Not in the Middle Ages or at any time since, has there ever existed such an extraordinary number of works of literature whose female protagonists are abjectly, pathetically, and enthusiastically subservient to men as in the 21st-century literature.
Medieval heroines are actually not subservient at all. They have agency, they have willpower, the have their own interests and strategies that they pursue. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century female characters are even more so. It all begins to change in the late twentieth century and explodes completely in the twenty-first. One after another female character enslaves herself eagerly to some dude. And it’s never a dude who offers marriage, children, money, an equal partnership, and respect. No, it’s always and invariably a man who treats her as a child.
This is fascinating to observe. One novel after another. Different authors, countries, generations, writing styles, political beliefs. The characters are poor, rich, mega rich, in the middle. Societies where women have opportunities that Elizabeth Bennett or Jane Eyre couldn’t begin to dream of. Yet these female heroines throw all the opportunities away to pursue infantilization and abasement.
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