Quote:
Originally Posted by Alassë Estel
But it seems wrong to treat the lack of prominent older female characters in Tolkien's work as some sort of grievous insult to women.
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This. I wrote a whole rant about how much I disagree with people somehow thinking it's an author's obligation to promote this value or that and get offended when the story is about something else, when the author's only obligation is to write a good story. Then I erased it, as it is quite beside the point. The portrayal of women in LOTR is only offensive if you want to be offended by something. It's not like "I'm offended!" has become the ridiculing catchphrase of our time.
But in regards to the article, the discussion here has prompted me to read it, though I am not going to read the Letters collection. I find the author's vehement feminism and fight against decrying of menopause quite amusing:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by article
But wait – it gets worse. Tolkien then explains to his son, quite authoritatively, that menopause (or perhaps specifically the change in their “physical economy” forced upon them) “makes them nervously unstable; and often hardly accountable for their sudden feelings” (pg. 60).
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But... did you not know that labile mood, irritability, and depression are
very common symptoms of menopause? How is this not true?
The author seems to insinuate that half the problems of an irritable older woman of Tolkien's time were the men in her life who were either in a war or suffering from war-related mental illness themselves, but then please explain to me why modern women with no sons or husbands in the military still suffer from the cognitive effects of menopause? Then the author discounts those effects as being comparable to being on a period. Yeah, imagine being on a period
every single day for several years - do you really think you're gonna be bright and cheerful and not let a single mood swing get the better of you? And what's wrong with JRRT passing down what knowledge and understanding he has of menopause to his son? Because it seems like the only wrong thing the author found is that the expresses view does not align with their own. But what then, should a father not educate his children to the best of his ability? Is sex-ed not part of a good upbringing, just because the parent isn't a gynecologist from 2023? Do you not think that men ought to know that women of a certain age undergo a change with multiple physical, psychological, and cognitive effects?
I see a lot of desire to be offended and propagate the offendedness as far as it would go in this article, twisting both facts of life and legendarium (Miriel???) to serve the cause. There was one quoted line that irked me, the one about women lacking introspection.
That I cannot agree with or justify, and if that was Tolkien's experience of women in his life - then I feel bad for him. But equally, I don't see a trend of self-blind Scarlett O'Haras running through the legendarium.
This one I would find interesting to pick through. In fact, does Tolkien have
any character lacking in introspection? Feanor perhaps? But I digress again. Besides this point, I find the rest to be blown out of proportion to find fault with something where I see no fault.