Gender and Sexuality in The Odyssey
Gender is the attributes of men and women socially constructed, while sexuality is about thoughts, attractions, and behaviors toward other people. I will be discussing The Odyssey by Margret Atwood. Atwood's account of the actions of The Odyssey using Penelope and maids' eyes concentrate on the difficulties and heartbreaks of life for females in old Greece. When describing gender, it is essential to mention the gender roles of men and women. The male-dominated society is evident in their treatment, how their counter-gender is treated, and how every event serves their interest. The study highlights gender roles of both men and women, how bias is displayed in this men-dominated ancient Greece and irrelevancy to the 21st century and the significance of gender in The Odyssey. The current society enjoys the merits of equal rights on gender roles, but does it really add value like ancient Greece despite the disparities.
In ancient Greece, the roles of men were defined unlike the 21st century; men were natural warriors. The constant cattle raids and hostile incursions to nearby communities seem to allow men to prove themselves warriors (Belinskaya 2019). The war or war-like situation was an inbuilt sense of being a man in the Odyssey; according to Belinskaya (2019), those who came out strong and victorious were seen to be warlords while losers lesser warriors. The battlefields brought glory and renown and acted as a platform for men to show their immense ability, strength, and prowess in war. As much as the 21st century upholds fame and pride firmly, they do not score it on battlefields, but they earn it through education, their level of creativity, and innovation which is more civilized and modern (King & Charles 2020). Contrary to ancient Greece, where men hard to be gunned down or shed blood to attain their glory and renown, currently, glory and prowess is measured on a man's thinking, education, or wealth in their name, not warfare. Praise does not have to be achieved by men falling, but contemporary knowledge and education can act as a viable measure.
In ancient Greece, roles for women in society were well defined, such as taking care of children; unlike in the modern world, women were lowly regarded men. Women served to satisfy men; Atwood explores intense women's competition for male sexual attention, shown by Penelope and Helen when seeking attention on who was more beautiful. They are viewed as subordinates to men in the households and are supposed to look for the home while going to battle. They also perform house chores, look after children, and tender to the firm and old in the community while observing the needs of their men (Malti-Douglas & Fedwa 2019). In the modern world, their severity of specific women's roles has redundantly declined due to the civilization, gender equality rights, and lightened up society. Women have the freedom to perform what they desire and are not under men's influence in society, bringing an ideal community as women's principles are cherished. The men in the palace brutally rape the 12 maidens to satisfy themselves, which is wrong in modern society, and this crime can face severe punishment or jailing, which was not the case in ancient Greece. Sexual harassment and rape of women in society should not be used to satisfy men and abuse women such as the twelve maidens.
By thinking that men are superior to women, a governed society is often subjected to bias in various aspects. In the scene where Penelope waits for her man, she very faithful and holds her chastity intact for her beloved, but the same is seen not to be loyal to her and abuses their union articulates biasness. The belief in women's obedience and chastity while men were not held responsible for their unfaithful behavior or polygamy is biased. It doesn't give a level platform for both genders following their moral behavior. The axe to equality should level regardless of gender, which is not the case in Odyssey as men free to do as they wish while are left to be subjects to the community rules and norms. Women's psychological drama during the stiff competition they undergo to look at sexually to men is uncalled for and has long-term effects such as low self-esteem or low confidence, making it biased. Men do not share in this case of trauma as they are the center of attention and wait to be pleased, but poor women go to the extent of viewing themselves with less beauty (King & Charles 2020). In modern society, due to awareness, implementation of laws, and civilization, women don't face these aggressive forms of bias in society as they are regarded as equal to their male counterparts. Despite equal rights, colonized minds of the Odyssey cannot be fully civilized, which leaves traces of gender roles bias in some parts of the population. In a society with gender equality, gender bias is low or null, presenting an ideal community where both men and women flourish.
In ancient Greece, gender was an important theme that was cherished, and men and women performed events that showed their significance. During this time, the attributes women possessed, which were faithfulness and purity, made their unions solid and sustainable. The family structure where the man was the head and the woman was subordinate was effective in maintaining obedience and respect in the family despite its bias. The leading roles of men, for example, wars, help provide security to the families and village at large from neighboring hostile communities. The raids increased immense wealth to the kingdoms, making them rich with many cattle and plentiful to feed even in hunger. Unlike the modern society, these ancient was not bad after all as it worked and enhanced harmony and peace in families. The perfect world rules out possibilities of wars, making it challenging to attain wealth, making the standard of living unbearable. The modern society that no longer holds men as leaders to women despite being biased has become chaotic and relationships unendurable as nobody is willing to go under (Achenbach & Thomas 2020). Despite the flows of gender in The Odyssey, the attributes moulded proved valuable and applicable at the time, unlike the current society, which has not been able to make use of the equality enjoyed.
In conclusion, gender relevance in The Odyssey and the 21st has often brought a debate in various aspects, but each has its merits and flows. Determining gender roles has always brought about bias, with some advocating that the old way is more incredible than the modern society. Still, others believe that justification bases on equal rights. In ancient Greece, gender roles and their significance were outlined and well defined. Women were confined to their households and serving their men while men faired in battle and other war situations. Contrary to modern society, which does not experience war but fame and recognition attain in different neutral ways.
Works Cited
Achenbach, Thomas M. "Bottom-up and top-down paradigms for psychopathology: a half-century odyssey." Annual review of clinical psychology 16 (2020): 1-24.
King, Charles. Gods of the upper air: How a circle of renegade anthropologists reinvented race, sex, and gender in the twentieth century. Anchor, 2020.
Malti-Douglas, Fedwa. Woman's body, woman's word: gender and discourse in Arabo-Islamic writing. Princeton University Press, 2019.
Belinskaya, Anastasia. "Penelope's Odyssey." The Classical Journal 115.2 (2019): 175-199. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5184/classicalj.115.2.0175?seq=1
