Gender and Sexuality Politics - Essay Example

?Gender Sexuality: Compare Diane Ackerman’s “A Fine, a Private Place” and Joan Murray’s “Play-By-Play.” What do both of these poems suggest about sexuality? Consider gender and sexuality politics in your discussion. Diane Ackerman’s poem “A Fine, Private Place” (AFPP) and Joan Murray’s poem “Play-by-Play” (PBP) are very different in style. Ackerman’s poem is a past tense narrative with a lot of symbolism relating to the sea. Murray’s poem is a series of present tense, rhetorical questions posed by the writer to the reader in relation to some older women watching younger men playing sports. Despite these differences, the poems share some common themes because they talk about relationships between men and women with an emphasis on physical beauty, and from a female rather than a male perspective. This is interesting because it reverses the more common poetic tradition of male poets writing about female beauty from a male perspective. The history of Western love poetry goes back to the Middle Ages, and the tales of courtly knights who admired fair ladies. The lady was idealized in poetry, but in society men had a very much stronger position. Love poetry was therefore artificial, with very little reference to actual sex. In modern times there are more women poets, mainly because access to education, and to publishing facilities, are much more available to women. The two poems mentioned here are examples of a challenge to masculine literary tradition. They suggest there might be a different world order where women can take the initiative and use their power of writing to objectify and idealize men, according to a new set of gender rules which are much more equal. Ackerman’s poem shows how a meeting between a man and a woman can take place under water, using breathing apparatus. The first section shows how the underwater world is different from the everyday world on land. The fact that the man “had to ask twice” (AFPP, line 10) before the woman could interpret his gesture of love, suggests that the new environment requires a new type of body language, and a more subtle way of initiating sex. In fact as the poem progresses, the underwater location provides a whole new set of images and connotations. It is very noticeable that the the male partner is described with in terms of an octopus, sand, sea, kelp, shells etc. His hands are described as being “like tawny starfish” (AFPP, line 46). These are not powerful images. The woman seems to be a part of the whole ocean, while the man is little more than a collection of timid creatures who want to be near her. It is clear that the woman feels at home in the underwater world, and the only disturbing moment in the scene occurs in the lines “drawing her close as a pirate vessel to let her board: who was this she loved?” (AFPP, lines 47-50). This reference to the pirate ship suggests that the man is an element of danger, but the thought is dismissed and the scene carries on. An important element in the scenery is the way that the underwater world is compared to a very feminine space: “an opium den” (AFPP, line 6) or “blue boudoir” (AFPP, line 90), complete with decor that is “pillow soft” (AFPP, line 91) with “quilted mosaics” (AFPP, line 100) and “twitching spangles” (AFPP, line 102). The ocean caresses the woman and the suggestion is that when a woman makes love, she returns to a previous evolutionary state, in which she is at one with the beautiful surroundings. The man is the pirate, who invades this matriarchal world, and she remembers him fondly, but she eats up the memory like a peach, showing that ultimately it was the union with the ocean that inspired her, and the man was just a small part of that whole experience. The poem by Joan Murray also writes about memories, but this time they are the collective memories of women who have been watching young men playing softball. For centuries men have been discussing women’s bodies, and evaluating them, for their own amusement. In this poem the tables are turned, and it is the young men who become the objects of admiration and evaluation. This poem also uses unusual analogies, for example the phrase “slim waist” (PBP, line 4) is usually used to refer to young women, but here it is connected to “the strength of the runner’s legs” (PBP, line 4-5) and “The torso of the catcher.” (PBP, line 6) There is an ironic mention of cliches of female beauty in the description of the statues of Greek mythical women who “pose and yawn in their fountain” (PBP, lines 27-28) The juxtaposition of the bored statues and the sporting young men seems to suggest that men trap women into stony and boring images when they admire them. The women do not do this to the objects of their love, but they just appreciate how the young men move about freely in the world. The older women are able to appreciate “the unsuspected loveliness/in a common shape or face” (BPB, lines 48-49) without the men even knowing that they are there. In Murray’s poem the secrecy of the women’s thoughts is partly due to the way that men in society are usually involved in noisy and public affairs, while women have a quieter and more reflective kind of sisterhood. The poet’s question about what the men would think and say if they knew they are being watched is an interesting one. There may be an implication that we will never know the answer. One reason is that men do not care what women think, because they regard themselves as superior, and another is reason is revealed in the last lines. The phrase “before the shadows lengthened” suggests the men will grow up, and become blind to the beauty that they had as young men. Older men are not permitted to think that way, and perceive male beauty, unless they are homosexual, and so most men are bound to miss what the older women are wise enough to see. Both poems show that older women in the modern world have finally gained the experience and the wisdom to enjoy sex, and appreciate male beauty, in a way that subverts the old romantic hierarchies. Women today are not passive recipients of male admiration, but neither are they aggressive pirates or sculptors who destroy what they admire. These two poets show a new paradigm for love poetry that is modelled on female non-possessive but all-embracing enjoyment. Ackerman, Diane. “A Fine, Private Place”. Available online at: http://www.satterthwaite.info/Poetry/afineaprivateplace.html Murray, Joan. “Play by Play.” Available online at: http://www.joanmurray.com/MPOPlaybyPlay.html Read More