Female sex favoritism: Difference between revisions

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As a result of their greater [[Bateman's principle|parental investment]], women have evolved to be [[sex drive|choosy and passive maters]]. In addition to that, there are more fertile men than there are women in their prime fertility years, plus men seek to monopolize women early on for the purposes of [[paternity assurance]]. For these reasons, women, especially young women are naturally the highest goal men compete for and hence there is a natural tendency for women to be treated special and to be put on a pedestal. The extent to which this is actually done is however, largely determined by culture. For example, many religions regard women as [[female subordination|inferior and hide them]] from the public, possibly largely also for the purposes of [[paternity assurance]].

What we know now as unequal chivalry,  sometimes called [[gynocentrism]] or [[white knight]] behaviour, arguably only began on a societal scale in 1102AD in France.   

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William IX, the Duke of Aquitaine (Southern France) and the first know Troubadour poet, famously transformed the image of war from something fought for men and God to being fought for ''women''.  He famously painted his mistress on his shield (which he called "my lord").  He also famously said that men should sacrifice themselves to women for having birthed them, saying

This all occurred in the 12th century, which was in the high middle ages (medieval), after the Dark Ages (early medieval period) and before the Renaissance.  Christian humanism was starting to be developed during this time.  William was excommunicated twice by the Church.  The influence of William IX was felt later through the Troubador poetry tradition he started, as well as his ancestors.   

William's granddaughter, Queen Eleanor (the Duchess of Aquitaine; queen of France and later England ) was, as the regnant duchess of Aquitaine, likely the wealthiest and most powerful woman in Europe.<ref>https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine</ref> She set up imperial courts comprised solely of ladies to judge over matters of love-disputes.  These were called the, ''Courts of Love''.  They was modeled after feudal courts. She did this with help from her daughter, Marie.

We see the first major female-sex-favoritism in the ''''Troubador poetry of the 12th century'''', as well as vernacular narratives directed toward William's daughter Eleanor.  The depictions of love in these poems and narratives are described as "courtly love".  It is called this because '''the man's romantic role is modeled after a knight, and the female's role is modeled after a Lord.  In other words, the woman is in complete control of the relationship and the man is ultimately obedient and submissive to the woman.  He is expected to "perform great deeds" in order to "earn" her love (sound familiar?).'''  It is important to note, that this love was only about love outside marriage.<ref>http://cola.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl513/courtly/courtly.htm</ref>

Marie directs her chaplain Andreas Capellanus (André The Chaplain) to write, "The Art of Courtly Love", which, while initially viewed by scholars as a serious text of medieval chivalry, has come to be largely viewed as a parody,<ref>http://cola.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl513/courtly/courtly.htm</ref> warning young men of the true nature of established, fairly neutral chivalric codes.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Capellanus</ref> Andreas painted peasants as fornicating beasts that are incapable of love, and recommends that a knight who falls in love with a peasant woman should lure her to a quiet place with honeyed words and "[should] not hesitate to take what you want by force."<ref>http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~chaucer/special/authors/andreas/de_amore.html</ref>

After extolling some of the virtues of love, the book concludes with Andreas ultimately advising men to forgo love for religious and health reasons and apparently ends with a "misogynistic tirade" against women.

Many historians, such as Eric Köhler and Georges Duby suggested the female-sex-favoritism of love outside marriage was designed that way to keep unmarried men from raping.  In other words, gynocentrism was possibly seen in the 12th century as preventing the kind of raping and pillaging that was carried out by the knight in the "Wife of Bath' Tale" one of Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales''.<ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wife_of_Bath%27s_Tale#Synopsis</ref> The "Wife of Bath' Tale" is also notable for arguably having a gynocentric and proto-feminist theme, with the knight in the tale being forced (as penance for his pillaging) to go on quest to find out what it is that women most desire. This quest concludes with the knight learning the ultimate answer to this question is "sovereignty over their husbands". The eponymous Wife of Bath also stridently argues against the supposed "double standard" in regards to female promiscuity.

According to Jennifer Wollock, an author on chivalry, chivalrous love stories became popular in the late Middle Ages, and showed particularly through the contents of women's libraries.

In the 14th century, the chivalric concept of a, "Gentleman", first appeared.

[[File:Christine55.jpg|thumb|right|<center>Christine</center>]]

{{Quote|"[I]f you seek in every way to minimise my firm beliefs by your anti-feminist attacks, please recall that a small dagger or knife point can pierce a great, bulging sack and that a small fly can attack a great lion and speedily put him to flight.”|Christine de Pizan}}

The storied model of a man as a knight (submissive) and woman as Lord (ruling) portrayed in Troubador poetry, plays, and stories, is thought to have had an influence on the actual behaviour of later peasantry.  16th century poet and feminist Lucrezia Marinella celebrated the female-sex-favoritism she saw in the Italian lower-classes.