It came up in class whether his poetry was sexist. Personally, I think that it is not sexist at all. It is a really unfortunate notion that talking about a woman in a sexual way is "sexist" and "degrading." In my opinion, thinking that that is sexist, is sexist in itself. If everytime a woman is sexual we say "That is horrible and demeaning!" then women will be even more ashamed to express their sexuality. This makes female sexuality even more taboo, even more innapropriate. I found Brautigan's poetry very empowering to women. In this book he appreciated his wife so much that it was incredibly touching. Her sexuality was shown as very powerful, which is not separate from her as a person being powerful. It seems that in this world we have put women and their sexualities as opposing dichotomies, severed them into two halves. She is either a person, or a sexuality. If she is a person she's good, if she is a sexuality she is bad. Why have we done this? Why can't we let women be sexually free? Why can't women be powerful beings and powerful sexual beings all at the same time?
In my opinion, if this is what we are pointing fingers at in the fight against sexism, we have it all wrong. We are telling women to fear their sexualities, we're saying, "if you are sexual that will take away from all of your self worth." In this way we are controlling and regulating the female sexuality instead of letting us embrace and own our own sexualities.
3 comments:
I found your take on sexuality in Brautigan's poems very interesting. When I initially read his poems, I wasn't sure if Brautigan was being sexist or not. Your response as well as the discussion in class has led me to take your side on the matter. I very much agree with embracing sexuality as something positive and powerful.
Yeah, but he never refers to women in terms of their intelligence or abilities. Just their beauty and sex.
I find his work sexist (or at least masogonistic) not because he speaks sexually of women, but because he regards many of them with hate. When a woman is being sexual with him a vast love for the gender emerges in his work. However, many of his poems are filled with spite and hatred for women and their power to take away the sex he is enjoying.
'Sexist' suggests that he thought he was better than women, but it was rare that he possessed that much self confidence. It is safer to say that he held an extreme disrespect for women that didn't excite him. He speaks of some women with a pompous, sarcastic tone such as the one in "15%" (Rommel Drives Deep Into Egypt) or "Mating Saliva" (The Pill vs. The Springhill Mine Disaster.) I think it is important to note that your statement "Brautigan's poetry is very empowering to women." comes with a disclaimer Brautigan's poetry is very empowering to women he likes."
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