Sexism by Any Other Name

Ever wake up with a song running through your head? I do all the time, and usually I’m not fully cognizant until I wind up humming in the shower, which is where I do all my free associative thinking anyway, so it’s a good deal.

This morning “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?” played nonstop (weird, but true), and when I finally recognized The Sound of Music tune, I got to thinking about the whole plot of that movie. Here’s this exuberant young girl the nuns are trying to corral into what? — a nun (or none) like them? But then they send her off into the big, bad world to this man who needs someone to look after his seven kids. SEVEN kids. So what exactly did they think was gonna happen? I mean, come on. SEVEN KIDS.

Of course, Maria falls in “love”, and the Captain marries the nubile, flighty virgin. Then they go away for a few days, and she comes back this calm, settled matron. Right. So the upshot is, if a woman is a “problem”, she can either become a none and subvert her will to God who apparently doesn’t care if she’s crazy, or she can become a wife and receive what? — calmness, normalcy, an absence of hysteria? — by injection.

And you thought it was just a wholesome family show to watch at Christmas. HA!