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Mary Beard’s essay, The Public Voice of Women, written in March 2014, discusses the issue of men either shutting down, not hearing, or berating women in a public setting. She may well have titled her work “The Public Silencing of Women,” for that is really the issue she focuses on.
Beard initially sets her conversation against the background of classic Greco-Roman antiquity, which is her academic specialty. Then, leaping back and forth across the millennia, she bridges the topic with discourses concerning public speech of both men and women and the issue of authority. While in the contemporary era, she offers multiple examples of the issue, some taken directly from her own personal experience. Although she does not offer a resolution to very real issue of cultural suppression of women’s public voice, she does point to potential solutions.
In this review, we’ll highlight the examples she uses, tie together her main conclusions, expand upon two points, and then hone in on the keys that she hints at, which society can use to move forward.
The Classic Era
Beard uses multiple examples from both classic literature and history to make her point. Her prose presumes the reader is familiar with all the myths, legends, and anecdotes she relies upon. However, she provides enough detail that if that is not the case, the reader is still able to follow her narrative. In approximately chronological order, these include:
From Homer’s The Odyssey, Telemachus’ public rebuke of his mother, Penelope, as the family awaits the return of Odysseus from the Trojan War
The play Thesmophoriazousai, “Women Celebrating the Festival of the Thesmophoria”, by Aristophanes
Several examples from play Metamorphoses, by Ovid, which ties together multiple earlier Greek myths and legends, albeit with the characters in their Roman guise
The rape of Lucretia (See also Leon, The Joy of Sexus, section, “Abduction, Seduction, Rape: Unwilling Partners”)
Christian women expressing their conviction on the sands of the arena
The legal self-defense of Maesia, whose crime was appearing androgynously
The litigiousness of Afriana
The oratory of Hortensia, who argued against taxing Roman women to pay for war
Of note, Beard uses the last four as examples in antiquity where the predominant culture allowed women to publicly express themselves. However, in all these, the purpose was purely for their own narrow interest, or rather “women’s issues,” particularly when they were victims, such as the Christian women.
The Contemporary Era
As with the examples from antiquity, Beard provides enough detail about each so that a reader totally unfamiliar with the anecdote is still able to follow the underlying theme. Bread’s use of multiple contemporary examples include:
An address by Queen Elizabeth I to her troops in 1588
An 1851 speech by the ex-slave Sojourner Truth
A passage from the Bostonians, published in the late 19th century
A speech by Hillary Clinton to the UN General Assembly
Disparaging media commentary about early female sports casters
Men who ignore their female colleagues in meetings
Threats on social media, which include sexual violation, bodily harm, or death
Derogatory comments made on social media
The author draws the last three points from her own experiences. She makes the observation that she often felt that it wasn’t even the content of a particular statement that her male antagonists took issue with; rather, it was simply that fact that she, as a woman, was even bothering to comment.
Again, Beard offers examples - Elizabeth, Sojourner Truth, and Clinton - as instances when the culture allowed women to publicly express themselves. Beard uses the Sojourner and HRC speeches to again point out that the purpose was strictly for issues concerning women.
However, she pairs Elizabeth with Maesia, as well Thatcher’s voice lessons to illustrate that women often need to imitate some aspect of masculinity to come across as commanding or authoritative.
The Bridge – Public Speech Itself
Throughout her essay, Ms. Beard discusses both the act and quality of public speech. She varies her discussion from classic to contemporary, at times pulling from the same examples listed above. However, in all cases she arrives at the same fundamental conclusions, those being that across time:
Public speech is the providence of men
Men typically describe public speech by women in the negative, in terms ranging from freakish to whiny
Innate vocal quality lends to men having more perceived authority, regardless of the venue
When allowed to express themselves publicly, women can only speak about very specific issues, i.e., those that concern primarily women
Two Keys: Respect and Biology
In leaving a conclusion to the topic unresolved, Beard dances around, but never lands upon, the central issue of men’s lack of respect for women. She clearly touches upon, but dismisses the importance of, the biological differences between men and women. We’ll expand on both below, for these points provide critical keys for western civilization, and indeed humanity, to move forward and resolve the very real issue of the hearing the public, and private, voice of women, and eliminating female subjugation.
It’s not my intent to discount Beard’s central thesis; however, there are two points to consider before discussing the keys that society can use to improve the situation.
