Thought Exercise #1, Due 9/10/13, REPOST

REPOSTED FROM HERE

For the Fall 2013 semester, I have signed up for Gender Woman Studies 133AC at UC Berkeley. The title of the course is Women, Men, and Other Animals: Human Animality in American Cultures. The class focuses on the relationship between humans and animals, "with a particular focus on gender, race, ability, and sexuality as the definitional foils for human engagement with animality."

I saw this class on the Fall 2013 American Cultures class catalog before I even got the idea for my novel, but now that I'm enrolled in this class, it's perfect for my research into the novel, especially since I'm exploring human-animal and sexuality themes in my Little Red Riding Hood-inspired BDSM New Adult novel (I think I need to find a way to abbreviate that...). Since our weekly assignment consists of writing blog posts in response to what we think of an assigned piece we have read or a class discussion. I thought that, since the theme of animality and sexuality and power play aligns quite nicely with my novel (currently on chapter 9...it's kind of a crappy first draft right now), I'll just write my posts in a way that correlates with my novel.

I don't listen to that BS when people say, "Oh, virginity doesn't matter." Lies. I've witnessed responses that betray intrigue and lust. Artwork is by Nanfe

Out of the readings from last week, I was most stricken by Kate Soper's essay "Naturalized Woman and Feminized Nature." It is no surprise to read about the objectification of woman, since women can be deemed as sex objects or arm candies by horny men. But it was interesting to read about Soper's correlation of the objectification of women with man's dominance of nature. Nature procreates and reproduces in order to nurture living beings. Women are biologically designed to procreate and nurture life as well. Throughout history, perhaps the male ego drives males in all of their attempts to conquer what they set out to take, and taking it further to incite wars after wars. Explorers set out to sail and explore other continents, and kill in order to appropriate the lands they believe they are entitled to. Women are in a similar scenario. Men hunt sexually attractive women to try and "sow their seeds," as it may be termed. I would hope humanity is above this, but many men will persist in cajoling a woman, or even resort to taking her by force.

Soper mentions Wordsworth's poem "Nutting," and cites it as "one of the most powerfully voluptuous descriptions of the 'virgin scene' of nature, and one of the most disturbed accounts of the ravishment it provokes," and goes on to state that nature is "a 'virgin' terrain ripe for penetration, that the metaphor of the land as female is most insistent...it is one thing to cajole - or force - a virgin to surrender to her lover (rapist)" (142). I keep thinking about my main character in my novel, Scarlett, who is determined to remain a virgin until marriage. The professor, Jude Tanner, is intrigued by her virginity and the novel revolves around a sort of game or persistence vs. resistance for them. He wants to see how long it'll take for her no's to turn into yes, and she is determined to never give in, despite all the temptation he gives her. By no means is this story meant to be romantic at all. It's terrifying to be in pursuit and hunted down, even if it is by a handsome predator. To be thought of as an untouched terrain ripe for penetration is terrifying. It's somewhat dehumanizing to be devalued to the level of the grass and plants that spreads all across the earth, to take in a fact that I, a young woman, am something that can be taken by force if necessary. Scarlett feels the same, and she knows she is more than a virgin to be subjected to the lust of a man who wants to be the first one to penetrate and claim her. The dominance of men vs. virginity and resistance is a theme that I'm heavily exploring, and will hopefully be fleshed out further as the semester progresses.