The Radicals in the Western Culture: More Androgen and

Less Family

In the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Fountain of Youth, a mermaid appears

and sings this ballad to the sailors, before attacking them in group. We as
children, considered the mermaids beloved due to the wondrous creativity of
one man named Walt Disney. But in the Pirates movie, a Walt Disney
production, revamped altogether a different picture of the same mermaids.
The mermaids in the movie sing this lovely ballad, luring a man, who thinks
he would never score on a beautiful girl, into the water. Once he is in the
water, she reveals her fangs and tries to kill him.
If myths and legends be considered a record of social and political
innuendos, we might see transformations which will flabbergast us. Whoever
made these myths and legends explicated the natural, social, historical and
individualistic facets in exaggerated and elaborated statements, that the
modern man finds the elements of myths and legends alienated and distant.
But myths are repetitive symbols and images which developed through the
habitual patterns existed in the society. The myth makers used these
patterns to establish stories embedded with rituals and nature. Almost every
civilization in the world has a flood myth; the story of a flood and how the
beings survived the flood. The powers of Gods and Goddesses, creation

myths, fertility myths, hero stories, Axis mundi etc are analogous
explanations of natural, ritualistic and individualistic behavioral patterns.
Of these similar and recurring symbols, creature myths are the most
astounding and perhaps more explorable in matters of gender and postcolonial studies. Simone de Beauvoirs notion of the other seems to be
appealing here to an extant when considering the apparent distinction
between the normal (mortals/Gods) and the abnormal (Creatures - beasts/
humanoids/ cryptoids/ daemons etc). Beauvoir calls the least favoured one
and mostly a woman the other, "for a man represents both the positive and
the neutral, as indicated by the common use of man to designate human
beings in general; whereas woman represents only the negative, defined by
limiting criteria, without reciprocity" (McCann, 33).
In the myths and legends around the world, even among the concept
of these mythical creatures there is a clear distinction between the male and
female creatures. For instance, there is Lilu and Lilith the male and female
daemons in Jewish mythology. Lilu is referred as a masculine malevolent
spirit, Lilith has a complete evolutionary history of how she became
malevolent. According to Rabbi Issac ben Jacob ha- Cohen, Lilith was Adams
first wife, but refused to be subservient to him and was unwilling to return to
Eden after she mated with Archangel Samael. Later Lilith became a common
symbol in the Western Culture, art and Literature. She became the image of
the femme fatale, the other of the damsel in distress types, which is

more in adherence with the hero figures of mythology. The subservient

woman will bear accusations like Eve and Pandora and still be a loving wife
or mate, while the femme fatale will be free to choose an altogether different
path. The mythical femme fatale are radicals depicted as far beyond the
norm with their mysteriousness, seductiveness, ability to entrap men in a
bond of overwhelming desire, ferocious, malicious shape shifters with more
androgen tangled in estrogen. They enchant a man using their feminine wiles
such as beauty and allure, a sort of La Belle Dame Sans Mercy who hath
men in thrall! The Banshees in the Celtic legends, Valkyires and the Rusalki
in the Norse legends, Drujs of the Iran, Houris mentioned in the Islmic
scriptures, Apsaras of the Indian Puranas, Dakinis in the Buddhist concept,
Guel/ Kuei of the Chinese, Hags of Yomi of the Japanese legends are some of
the femme fatale groups who shows the above said characteristics. This
group of radicals has created a symbol suitable for the men to hide their
masks.
In Kabbalah, there were four Succubi, Lilith, Mahalath, daughter of
Mahalath and Naamah. They are described as the queens of the demons and
spirits of sacred prostitution. Sacred prostitution was society's consent
given to men to mate with other women, to curb their sexual fantasies, so
that they dont have to be under the hoods all the time. Succubi have later
turned into other mythical spirits like Lilin and Sirens. Sirens were notable for
their sweet voices with which they lured the sailors. In Homers Odyssey,
Odysseus is warned by Circe, an enchantress to keep off the Sirens, like this,

