Warning, rant follows. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] This is a pretty outrageous example of the kind of feminist revisionist hooha that comes out of literary criticism, where people don't bother to actually read a book, let alone try to appreciate it. "Scholars" like this spend their time skimming synopses of books trying to sniff out the big bad sexists and then write journal articles hoping for just the kind of plum reaction this lady got (ie, being invited to a talk show). Bleccch! Rant cooling down now...
As has been pointed out, Galadriel is a figure that looms very large in all of the chronicles. Not to mention Elbereth and all the female Valar! We can also likely assume (though we're not told) that there were female warriors: elven females. The fact that most human societies in ME had "traditional" roles for women can be thought of as reflecting history. I think someone brought up "The Mariner's Wife." Tolkien, in his way, did explore the issue of male and female roles. Of course, for some feminists, it would not be enough.
[ September 01, 2002: Message edited by: Genandra of Mirkwood ]
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