So, yesterday I was standing in line at the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. I looked cute in my Killstar dress and Doc Marten Mary Janes. I also had my new Dracula purse (the link will take you to the website so you can see it. I’d take a picture, but Salem is napping on it). For those who would prefer not to click, it is a small purse, large enough for the matching wallet, my sunglasses, and a paperback or two. The purse features artistic images of Dracula and Mina as well as the famous quote, “Welcome to my house! Enter freely. Go safely, and leave something of the happiness you bring.” I know none who know me or my books are surprised I love vampries.
While standing in line an older woman noticed it, said it was cute, and then said, “But the only book a good woman should read is the Bible.”
I nodded and remained silent, choosing not to engage, but I have been thinking about this statement since yesterday.
Note: What I am about to say is not an attack on religion or religious beliefs. As long as you live by your faith but do not demand everyone else conform to its tenets, we can be at peace.
The prescriptive nature of that statement concerns me. It was not that long ago in the history of the west that reading fiction was considered a symptom of mental illness in women. Reading “too many” novels was the reason given for several women being sent to asylums (there are other, more complicated societal and patriarchal reasons that critical scholars cite for this, but that’s not the point of this post). Before that, women with the ability to read and write were at risk of being accused of witchcraft.
Reading the newspaper was once considered “too intense” for the “delicate constitution” of a woman’s mind. Her husband or father or some other man was to tell her of the current events if he thought she could handle the news. Now, women today know this to be far less true, as many men get too he-motional when bad news (especially of the all-important sporting event variety) comes their way. This cultural practice was an attempt to control women. How many politicians of a certain party today think each household should have only one vote, and the husband should be the one who votes?
And while novels, which were fictional and imaginative, were seen as better for women to read than news and current events, too much was problematic. Charlotte Elizabeth Browne, daughter of a Norwich clergyman, was reported corrupted by a work of fiction she read at seven. In her own words:
“My mind became unnerved, my judgement perverted, my estimate of people and things wholly falsified.”
The work in question: The Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare, the mirror of mankind, taught in schools everywhere (at least for now). Now, whether this incident was factual or apocryphal is debated, it reminds of one thing: men were free to read what they pleased, women had to read only in moderation and take care for what they read, lest they fall into “vanity, thoughtlessness, or overindulgence.”
Of course, many at this time in history (and in our time today), believe reading should serve a didactic purpose. It should instruct those base creatures that are human on all manner of moral living within good (read as “Patriarchal, Christian”) society. Women, like children, are thought to have “lesser mental constitution” than men, by this logic, and so their reading habits must be policed.
This is one of the many reasons genres appealing to women are mocked. I say that because while in graduate school earning my MA in medieval literature, a friend of mine in the MFA Creative Writing program swore me to secrecy on one topic. She funded her graduate school education by writing for Harlequin Romance. She didn’t want any in the program to know, because the program director was adamant that “genre fiction of all kind be deemed unworthy of the title literature.” He and other male professors (all of the MFA faculty was male) mocked romance novels as “write by numbers” due to the often formulaic structure.
This should be a reminder that reading and writing, especially for women, people of color, the disabled, and members of the LGBTQIA+ community was, is, and forevermore shall be a political act. Reading is rebellious, countercultural at times, and a statement of identity. That is why those who seek power and control will always try to ban books. They have to control the narrative; otherwise, the “naturalness” of their order will be revealed to be an uneven house of cards, destined to fall at the slightest breath.
Read what you want. Read what makes you happy. Read what inspires you to become a better person. Read what gives you the courage to keep going through dark times. Reading is fundamental.
-Robin
If you need some books where queer women struggle against and overcome patriarchal forces or where queer women find happiness and love with each other, I would encourage you to check out my catalog. Paperbacks can be found on my website. I’m working on a way to distribute eBooks via the site, but for now they can be found at other online distributors. If you want to buy paperbacks from an online distributor, I do suggest Bookshop.org, as they share profits with local, independent bookstores.
cursingravenbooks.com 