Section antics (3 of 3): A topical story.

So, for the last section of the year, one of the articles we read was this feminist article discussing the rape and dismemberment of the Whore of Babylon in the book of Revelation (the prof likes to assign a range of types of scholarship for students to critically interact with, to get a sense of the contours of the field).

Anyhow, most every student loved to trash the article, which was a bit loopy at times, but there was this one evocative paragraph talking about how scholars feel free to treat the rape as a symbol, but if it was a male prostitute getting raped, the symbolism would break down and they would feel compelled to treat it as an actual event.

So, I read that, and when people were like, "So?", I told a story about my one friend's 2nd-wave feminist mother who wears muu-muus and smokes a lot but has a gentle, soothing voice and a comforting presence, and about how one time she was telling me about when she first saw "Deliverance", of course when it was out in theaters (I of course explained what the movie was about, adding, of course, that I never saw it).

"So," I was like, "She told me that she was deeply bothered for 3 days after seeing the rape scene. And, it was only after that she really thought about it that she realized that she had seen a lot of different women graphically raped and even murdered on screen a lot of times and never gave a 2nd thought about it, but here the reason that she was so bothered by a man getting raped was simply because he was a man, and she was like, 'See, it's the patriarchy in my head!'".

(Saying that last bit, I tapped the side of my head with my index finger, but I kept a grave face.)

A few people nodded seriously and in total agreement - actually, there were 2, and they were both men! - but people in my section didn't know what to say, mostly, so, after a pause, I was like, "And you know, she's right," and saying that, I shrugged and nodded, gravely.