C.N
So, this week in our English class we reread the scene in King Lear where Lear puts a curse on his eldest daughter, Goneril’s womb. He cursed her with infertility. As we were analysing this Sir made a comment that this would’ve been the worst thing to wish on a woman. Obviously in the context of when this play is set it probably makes a good deal more sense, however, this type of thing is still frequently used as a plot device. As if it’s some huge horror, as if a woman who doesn’t have children is broken in some manner- which where do I even begin with how many things are wrong with that statement? How about the obvious aforementioned fact that some woman are infertile, some women simply don’t want children and also not every woman was born with the reproductive organs necessary to carry children- a trans woman at this point cannot carry her own children, this doesn’t make her any less of a woman. It is not a woman’s job to have and/or raise children. A women’s fundamental role is not to carry children. It is however a woman’s fundamental right to do what she pleases with her body. Which is why I’m- well not shocked, let’s be honest sexism isn’t gone it’s improving and not as blatantly obvious perhaps but still a constant factor in our day to day lives-upset, shall we say, about the persistent use of infertility as a ‘curse’. The most recent of which that comes to mind is the ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ where the Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff) who if you don’t know is a Marvel character who in the simplest of definitions is a former Russian assassin turned spy/superhero… Anyway, this capable, interesting, brilliant character is reduced to little more than a romantic subplot between herself and Bruce Banner (The Hulk)- she at one point is literally the damsel in distress that Banner saves which, I’m sorry? No? I swear this isn’t just me reviewing Age of Ultron I have got a point just bear with, context is necessary. Throughout the film we’re shown various ‘flashbacks’ or ‘dreams’ and Natasha’s is of her training in the Red Room (basically little girl assassin school I suppose) and we find out that all of the girls were sterilised to prevent them having children and leaving the room, which alright I suppose but the context of the delivery frames it as her saying “Well, I’m infertile and this a monster too, I totally get you Hulk”. This is in a highly anticipated film that came out this year, 2015. King Lear was first performed in 1606. Why are the worst threats to man death or the harming of his loved ones but for a woman it’s infertility? Why is a woman’s worth measured by her ability to reproduce? Why hasn’t this viewpoint changed in over 400 years? If the answer isn’t obvious perhaps you should re-read this, I wasn’t exactly subtle.
C.N
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