Translation and Audience Bias
Translators and interpreters will often insert their own personal and cultural biases into a translation, frequently accounting for the intended audience. A modern example of this is formal Italian, such as used in diplomatic correspondence. It is frequently verbose, overtly laudatory, and even flowery. Translated literally, the salutation on a communique might read:
Dearest Ambassador Smith, our most esteemed guest from the United States of America, accomplished diplomat and scholar, we, the citizens of Naples, are honored to host your visit to this most ancient of cities, which rests upon the serenity and shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea, welcome.
To the native English speaker, this is cumbersome at best, and often somewhat embarrassing to the recipient. A skilled translator would condense this considerably, something akin to:
Dear Ambassador Smith, welcome to Naples.
In her opening argument, Beard presents a scene from Book 1 of The Odyssey, essentially describing it as young Telemachus telling his mother to shut up, go back to her room, and stay out of the affairs of men. The first printed versions of the epic poem did not appear until 1488 in Florence. Alexander Pope’s translation of the passage in question, which he transcribed from Latin and published in 1725-26, reads almost tenderly, with Telemachus showing concern for his mother’s wellbeing.
(Telemachus to his mother)
“… Your widow’d hours, apart, with female toil
And various labours of the loom beguile;
There rule, from place-cares remote and free;
That care to man belongs, and most to me.”
Mature beyond his years, the queen admires
His sage reply, and with her train retires.
W.H.D. Rouse’s 1937 rendering of the same passage conveys much as Beard’s interpretation and presents a harsh image of Telemachus’ disrespect for his mother.
(Telemachus to his mother) “… Go to your room and see about your own business, loom and distaff, and keep the servants to their work; talking is always the man’s part, and mine in particular, for the man rules the house.”
She was astonished to hear him, and went back to her room, but she noticed how sensibly her son had spoken.
The point for the reader is to simply be aware of this phenomenon, especially when translating texts from antiquity. These frequently went through multiple iterations, from Greek to Latin, to Italian to English. Translators and scribes often lose much of the original meaning, or add intent, in the process. As it applies to Beard’s essay, however well intended, it is next to impossible to avoid overlaying personal biases upon translation.
What biases might Mary Beard have carried into her translation, or selection of translation, for the passage she cites from The Odyssey?
Who was her intended audience and how might that have influenced her selected passage?
Maleness & Vocal Quality
Likewise, Beard weaves the Greek term ‘muthos’ throughout her discussion, which she translates as “authoritative, public speech.” There is etymological evidence for this, however, ‘muthos’ typically translates to simply “myth”. She uses this as a keystone to her argument that public speech is the domain of men. In fact, she goes on futher to suggest that in both antiquity and today, the ability to speak well in public is intrinsic to man’s success, even the crucial characteristic of being an elite male.
In making that claim she ignores other roles that were almost the exclusive domain of men in antiquity. Principle among these were defense. In fact, the entire reason that Telemachus asserts himself is that his father has been away at war, and presumed dead. No man rose to be king, chief, a leader, or even respected without the proven ability to defend his land, tribe, clan, or family. Yes, the ability to command often requires vocal projection, a calming tone and tenor. However, success in battle, or on a hunt, often requires silence and cunning even more so than vocalization.
Even today, one can argue that there are many successful and elite men, billionaires, who do not speak very well in public, who can’t arrange a complete sentence, and whose vocal quality is grating. Often success has more to do with cunning, intelligence, or sheer dumb luck.
A final comment about innate vocal quality lending to men having more perceived authority. Beard confidently asserts that there is no evolutionary reason for this. In humans, the male voice is typically an octave lower than the female voice, a fact that is evidence in other mammals as well. Timber, the coloration of a sound or voice, is both qualitatively and quantitatively different between the human sexes. Humans have a highly evolved, acute ability to distinguish vocal timber, so much so that there may well be pre-civilizational evolutionary reasons for the male voice to seemingly present more authority. (Levitin, This is Your Brain on Music)
Could there be pre-civilizational evolutionary reasons for the male voice to seemingly present more authority?
How else might a man in Hellenic Greece distinguish himself other than skilled public oratory?
What other professions today, besides entertainment, broadcast media, and politics require skilled vocalization regardless of the sex of the practitioner?
