In many societies, including today’s, there has been a habit
of exaggerating the female features so much that they appear masculine in many
tales, such as the Amazon women. So masculine, in fact, that they make the men
seem less masculine in comparison. Somehow this situation insults the women for
being masculine. While the men are praised for such a thing, it glosses over
how the men have become feminine even when that would normally be considered an
insult. How have the creators of these tales managed to get away with this? By
perpetuating double standards in almost every form.
Sir John Mandeville gives an account of such a situation in
his published travels where there is an abundance of men being glorified for
their pure state and a great focus on women being called ugly, as if their
looks are all that matter. He refers to a culture in Chaldea where the men are “very
handsome… [and] well dressed in cloth of gold and precious stones,” which is
usually indicative of female clothing or qualities. Sir John then proceeds to
state that the women are “ugly and ill-dressed and they go barefoot.” They also
“are very swarthy and ugly to look at and of evil behavior.” The area he speaks
of may have established their gender roles differently, or they could have been
normal people he misrepresented because he saw them as he wanted to see them. If the latter was
the truth, then double standards are being enforced here. It would appear that
he believes it is completely fine for men to be dainty and beautiful and take
on traditionally female traits, but abhorrent for women to be anything other
than beautiful. These standards become clearer in his tale of the Amazons.
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| While this is the most conservative version of the Amazons I could find, they just had to make the black woman the only one not fully clothed. |
The Land of Women, where the Amazons reside, means just what
the name implies; there are no men there. This is not because they have died
out or left of their own accord, but because the Amazons have killed them and
driven them off in war. Warrior women sound like strong and powerful women, but
when they are described by Sir John, the reader gets the feeling that they are
not as womanly as previously thought. According to Sir John, the women must become
more masculine to be able to be in what is traditionally a man’s position by
cutting off a breast so they can use a bow and arrow properly or carry a shield
more easily. Seeing as breasts do not logically hinder a woman in either of
these ways, we see a repetition of the idea that masculine is right and
anything else is bad.
This idea has been perpetuated into today’s culture. Many
women buy into this belief due to the fact that they have been repeatedly exposed
to it. Men that advocate for women most likely don’t realize it either for that
same reason. Misogyny and double standards definitely exist even when we don’t realize it.
