Women Bite Back

In Neil Gaiman’s American Gods Bilquis is a female character that is revealed after the first chapter. She works as a prostitute, selling her body to men for money. However, there’s a twist. She ends up vaginally eating her partner during intercourse, ultimately consuming him. This is commonly known as vagina dentata, where there is teeth and ability to consume a partner during intercourse with female genitals. The 2007 film, Teeth, is about a teenage girl who believes in abstinence but finds out that on top of dealing with high school, boys pressuring her into sex, and puberty, she also discovers she has vagina dentata.  Both Bilquis and Dawn (the protagonist of Teeth) exhibit a power only women can possess, and use that power to fight back against misogynistic behavior and sexual violence.

Vagina Dentata is literally the ‘pussy bites back.’ The myth can be found in almost every culture and originates from men’s fear of castration. Or does it? Castration takes away a man’s genital’s and because in society men’s sexual activity (how much, how often, and how many partners) determine their masculinity, it makes sense castration would be a primal fear. However, this fear of castration being caused from having sex with a woman can reveal another fear: the fear of women taking back power.  Essentially, this is women taking back their sexual power, something men have continuously tried to possess and control for centuries. 

In Teeth Dawn does not discover her hidden ability until she is raped. Of course, this leaves her rapist castrated, and he dies from blood loss. Dawn is left utterly traumatized from not only the rape, but also because she blames herself for the death of her rapist. She ends up attempting to see a gynecologist, because she does not know who else to turn to. The gynecologist proceeds to sexually assault her (using his un-gloved hands to finger her) and ends up losing two of his fingers. Dawn leaves crying and desperate. She is your stereotypical damsel in distress, that is, if all damsels in distress had toothed vaginas. 

Finally, after doing extensive research, she thinks she’s found an answer: a hero must come and tame her. So far, the film seems utterly sexist and bogus, so this is not at all surprising. She finds a guy, one who seems genuine and respectful of her, and thinks she has found the said ‘hero.’ But, yet again, she is disappointed. During intercourse, he reveals him and his friend made a bet to see who could sleep with her, and the audience hears the satisfying crunch of his genitals leaving his body. She leaves him, and realizes she must own her power and not ever be ashamed or fearful of it again. So far, it has only come to her in aid, and has saved her from multiple occasions of sexual violence. The film ends with Dawn choosing to own her power, as well as her sense of sexuality. Dawn essentially turns the tables on sexual predators; by them attempting to assault or rape her, they are becoming victims themselves, and ultimately losing their ability to ever rape a woman again. 

Bilquis does something similar. Instead of using her power in self-defence against predators, she uses her power to feed herself, both literally and figuratively. She eats her client for nutrition, but also, there is satisfaction in taking back power. In her situation of being a prostitute, the client has the power and usually objectifies her and treats less than human. Her client degrades her, and openly insults her several times: “‘I shoulda just got you to suck me off in the car … When I saw you first, on Sunset, I almost thought you were a man … Let me fuck you … I have to fuck you’” (Gaiman 25-26). ‘Fuck’ is a derogatory term for sex and is sexist. Why? People often use the term to describe something bad, like, “Fuck that,” or “fuck you.” This means it has a negative connotation. It is also simultaneously switched out with ‘screw’ as in “Screw you.” When a screw is drilled into wood, the screw is perfectly fine but the wood is permanently damaged. Using these terms like this suggest negative things for women and sex, and insinuates and inherent patriarchal view. Bilquis lets this slide, and ultimately shows that she is the one in power and with control, not him. In fact, some can say he was ‘screwed’ the moment he ever agreed to hire her.

            Vagina dentata is a myth created to suppress women’s sexualities, but in Gaiman’s use of the myth, it empowers women’s sexualities by refusing to be submissive, suppressed, and inferior.

           

References: 

https://www.vice.com/en_asia/article/new558/vagina-dentata-myths-from-around-the-world

Before It's Time and Into A New Age?

Before It’s Time and Into A New Age?

This blog post will focus on the way Hallgerd was treated during her marriage agreement/contract processes and how that treatment was unlike what other women received or expected at that time. As we all know, Hallgerd’s first marriage to Thorvald does not go well nor does it end well. Although her next two marriages both end with her husband’s death, the marriage agreement process is different than the first marriage. Hoskuld and Hrut finally realize that Hallgerd’s opinion in who she marries may allow for a more successful marriage. Although her next two husbands die, the time before their deaths was not spent between them bickering and fighting like how she did with Thorvald. 

The point I am getting to is that Hurt and Hoskuld may have been the first men at that time to take into consideration the female’s opinion about whom she will marry. This action did not seem common at all given the pursuer went straight to the desired woman’s father to ask for her hand rather than her personally, not to forget that most of the time the pursuer had to meet his desired bride. After letting Hallgerd partake in the deliberation process with her pursuers, Glum and Gunnar, she seemed to act more civil during the marriage towards her husbands, at least for the most part.

Unn, on the other hand, was not offered the ability to talk with her father, Mord, about Hrut’s desire to marry her. Had she been given that chance she could have encourage Mord to resign the marriage offer for she could not ever see herself love Hurt. Or, Unn could have gotten used to the idea of marring Hrut and felt more comfortable doing so knowing she had some say in the marriage. Obviously, their marriage ended for nothing to do with the way Hrut treated Unn but for another, more personal, reason. I’m not saying allowing the desired bride to partake in the marriage agreement process guarantees that the marriage will be a long-term success, but at least entering the marriage would be less of a shock and an uncomfortable situation.

Given that the viking age is very old and our current marriage process is much different than at that time, I wonder if Hrut and Hoskuld’s allowance towards Hallgerd might have started an unintentional trend of giving women the opportunity to decide who they marry. This is a long shot of an idea, but there is a bit of a correlation. That small amount of freedom Hallgerd was granted could have double or tripled in amount from generation to generation, generation leading us to where we are now. And if this is true, it begs the question what the marriage process will be like one hundred years or two hundred years from now. What role will women have then? 

A gesture as simple as “allowing” Hallgerd to help decide who she will marry could have made a profound impact on the role women fill today.