Respect
Very early the history of Mesopotamia and much of the Mediterranean there was tradition of the feminine Divine, the Goddess. (Stone, When God Was a Woman) It’s not surprising, given her specialty, that Beard begins her story in Hellenic Greece; however, evidence for the subjugation of women in western culture is clear in the book of Genesis, which predates the Trojan War by some 400 years, and relies upon much earlier oral traditions. Leaping forward nearly 2000 years, the Catholic Church codified the concept of ‘Original Sin,’ which rests squarely on Eve’s shoulders. (Gardner, The Origin of God) Even during the Enlightenment, we see Locke use the same parable in Chapter V of Two Treaties of Government, titled, “Of Adam’s Title to Sovereignty by the Subjugation of Eve.”
Beard makes the point of addressing the abuse, bullying, silencing, and suppression of women, as well as the fact that these actions stem from “hardwired” cultural attributes, in both men and women. Indeed, attitudes and thought patterns, while driven by culture can absolutely become ingrained habits. (Doidge, The Brain That Changes Itself ) These culturally ingrained attitudes can be seen most prevalently in occupations once considered the exclusive purview of men.
In these professions, there was, and is, often vile behavior exhibited toward women, even in the face of superior skill demonstrated by them. For example, when women first entered tactical carrier aviation in the U.S. Navy, more than a few male pilots would refer to their fellow female officers and pilots in derogatory terms such as “slit tail,” “slut,” or even the C word. At times, enlisted men would break into quarters to rape the women officers, simply for being in the squadron.
In leaving a conclusion to the topic unresolved, Beard dances around, but never lands firmly upon, the central issue of men’s lack of respect for women. At the core of the issue of subjugation, abuse, and silencing of women is a lack of respect. It is not only a lack of respect for women, and other humans, but within those committing the subjugation there is also a marked lack of self-respect. Society must begin to cultivate, teach, and honor respect for individuals as sovereign entities before this collect pattern of suppression ever begins to unwind and the culturally “hardwired” attitudes being to change.
Biology
The other issue, which she touches upon more directly, but still leaves unresolved in terms of how it relates to eliminating the cultural habit of keeping ‘women in their place,’ is that of the very real biological differences between the sexes. Younger readers may feel aghast at that point, but there has been a very deliberate obfuscation of meaning between the terms sex, gender, and sexuality. While Marx sowed some of the seeds of contemporary feminism, contemporary academia has confused the matter even more so. (Rectenwald, Springtime for Snowflakes). The biological fact is that humans are dimorphic. With exponentially rare occurrence of hermaphrodism, humans are born either male or female. And, as illustrated with but a single example of vocal quality, there exist qualitative and quantitative physiological, emotional, and psychological differences between men and women.
The story, the real myth, is that a woman can be a man. Both sexes have bought into this, but in doing so, both sexes suffer, women more so than men. Beard highlights this several times throughout her piece. While many professions today can, and are, done by both sexes, often with very high skill levels, the fact of the matter is, women are not, and cannot be men. No amount of disguise, be it clothing, acting, vocal training, hair style, or surgery, can change what evolution has accomplished over eons of honing.
What if women, from the dawn of time, but especially in the last century had never taken the time to study themselves as unique entities, unique reflections of a Divine spark, with unique gifts and talents? What if society cultivated, taught, and honored the unique and complementary differences between the sexes, rather than trying to smear them? It is something no society has tried at a cultural level in recent history…
The Keys
Western society must recognize and cultivate into the cultural dynamic and consciousness both respect towards other humans as sovereign individuals, regardless of their sex, race, or preferred pronoun, and that of the biological differences between the sexes. These are the keys, which Mary Beard hints at in her essay, to the solution to begin to roll back the silencing and subjugation of women.
For Consideration
How do contemporary stories taught to children ignore a much more ancient tradition of the feminine Divine, the Goddess?
How does contemporary culture continue to enforce the subjugation of women by men?
What biases do you unconsciously carry concerning respect for others in general, and women in particular, because of these stories and culture?
If you are a woman, how do you own actions enforce your silence or muteness?
If you are a man, how do you treat the women in your personal and professional life?
Are your actions toward them those of respect or those of disrespect?
Endnote
This piece was a writing assessment submission for a job at Shortform, which I submitted yesterday, although in a slightly different format.
At first blush, it may seem to bear little relevance to what is going on in the world. However, I would urge the reader to consider how the two keys I discuss apply to the current political scismn, the COVID scamdemic, and the Cabal's Great Reset.
Namaste,
😌🙏
Thanks for reading folks, and
Keep fighting the tyranny!
Mark
September 4, 2021
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