have Pericles' speech to the Athenians about why they should go to war against the Delian League.
Emulation and Role reversal: Moments in the play revealed the attitude of the society Lysistrata and women friends lived in. How was power emulated? What were the symbolism of powerlessness or inferiority? We see this expressed in a drastic reversal of roles between men and women. The women dressed the magistrate in their clothing, signaling that he was inferior to them in his inability to persuade them. Here women's clothing represents their inferiority in society, they reverse roles with them men and take control of the money and decisions of war themselves and dress the grey-haired magistrate as a female.
Siege and Occupation: The women occupied the Acropolis, while the men tried to lay siege of it in hopes or regaining control. This is where we see the involvement and principles of "war tactics" although the play is a comedy and "somewhat" non-violent.
Protest: We learned that protests start with an intense frustration and feeling of powerlessness. To alleviate these feelings the women, or Specifically Lysistrata would of had to consider her sources of power and how they can be multiplied and applied for towards a specific outcome. Hence we have sex as the source of power. The Greek women were protesting a war that they ostensibly had no claim to. War was considered the business of men, however we see the women expressing their muffled opinions of the war, how they are affected by it, why they believe the men are not going about it in the right manner and even expressing their roles of leadership. This brings us to the following theme,
Incivility: Do the women see themselves as worthy to be included in the affairs of men, mainly war? The men in this play are shocked when the women audaciously approve of themselves in matters of warfare and even in finance and economics. We see them being "activated to a leadership role" by Lysistrata.
Determination: there is certainly a great determination by the women in this play. Firstly by Lysistrata, proposing herself to bring the women together for a political meeting to discuss their common grievances of the war and to plot a way to bring it to an end. Then we observe a unifying determination by all the women to continue their occupation of the Acropolis, despite the men laying siege to it and trying to smoke them out. Through their determination they are successful.
Age and Strength: both of these are a very prominent part of this module. We observe an inversion of power because of the age of our actors. Men are generally physically stronger than women, however not smarter or necessary more capable. However, as the men and women face off in this play displaying both verbal and physical conflict, because of their ages, we see the old women overpowering the old men first through verbal abuse, and then physically (somewhat) by soaking them with water and sending them away. In another example, they mockingly dress the elderly magistrate in women's clothing. Wisdom/Courage/Conscientiousness: The women, despite risking physical abuse, and other forms of punishment, determined to carry out their plan. In the opening scenes of the play we see Lysistrata confirming in line 150 that although Calonice and Myrrhine denied her plan, and confessed that they'd rather walk through fire, she was willing to carry through with just one more person. She pleaded to the Spartan Lampito, who agreed! The other women followed suit. The women showed their consciousness towards the war, as they met for the first time. Lysistrata demonstrated great tact when she revealed her plan to the women. She first held them in suspense as to what her plan would entail, she teased out their support first by asking them, "Don’t you miss the fathers of your children when they go off to war? I understand you all have husbands far away from home." this helped to unify the women and garner their support before telling them about the controversial plan to bring about the end of the Peloponnesian war.
Oath: Lysistrata solidified support for their cause by holding the women to an oath. This helped to make public their intentions and prevent them from going back on their word or being misinterpreted in anyway. It is also witnessed by the gods and is a contractual agreement between each other and the divine "judges".
Emotional appeal: this is reminiscent of what we learned from Aristotle in the Political Thriller module. Pathos in persuasive speech and refers to the emotional appeal a speaker may use on her audience. It can be argued that Lysistrata used Logos and Eros on the Greek women too.
Strategy: For me this is perhaps the most memorable theme explored in this module. The Acropolis was a key target in Lysistrata's strategy. It housed the purse of the Delian league. With no money, the war could not be sustained. This is where the Logos appeal plays in. The fact that the women do not simply take the money away to another location shows strategy because the Acropolis would be a great place to hold a standoff. It was well constructed, and in a less valuable building, they could run the risk of being burned out of it. Instead the men were forced to smoke them out because of the importance of the building. By taking the money, Lysistrata factors Ethos into the scenario as well, she reasons with the Magistrate that the women already take care of the household funds, so ethically, if they are able to manage the finances of the home, why would they be any less capable of managing the finances of the Greek states.
