Quote:
|
P.S. I read a comment on something about if a woman wants to be a man's mistress then "Good for her". That's not exactly good for women. I do believe in one's ability to make decisions concerning one's life, but something like that is absolutely wrong (on the part of the man and the woman) and degrading to women. And yes it is wrong and insulting to be thought of as a sex object.
|
Well babe, it all depends on how you view sex, sexual dynamic between men and women, as well as the economic standing of women.
I agree that for most Western women, there are available far better occupations than mistress, sex object, or prostitute. This doesn't, however, apply to the rest of the world. You have to be a realist about these things. Unless we are willing to pluck out every one of the girls from half-way around the world out of their harems, give them an education and give them rights (which we are not, apparently), we should not grumble at their supposed lack of morals.
At the same time, a woman of the West should also be allowed to make her own choices regarding the men she sees, without being branded, to put it nicely, a "scarlet woman." If a woman wants to be a mistress, it's her right, as long as she consciously makes it. Can this be degrading? Of course, but marriage can be degrading as well. I'm European, so maybe I view this issue differently. I find it refreshing that no one in France makes a big deal out of Chirac's ladies (now, if they would only protest his corruption...). Frankly, if I, fed up with school and work, decided to take the year off, flee to Germany, and write my novel while occasionally entertaining visits from, say (for the sake of example
only) Gerhard Schroeder, I would expect intelligent people not to judge me, in the same way that I do not judge them over whatever it is that they do in their spare time.
Quote:
|
P.P.S. the Lord of the Rings was written in a time that morals were still widely present in the general society. To imply that Aragorn would be only interested in Arwen eacuse of sex is a crazy misunderstanding and doesn't make sense.
|
First off, society today is no less moral than it was yesterday. The only difference is that now we have the benefits of tabloid television, giving us daily updates on the supposed transgressions of world leaders and Hollywood actors. Back then, that which you call immorality was simply more or less kept under wraps. People had affairs and visited brothels, and did all sorts of awful and nearly-awful things. They just didn't go on Oprah to talk about it afterwards.
And as for "sex in the LOTR", well, we can't deny that Arwen was pretty, can we? We also can't deny that Aragorn was a man. Put the two together, and you can definitely arrive at the conclusion that there was sexual attraction there. Tolkien chose not to write about it, and good for him, I wouldn't want it any other way. I do agree with you that the idea that Aragorn's love for Arwen stemmed only from his need to bed her is a pretty cynical one. She was far more special than that, I believe. So we agree on that. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]