Female sex favoritism: Difference between revisions

'''Female sex favoritism''', sometimes known as [[chivalry]], [[gynocentrism]], or the knightly treatment of women, has a long and storied past.

 

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

 

[[File:Leighton-Stitching the Standard.jpg|400x400px|right]]

William IX, the Duke of Aquitaine (Southern France) and the first known [[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 with help from her daughter, Marie, comprised solely of ladies to judge over matters of love-disputes. These were called the ''Courts of Love'', modeled after feudal law courts of the period.

 

We see the first major female-sex-favoritism in the '<nowiki/>'''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,''' a trope still strongly evident today. 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>

 

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.

 

 

The fifteenth century saw a proto-feminist movement called the, "Querelle des Femmes", which was a debate about, among other things, increasing the power of women in society. It technically began in the 12th century through the publication, "Romance of the Rose", but it started as something recognizable today in the 15th century through Christine de Pizan. Thus, Pizan is often seen as the first mover of what we know today as [[feminism]]. She promoted ideas of women being smarter, more understanding, peaceful, and more temperamental than men.

 

{{Quote|“Just as women's bodies are softer than men's, so their understanding is sharper.”|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.