Stakeholders: Despite popular male opinion, the women argue that they are major stakeholders in the war. In fact they assert that they are larger stake holders than the men, suffering twice as much as the men. Once for being the children, and twice for having to send off their husbands and sons to war. The language in the play (war as a man's business) suggests that women's opinions or grievances were not given little or no consideration when it came to deciding on war strategy.
Imagery: We were able to see the power of contemporary imagery. The picture of The Queen of Baton Rouge shows a controversial image of power. She is observed going up to the police raid squad alone and stylishly dressed. the powerless achieving power. She comes across in the picture as both a threat and a "queen". As if she is being received by her subjects or if they are coming to arrest her. She looks fearless, and her image will no doubt be widely circulated and inspire others.
Finally and perhaps the biggest theme covered in this module is the one of women's stereotypes. Women were considered dependent, weak, emotional as well as sexually and physically unable to refrain. For instance, in lines 200-240, we see Aristophanes' mention towards women's materialism and love of drinking. They are fascinated by the magnificent bowl that the undertake the oath with. They are please simply to touch it. Also they solidify their support by drinking unmixed wine. The Greeks would dilute their wine with water for consumption, making it less potent. In the play, the women drink the unmixed wine, almost out of delightful convenience that they would come up with this plan. We observe it in the movie Chi-raq as well. The women meeting to discuss the plan. A cut-scene occurs and they are now more friendly to each other over bottles of wine, yet they were bickering before the drinking.
Thursday 12/1 Class 9:40-11am & common session 7-8:15pm
Are Lysistrata and Chi-raq were feminist works of art?
What is the role of sexuality/motherhood in female leadership?
What should be the role if any?
In order to answer these questions I have to define what Feminism is. I have not researched the topic, but to my understanding, Feminism is an ideology and a movement that seeks to advance women's interest; not so much women's rights--although that is applicable--but also the nuanced issues that women face, stereotypes about women's abilities, the social and culturally engendered biases, expectations and limitations.
With this as the basis of my reasoning. I do agree that both these works are very limited in their feminist coloring. Both works depict the brilliance of women, their strategy, bravery and leadership. However within themselves, the works reinforce the stereotypes of women as having limited power Does it follow one of numerous narratives about how a woman existing in the background helps to raise a man to the leader he is meant to be. When will women occupy the obverse of the coin, with a man existing in the obscure background and raise the woman to a place of leadership "he knows" and believes she should occupy, (above him)? Because they rely on sex to succeed in their goal, there is a living stereotype that people who use sex as a form of influence is frowned upon and embodies more manipulation than ethic persuasion. Plutarch's goal to bring women and men on par with each other as leaders only succeeds in making the women look brave like the men, wise like the men, and competent like them too. However its looks like a different bravery, a different wisdom and a different competence. If the goal of feminism is to show that women possess all these virtues that men possess, just in different ways, then Aristophanes and Spike Lee succeed. It almost seems that because men and women have different chemistry, they may reasonably have different manifestations of bravery, strength, etc.. ["chemistry" was not a shot at women's perceived emotionalism, I promise].
I agree with my classmates' skepticism that sexuality and motherhood can ever be removed from leadership, or become dissociated with female leadership. However I do agree with Dr. Sandridge that the issue is not completely removing sexuality, but being able to recognize the role it plays in our perceptions and preconceived notions, of each sex, and be able to put it aside to make more unbiased and informed decisions. In the same way that scientists recognize assumptions about their subject interests, and move forward with them in mind, trying to explain phenomena. Or better yet, in the same way that science fiction writers image things and inspire scientists, even when the technology for these inventions or ideas are very far from existing.