It’s a well-known and obvious fact that there are many differences between a man and woman in both mind and body. These gaps throw a psychological kink into the biological template for both sexes, setting up roadblocks in the emotional battleground overrun by hormones that each person must overcome. The fight is fierce and seemingly never ending, which can lead to some odd solutions brought about by desperation or too much of a defensive mindset, as shown in Susan Faludi’s “The Naked Citadel.” However, as Lila Abu-Lughod shows in “Honor and Shame” and as portrayed in Osama, sometimes a person’s situation is dictated by the surrounding environment, and breaking out of a centuries-old mold is at all easy.
High school is the first step to manhood; a male develops his relationship skills and receives a crash course in the world of women. But it can be filled with heartbreak and disappointment as well. Being a guy who knew what he was looking for in a girl, I was discretionary and caught a lot of flak from guy friends for never going out with anyone. My situation was tilted against me; I didn’t know interested females that fulfilled what I was looking for, but my friends were forcing me to adopt a defensive mindset in relation to my social life. Just because I didn’t have a “target” or someone to “chase after” like a dog, I was often the butt of jokes and teased. Even though I knew it was light-hearted and (usually) in good taste, it still stung having my lack of “accomplishment” thrown back in my face. This kind of mentality makes it so much harder to view women in the same way as men-they become de-humanized and made into a prize through such impersonal words, simply because the male culture has made them out as such.
Susan Faludi’s experiences while touring The Citadel show how this can be taken to the extreme. She writes about the fourth-class system at the all-male college in which new recruits are made into one entity with little thought towards personal identity; through “male bonding experiences” such as community showers and hazing, everybody must rely on their fellow males for support and even survival. This womanization of freshman by the upperclassmen shows the underlying theme of some males: they consider being a woman second-class. It’s a fact supported by Osama, where women cannot have jobs, show their faces in public, and are ordered around as servants by men. At one point, a female doctor is addressed by a male who’s father is a patient to “Hurry up” and “Attend my father”; these are spoken as commands, not requests. In “Honor and Shame,” girls in the Bedouin culture have their lives dictated by males many times, as Kamla writes to her sister when she decides to attend college against her uncles’ wishes.
This making of women into a lower class is very much influenced by the surrounding environment of a given person. At The Citadel, the environment focuses on the aspects in life where men are better suited and thus more dominant: physical discipline. The military is also still geared much more toward males than females; only guys have to register for the draft, and they are the only ones who are sent on the front lines of battle. These reasons implant a seed into a recruit’s mind that the male is the workhorse, and thus is one looked up to. In a militaristic society such as the one evident at the Citadel, this view is taken to the extreme; the male is made out to be dominant in all things. For some recruits, this goes against everything they learned in high school, where women are usually treated equal to men and the male sometimes has to beg for a date. I know if in that situation, given my experiences, I would be an outcast, hazed until I changed my ways or gave up. I have never viewed women as trophies or somebody that makes a good story, but that is the mentality that Susan Faludi quickly was told about, almost as if the men were proud of the collective monster they have become.
When Shannon Faulkner, a female, applied and was accepted (by way of leaving her gender blank), an uproar so great was caused that death threats surrounded the Faulkner residence for quite some time. What causes such a gap in reaction, a transition from an offensive to defensive position against women? The answer is not so simple- when asked why a woman should not be brought onto campus, no man could muster a convincing answer. (Faludi 134) Perhaps it is the reworked thought processes of the recruits; after all, “According to the Citadel creed…women are objects…they’re things that you can do whatever you want with it.” In an all-male society, there are no boundaries; no need to impress a woman, or act like a gentlemen for the ladies- it’s all about becoming the alpha male, and in the class system, the class becomes the alpha instead of one male. Putting cadets through “…almost a POW camp…” (Faludi 135) experience twists the mind so they believe they enjoy it, because if they don’t then their life isn’t what the recruit wants it to be- who wants to think that about themselves? Nobody wants to look at their life and hate it; instead, it’s as if these recruits are taking the template for social equality and instead using the pieces to build a wall to keep their lives the way the want it by keeping women out. To them, the only wrench in their plans could be a woman intervening, which as written earlier has led to countless atrocities. I cannot begin to comprehend the experiences going on with these men; though I’m very much a male, I have never found the need to be absolutely dominant in every facet of my life, and women are equals and in many cases superior to myself. I choose to accept women as people; thus, they are not hostile to my intent (which is getting an education) and I do not feel the need to lash out against them. Considering many graduates of The Citadel are married, I figure even with my lack of success so far, I should do well eventually, right?
When it all boils down to it, the Citadel thrives on remaking males into one mold, possibly the ideal soldier who can be cold-hearted when needed and business-like, or perhaps it is simply men being foolish and ignorant of the world around them, instead choosing to reside in a closed society where testosterone dictates the next course of action and thus the next thought process. Either way, all that seems to be bred in this hostile context is pain and suffering, no matter how it is disguised.
