[Saraphim]

Those wisecracks who think Tolkien is a male chauvinist are probably the same bunch who thought of the eagles bringing Frodo to Mt. Doom.

I completely agree with that.

I have seen this arguement elsewhere, both on the Downs and in the 'real world'. I'll repeat my thoughts here.

For starters, Tolkien lived in a time very different from our own, although it was only half a century ago. Women were not allowed to fight in war, were not allowed to vote (in the U.S) and their career choices were incredibly slim, if they had any at all.

In my opinion, Tolkien had remarkable equalist thoughts with the three Ladies of LotR. All three had incredible power, magically, physically, or simply the prowess of will.

I hear stupid spiels from femminists claiming Tolkien to be sexist because he only has 3 main female characters. (most of these highly enlightened people have only seen the movies; I don't know what they would say if they read the books and saw that the thing all us Downers so abhorred- Arwen made into a Mary-Sue Princess- had never happened.)

One thing some (not all, see above) movie-going femminists did seem to enjoy was the killing of the Witch-King by Eowyn (they like to ignore the fact that Merry was a main factor). They feel like Eowyn is Tolkien's portrayl of a femminist, with her whole "I am no Man!" candor.

But again, a simple look at the pages of Return of the King will tell the curious that this is not the case.

No man am I! You look upon a woman! Eowyn I am, Eomund's daughter...

If Tolkien had wanted her to be a femminist, he would have had her say that she was Theodwyn's daughter, using her mother as the familial line instead of her father.

Anyway, my humble little two cents is that Tolkien was writing a mythological story, one that was supposed to have taken place with all the social order of the middle ages. Three main female roles is staggering, especially when two of them go into battle, Eowyn and Galadriel.