“Why do men feel threatened by women?” asked Margaret Atwood QUOTES FOR WRITERS and everyone
Given the events over the last few weeks , I thought it would be a good idea to post the words of Margret Atwood:
Why do men feel threatened by women?” I asked a male friend of mine. So this male friend of mine, who does by the way exist, conveniently entered into the following dialogue.
“I mean,” I said, “men are bigger, most of the time, they can run faster, strangle better, and they have on the average a lot more money and power.”
“They’re afraid women will laugh at them,” he said. “Undercut their world view.”
Then I asked some women students in a quickie poetry seminar I was giving, “Why do women feel threatened by men?”
“They’re afraid of being killed,” they said.
She’s nailed it, right?
•Atwood, Margaret, Writing the Male Character (1982) (reprinted in Second Words: Selected Critical Prose from a Hagey Lecture on February 9, 1982, at the University of Waterloo)
8 comments on ““Why do men feel threatened by women?” asked Margaret Atwood QUOTES FOR WRITERS and everyone”
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Reblogged this on mira prabhu and commented:
Ah ha, big question that I have grappled with for years….thanks, Bridget Whelan.
And thank you Mira for reblogging
This is an interesting thought, Bridget. My honest opinion is that I don’t think men do feel threatened by women. I think men don’t see the world like that at all.
Hmm think you may have a point, but fear of being laughed at is real for some men, don’t you think? Look at how defensive Donal Trump’s behaviour is and how he over compensates…anything he does is better, bigger, just a whole lot more than anyone else has done in the history of the world…
In the 25 years since Atwood delivered the lecture, much has changed in our perception of gender relationship. Would she still offer the same premise? That’s something I’ll chew over today. . . Thanks Bridget.
Thanks for coming by. I do wonder if the core issues have altered much since 1992 Certainly, more women have had the opportunity to lead succesful careers in public life and in business, but are the odds still stacked against them? Are they still subjected to physical and verbal abuse in the work place because of gender? Has there been a reduction in domestic abuse? My perception is that many of the gener-related challenges a young woman faced in the early 90s haven’t changed that much in the intervening years, but do come back and discuss. Was there a major change yopu had in mind?
Map is not the territory.
Uh, ok….no, you’re going to have unpack that for me.