Are Tolkiens Books Sexist? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Gwaihir the Windlord · 01-25-2002, 12:37 AM

The keyword here is 'war'. Lord of the Rings is almost all about war. If Tolkien had had women regularaly fighting battles against orcs and southrons, it would have been a lot less realistic. He was not sexist.
True, he should have written about a few more female elves in Lorien & Rivendell, and maybe some more women in Rohan, but that is somewhat of a minor thing, easily overlooked. And what about the Entwives? If he was really sexist he wouldn't have included them so much as he did.
Most of the roles of Third-Age Middle-Earth figures of prominence had to do with fighting, and that is, I believe, why women were largely left out of those positions. In places where fighting was absent - and there were few - women wer there.

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01-25-2002, 12:37 AM	#11
Gwaihir the Windlord Essence of Darkness Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Evermore Posts: 1,420	The keyword here is 'war'. Lord of the Rings is almost all about war. If Tolkien had had women regularaly fighting battles against orcs and southrons, it would have been a lot less realistic. He was not sexist. True, he should have written about a few more female elves in Lorien & Rivendell, and maybe some more women in Rohan, but that is somewhat of a minor thing, easily overlooked. And what about the Entwives? If he was really sexist he wouldn't have included them so much as he did. Most of the roles of Third-Age Middle-Earth figures of prominence had to do with fighting, and that is, I believe, why women were largely left out of those positions. In places where fighting was absent - and there were few - women wer there.