If a man come on them unwittingly and lend ear to their Siren-voices, he will
never again behold his wife and little ones rising to greet him with bright
faces when he comes home from the sea. (Great Works of Homer. Black
Rose, Book 12). It sounds as a warning to any married man who might
pursue the enchantment of the other woman. Sirens are the symbols which
deter a man from moving towards his family. Otherwise the Sirens are the
personifications of the sensual impulses, secret desires and sexual fancies of
men.
The term Amazons has become synonymous with female warriors, who
fight, hunt and are skilled in warfare. In order to save their race from
extinction, they would invade the nearby tribes to have sexual encounters.
Sometimes they would even take men to be their slaves. There is a reference
to the Amazons in the Iliad, where the queen of Amazons, Penthesilea fought
by the side of theTrojans and was killed by Achilles, who fell in love with the
Amazon after her death. The Amazons has been accounted in many
historical records, while some were mere shams. One such story is Thalestris
being Alexanders lover. Plutarch though mentions an episode in Alexander
the Greats life which rather reinforces the argument that men wanted to
have relationships with such femme fatale but couldnt afford them. Once
Alexanders commander was reading Alexanders story of an expedition
which contains the encounter with Amazons to King Lysimachus of Thrace,
who was on the original expedition, and Lysimachus asked back with a smile,
And where was I, then?

The Rusalkis in Slavic mythology are water demons, but mostly

considered as ghosts or succubi. The Rusalkis would invade the nearby land
during the night and would enchant handsome men with songs and dancing.
Some versions say that she would tickle the ensnared men to death. Even in
the European countries, married men wouldnt like their spouses or their
daughters to leave the house during the late hours. The nocturnal life is
always considered abnormal. But a man who goes out at night and meets a
promiscuous woman and has a one- night stand with her is not worth
frowning upon for most people even now. But be that a woman who goes out
to enjoy party life, singing and dancing during the late hors is a matter of
pride for the men at home.
Ieles are Romanian mythical creatures whose voice can enchant its
listeners, like Sirens and Rusalki. Ieles are not necessary evil, but they may
abduct a peeping tom. They are virgins, but with great seductive charms
over men. Dimitrie Cantemir describes the Iele as Nymphs of the air, in love
especially with young men. They reach a frenzied mood while dancing that
it might cause delirium to the onlookers. Such onlookers might disappear
without a trace. The Greek counterparts of Ieles are the Maenads depicted as
erratic and hysterical women as if intoxicated. It is a common known fact
that the word hysteria, until the late nineteenth century was said to be a

medical condition affecting women due to disturbances in uterus. No man

would willingly wed an indocile and unruly woman.
The Slavic woodland fairies Samodivas are so beautiful that men who
gaze upon them would even take their own life pursuing the Samodiva. The
Samodivas usually takes a trespasser as their slave and would make him her
lover until she sucks the complete essence out of him. She would then
proceed to another man. Men visits brothels and reward the woman who
satisfies him. The Norwegian Huldra does the same, but she kills those who
do not satisfy her. Rarely does she marry a man, and if she is treated badly
she reminds him of her physical and magical powers, sometimes by
straightening a horseshoe with her bare hands or lifting a very heavy
material like a tree trunk.
These radicals are ascribed with the opposite of normal gender
characteristics. They are far beyond the reach of the normal men. One who
will not stay subservient to man, she who refuses the paradise created by
the Patriarchal society, one who wouldnt mind having more than one
partner, slutty, chameleon like, ferocious, one who would avenge and fight in
defence of her honor and pride, ungovernable, enchanting and loves revelry,
these characteristics make them more androgenic. Men would love and loath
these women, a part of them would hide and hunt these women
simultaneously, a part of them would fear and disdain these women.
Concupiscence sugar- coated in the language of fear and disgust, that