In “Honor and Shame” and Osama, the male notion of dominance is brought about through religion and tradition. The Islamic faith requires women to hide their faces and cover their feet at all times in public, and forbids them from working. The culture in the Middle East revolves around the women serving the men, and it has been that way for hundreds of years. Such a past history is hard to break; it took colonies over two hundred years to gain independence from Britain’s world empire, and women did not gain the right to vote in the western world until the early 1900s. Osama brings the inability to work as woman close to home when Osama receives a haircut and gets a job pretending to be a boy. The struggles associated with such a transition, such as daily prayers and going to a Taliban training camp, show just how wide the gap is between the lives of men and women in the culture. The template in this situation has been set and lived by for centuries: the women serve the men and the male’s will. Osama is the rebellion; she goes against what has been established as law and life by crossing the line between male and female. In other words, if she can do it, what will prevent others from doing the same? Such an event would disrupt the whole basis of the Middle Eastern culture and put men on the defensive; seeing the effects this caused in other male-dominated environments such as the Citadel, the results would probably turn violent.
“Honor and Shame” portrays the Bedouin culture and how it both runs on women and displaces them; the men cannot go on with life unless the women are their keeping everything running smoothly, a fact pointed out by Kamla when she states
“Bedouins think that as long as they have a house and can eat, drink, and be clothed, that’s enough…they marry and have kids and marry again. But a man should live…a more relaxed life. Should a man come home at the end of his day tired from working and find it filthy and the kids and the women fighting? He comes wanting to relax…” (Abu-Lughod 50).
However, as Sehmina Chopra writes in her article “Liberation by the Veil”, many traditions are kept not to persecute women, but to uphold the basic tenants of the Islamic faith. She writes the “covering [of the face] brings an aura of respect” and that it is “a liberation from the shackles of male scrutiny and the standards of attractiveness” (Chopra). As the men choose their wives, this can have an effect that backfires; if a man is looking at two potential mates, and they give similar responses to his questions, he will most likely choose based on their family and the amount of wealth available to gain. Even if the women are extremely close in most things, it will be the other characteristics that define them.
One phrase that stands out to me is “single mom” in relation to the topic of the sexes. What words spring into your mind when those words hit your ears? I sense helplessness, determination, sorrow, and a bit of grittiness. This begs the question: Why do we always hear about the single mom trying to support her family, but not the single dad? Is it because as a female, we view the mother as less capable of raising her children than the father? Or that the male can withstand the pressure to provide, and keep fighting, while the female will just give up and cry? I believe it may be a combination of those factors-stereotypes too often influence our thought processes in reference to others. Women have historically been a behind-the-scenes contributor to families and many times in the workforce (how many times do you concentrate on the secretary when you go to the doctor? But who does all that paperwork?); it is so easy to overlook their achievements. Instead, we rationalize the woman being helpless and afraid, like an 1960s damsel-in-distress. People never give enough credit, and that is why we fail to immediately see a single mother being victorious in her life, blazing a new career path that provides enough for her children to stay of the streets and receive an education, so they may support themselves and their mother later in life. Or why when they see the father, they instantly assume he has a decent-paying job with benefits, allowing his dependents to get on with life. Instant bias comes into play- the woman, viewed psychologically as the needier of the two sexes, is made out to be the one is a more desperate situation.
No matter what the situation happens to be, a woman in many circumstances will be viewed as inferior in some way, shape, or form. It’s the inbred psychological effect; ever since the time of the caveman, the men have been the dominant gender, and the same basic idea applies today. Take a look at the workplace; the men are most often a family’s main provider and the person in power of a company is more than likely male. Though we all have “equal rights,” the balance of power is still shifted towards the male gender. Though not as difficult to change as the one in Osama, the environment that is established as normal becomes a massive roadblock in the careers of many women, giving them an uphill battle for what they deserve. Though the psychology (for the male, anyway) in this type of circumstance points towards the male gaining the upper hand so as to remain superior and the provider, the female is forced on the defensive because of the hostile nature of their surroundings.
As this is the established trait, anything that causes a disturbance in our male-dominated society can be viewed as a massive threat, as the student body saw Shannon Faulkner at The Citadel or the women protesters were categorized in Osama. The battle between female and male has been waged for centuries, but it is because little has changed that the war continues onward. Recruits will still be brainwashed at The Citadel, at least in the apparent future, and there is nothing to suggest an official religion change anywhere in the Middle East. Can females break the “tradition” of male supremacy? Yes, especially with the courage showed by people such as Shannon Faulkner and Osama. But the masses will have to stick together and stand firm, in peace or in battle; even then, though, change may not take place without something near divine intervention. However, to quote an old cliché, it only takes a pebble to start an avalanche. But if nobody is listening, then did the avalanche ever occur?
Works Cited
Abu-Lughod, Lila. “Honor and Shame.” The New Humanities Reader. Ed. Richard E. Miller and Kurt Spellmeyer. 2nd Ed. Boston: Houghlin. 26-52.
Chopra, Sehmina. “Liberation by the Veil.” Islam101. 22 Sept. 2007. www.islam101.com/women/hijbene.html.
Faludi, Susan. “The Naked Citadel.” The New Humanities Reader. Ed. Richard E. Miller and Kurt Spellmeyer. 2nd Ed. Boston: Houghlin. 131-164.
Osama. Dir. Siddiq Barmak. Perf. Marina Golbahari, Arif, Herati, Zubaida Sahar. 2003. DVD. MGM Home Entertainment, 2004.
