I blame Cinderella - this archetypal woman, going from rags to riches, demonstrating forgiveness to her evil stepmother and walking into her happily ever after with Prince Charming. During her years of imprisonment, humiliation and abuse, she never once lost her temper or demonstrated resentment to her captors. Although teaching a valuable moral lesson to children about kindness, bravery and forgiveness - it does seem to be imposing a social standard that the ‘good woman’ remains passively calm and kind to all people, including people who mistreat her.
certain journalists from parliamentary briefing was silenced after the backlash she received for her off-the-shoulder dress she wore, receiving Twitter comments telling her that she was a ‘tart’ and ‘slapper’ and also being asked if she was ‘about to breastfeed’. This feminine ideal presents, to use the words of author Rachel Simmons, a ‘psychological glass ceiling’ that hinders a girl’s true development as a person. What is arguably more dangerous about this glass ceiling is that it is a thought process and belief system that is ingrained into children from very early stages of psychological development.
Rightfully, we often talk about the repression of male emotions so that they may fit in the social definition of what it is to be a ‘man’. Such a repression is also posited onto women, stressing a need to be kind, soft-spoken, conservative in their clothing and silent about their beliefs. In February 2020, female MP Tracy Brabin’s opinion over Downing Street’s decision to block
Anger and passion have been emotions women have long been expected to repress. One of the earliest examples is that of Penelope from Homer’s ‘The Odyssey’ when Telemachus orders his mother to remain silent and she passively obeys:
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“Go to your quarters now and attend to your own work, the loom and the spindle, and tell the servants to get on with theirs. Making decisions must be men’s concern, and mine in particular; for I am the master in this house”. Penelope was taken aback, but she retired to her own apartments, for she took her sensible son’s words to heart” The classical roots of female silencing have led into society for the centuries that followed, according to Homer, the ‘good girl’ sat alone spinning on her spindle and she detached herself from the political sphere. It took thousands of years until the voice of women began to be acknowledged. It was not until 1897 when Milicent Fawcett founded the National Union of Women’s Suffrage. It was not until 1919 that Viscountess Nancy Astor became the first woman to take a seat in the House of Commons in the UK. In 2005 Margaret Attwood granted Penelope the voice