exactly is what these radical women were to men. According to Carl Gustav
Jung such mythological women like sirens, mermaids or wood- nymphs
infatuates young men and sucks the life out of them. In ancient times anima
came represented either as a goddess or a witch that is, aspects of the
female which were out of mens control (Bowdon, Tom 170). Our
unconscious is an uncomfortable experience because it shows our own
vulnerability and inadequacy, and when confronted with the shadow we feel
guilt and shame for the parts of ourselves that we keep hidden. Dreams and
myths are embodiments of our subconscious desires, inclinations, cravings,
longings, secret urges, whims and fancies, which takes an altogether
different appearance so that one could get satisfaction from the Abyssinian
maids and the castle built from the reminiscence of her song rather than
actually building a home and listening to the nagging wife. Odysseus stayed
away from his wife for 18 years, and whored away with I-dont-know-howmany, and that is sung in heroic couplets around the world. Myths and
legends like dreams helped men to hide their face from the society. The
inversion of gender roles in these legends and myths provided the men with
the mask of a victim, or a lovelorn knight, or a hero.
Surpassing the mythological realms, we could find some groups of
women being attacked in the history of Europe and America, out of fear. In
the year 1962, Salem, a city in northeastern Massachusetts saw a
horrendous witchcraft trial, which resulted in the murdering of about twenty
people, of which thirteen were women and accused of witchcraft. Women,

Men and even dogs were killed during the trials, simply because of the fear
and politics played by certain puritan heads. Another notable incident is the
murdering of the canonical five, five prostitutes who were murdered in and
near the Whitechapel district in the year 1888. These women werent
rebellious, but the patriarchal society needed victims to warn any radicals
out there, because they feared change and they disdained these types of
women. The patriarchal society always had this innate fear for the radical
womens groups, and to destroy such groups they would accuse and burn
them at the stake. History has illustrated these types of incidents rather
vividly and bloodily, repeatedly.
Coming to the twenty first century, one could find that circumstances
have changed a wee bit, but not much the attitude and perspectives etched
in it. In a survey, 31 percent men admitted they would consider marrying
someone who 'has everything they are looking for in a partner' but with
whom they weren't in love. 21 per cent of men went even further, confessing
that they would commit to someone they weren't sexually attracted to. The
line of clear distinction between the life partner and sexual partner is drawn
here. The wife at home should not have a past, and must not be beguiling,
and the sexual partner shouldnt interfere in the personal life of the man.
These sexual partners must not cross the border where they demand
commitment, if so the relation ends there. Thus the modern day women who
are free to choose a path for her own are still not considered worthy of being
called marriage material. Testosterone levels in women leading a

polyandrous lifestyle is high, and men dont want a mirror image of

themselves in their home. Because they fear that such women will cheat
and will get bored faster with the married life.

So as to find these marriage material- subservient women the society keeps

an eye on the women. Not just the sexuality part is kept in check, but some
anti- feminists has frowned upon matters like women's rights to education
and jobs for women. In 'Sex in Education: or, a Fair Chance for the
Girls (1873), Harvard professor Edward Clarke predicted that if women went
to college, their brains would grow bigger and heavier, and their wombs
would atrophy. Some anti- feminists argued against women joining labour
pool, jury panels or being assigned in higher executive jobs, etc. They also
argue that a change of womens role can devastate the family. Women must
consider the family first, so they say.
.

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Source/ Works Cited

Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, "Rusalka," Encyclopedia of
Ukraine (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993).
Clarke, Edward H. Sex and Education. Wildside. p. 96. 1873. .
Hurwitz, Siegmund, and Robert Hinshaw. "Lilith in the Folk Legend." Lilith,
the first Eve: Historical and psychological aspects of the dark feminine.
Einsiedeln, Switzerland: Daimon Verlag, 1992. 119.
Homer, Iliad. Book 12. Great Works of Homer. Black Rose, Book 12.

Jung, G. Carl. The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious. 50 Psychology

Classics: Who We Are, How We Think, What We Do. Insight and inspiration
from 50 key books (Nicholas Brealey, London & Boston), Tom Butler-Bowdon.
McCann, Carole. Kim, Seung-Kyung. Feminist Theory Reader: Local and
Global Perspectives. Routledge. New York, NY.2003.
Otto, Walter F., Dionysus: Myth and Cult; Indiana University Press;
Bloomington and Indianapolis 1965.
K. M. Briggs, The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature, p 147 University
of Chicago Press, London, 1967.

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"Iele." Wikipedia. 07 Jan. 2013. Wikimedia Foundation. 16 Sept. 2013
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