I grew up respecting the differences of men and women, never questioning whether one was better than the other, and believing whether man or woman one could achieve whatever one wanted. Sure there were societal challenges for women and progress has been made but in the process feminists and feminism have destroyed the feminine. Belief and acceptance in what God has created becomes a beautiful gracefilled unity of marriage. So sad that has been vilified. I do however like some of Edna St. Vincent Millay's poems!
I was reading a lot about Edna St. Vincent Millay today because The Writer's Almanac reminded me that it's her birthday. Nobody but you has ever informed me that Anais Nin was born the day before. Hardly anyone mentions Nin these days. You are right, there are some parallels between the two writers' lives. The words " the evolution of modern feminine sexuality and values" stand out in your subtitle. When I was reading about Millay's many affairs, I started thinking about what goes on in the background when women like her and many of us who have come to know better engage promiscuously in the intimacy that belongs in marriage, trying to pretend the consequences don't exist, and that the only evil is the mean society or God being a big meanie and trying to take our fun away Unwanted pregnancies and venereal disease are unavoidable results when women try to deny the fertility built into their bodies. Nobody is going to document the cases of gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes, warts and now AIDS experienced by women (and men) acting out the fantasy of "sex without consequences." But it was easy to find accounts of Millay's not one but two abortions mentioned frequently in writings about her. I think we can't say feminine sexuality has evolved, but instead, we have a widespread denial of feminine sexuality's full nature. Millay was an oddity in her time, but now we have devolved as a culture and we now teach every girl that she can only be fulfilled if she unsexes herself, denies her body's nature, and squelches her own heart's desires for enduring love, marriage, and children. Millay was a good poet, but her values were far from good. About Nin, I never read many women who were willing and able to be as explicitly unchaste in their writings, but I suspect she was trying to not let the male writers of her era outdo her. Just a few thoughts generated by what you wrote. Thanks for provoking me. : -)
I grew up respecting the differences of men and women, never questioning whether one was better than the other, and believing whether man or woman one could achieve whatever one wanted. Sure there were societal challenges for women and progress has been made but in the process feminists and feminism have destroyed the feminine. Belief and acceptance in what God has created becomes a beautiful gracefilled unity of marriage. So sad that has been vilified. I do however like some of Edna St. Vincent Millay's poems!
Your observations about women artists and Swift in particular are tangential to what I've been thinking about for the last few months, as well.
Society is in no short supply of double standards.
I was reading a lot about Edna St. Vincent Millay today because The Writer's Almanac reminded me that it's her birthday. Nobody but you has ever informed me that Anais Nin was born the day before. Hardly anyone mentions Nin these days. You are right, there are some parallels between the two writers' lives. The words " the evolution of modern feminine sexuality and values" stand out in your subtitle. When I was reading about Millay's many affairs, I started thinking about what goes on in the background when women like her and many of us who have come to know better engage promiscuously in the intimacy that belongs in marriage, trying to pretend the consequences don't exist, and that the only evil is the mean society or God being a big meanie and trying to take our fun away Unwanted pregnancies and venereal disease are unavoidable results when women try to deny the fertility built into their bodies. Nobody is going to document the cases of gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes, warts and now AIDS experienced by women (and men) acting out the fantasy of "sex without consequences." But it was easy to find accounts of Millay's not one but two abortions mentioned frequently in writings about her. I think we can't say feminine sexuality has evolved, but instead, we have a widespread denial of feminine sexuality's full nature. Millay was an oddity in her time, but now we have devolved as a culture and we now teach every girl that she can only be fulfilled if she unsexes herself, denies her body's nature, and squelches her own heart's desires for enduring love, marriage, and children. Millay was a good poet, but her values were far from good. About Nin, I never read many women who were willing and able to be as explicitly unchaste in their writings, but I suspect she was trying to not let the male writers of her era outdo her. Just a few thoughts generated by what you wrote. Thanks for provoking me. : -)