marillaraina
Rohan
Jul 14 2013, 6:16pm
Views: 187
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It's doubtful that, under the circumstances, most other races would really take the time or effort distinguish it
exactly.
http://sandrarose.com/...lesson-in-tolerance/
A current example of gender confusion bought about by assumptions about appearances and gender stereotypes i.e having a beard.
the fact is beard= male in today's so called enlightened societies, there are thousands of women out there whom have facial hair and go through treatments to conform to the appearance society dictates they should have to be regarded as female.
In Tolkien's Middle-earth, the only race where females have beards are dwarves, so, for the other races, the beard =male assumption regarding gender holds true, as it does in our societies. To my eyes, the passage that Tokien rights about Dwarf females having beards and the assumptions that others make regarding their gender shows that he had a far greater understanding of the female and gender issues, that most of his critics give him credit for. It is the passage that I cite when others accuse our Professor of sexism and not understanding women, in fact it was a bit ahead of his time.
That's what I was trying to get it, you definitely put it better. Something else I'd compare it to that perhaps there are a few men around here old enough to remember, is back in the 60's and 70's when men for the first time in nearly a hundred years started wearing longer hair again, and with the sometimes slightly more unisex clothing, were often "mistaken" for women at first, especially if they were first seen from the back. It was even a fairly common joke on comedy shows of the time, at least from what I can tell watching old tv shows and reading things.
Why? Because according to the culture long hair = female, if people, even ones who weren't particularly prejudiced,, especially older people, weren't paying much attention, they'd just notice the hair and say "Excuse me Miss...." Then suddenly look at the face and whoa....bearded. Now in Middle Earth with it's elves and even many men with long hair, long hair isn't equated specifically with either gender but beards are a different matter.
I think even if a dwarf woman had only a cottony textured beard, as I said before, most of the other races wouldn't distinguish.
As for Tolkien, while he didn't have many prominant female characters, I think that probably just had to do with his own familiarity - I don't think he purposely kept women out, but I'd imagine being in a university environment, having been in the army during the war, etc - he was just used to situations that were largely mostly male and so that's what he wrote. When he did write women, I think he mostly wrote them well, and whatever he may have believed of "a woman's place"(I have not idea), I think he showed he at least considered they had thoughts and hopes and the ability to sacrifice and fight for what they loved and believed in just like men did and that they could feel frustrated in feeling they weren't allowed to or respected enough to do so. I think Arwen was ultimately a bit "meh" but I think what he wrote about Eowyn's feelings were very insightful and sensitive and in the end, even if she gave up the sword, it's important to remember that Faramir himself had been consistently written to be a somewhat reluctant warrior, he didn't want to fight, he did it because he had to, but given a choice, he'd choose books and study and healing - so in the end, he and Eowyn sort of met in the middle. She didn't do it so much because it was "her place" as a woman but because she'd come to appreciate peace and the power of healing.
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