Femanifesto/Taming of the Shrew

Feminafesto
When one states the common mantra, "speak softly, but carry a big
stick," immediately an image of a quiet and calm, yet intellectually and
emotionally strong human being comes to mind. An image such as this can
be attributed to a wide variety of world leaders and authority figures.
Anne Waldman and her persona would have never appeared under the "speak
softly, but carry a big stick" category. Her outspoken nature through
rhetoric places her in a radical class all her own.
Within Waldman's first sentence of her piece Feminafesto it is quite
clear which side she has chosen in regards to the battle between man and
woman. She believes, firmly, that female experience within literature is
questioned and looked down upon. She states, "Much feminist criticism
had centered on the misogyny of literary practice - women as angels or
monsters, mothers or nuns, daughters or whores - harassment of women in
classic & popular male literature and text," this can be directly
correlated with some of the thinking of Post-feminism (Barker pg.
283,284). According to these findings, women are all oppressed and
subjugated by men as a consequence of being women. This appears to be a
true and clear way of describing the way Waldman feels women are treated
in the area of literature. It is a blatant injustice for women to be
downplayed as an angel at one time but a monster the next. But for what
reason? Their role in society? If looking at it through a post-feminist
lens, again, Waldman is pointing towards structural inequalities in
institutions of social and cultural power(Barker pg. 283). The
institution of male literature, populated by Mailer and Henry Miller,
and even literature as a whole cast a downward glance to women. Waldman
is attempting to take a firm stand and make her voice heard. A sentence
in the last paragraph, Waldman proclaims, "..dance with everything in
the culture which is unsung, mute, and controversial so that she may
subvert the existing systems that repress and misunderstand feminine
'difference.'" To all this should evoke an image of a radical,
post-feminist woman seeking change in uncharted land.

The Taming of the Shrew
The wild, unrelenting shrew that is Katherina within Shakespeare's "The
Taming of the Shrew" is a very intricately designed character, full of
emotions. Her statement at the end of the play encompasses the feeling
that had been building since the beginning. The inextinguishable will to
forgo submitting to the man she loves culminates in a realization that
submission is necessary.
Nearly halfway through her assertion, Katherina states, "Even such a
woman oweth to her husband; and when she is froward, peevish, sullen,
sour, and not obedient to his honest will, what is she but a foul
contending rebel and graceless traitor to her loving lord?" The time
period in which The Taming of the Shrew is set, something of this nature
would never fully occur, one would be more apt to witnessing a similar
instance today or even ten years ago. This question on its own is so
radical in that women are, just as Katherina states, meant to be
submissive and obedient. In addition, the science of sex section within
Cultural Studies page 287 takes an aim at Katherina's verbalization and
completely misses; "men are greater risk-takers, and men are more
disposed to anger and less to empathy." Although this does not
necessarily mean that women can not be risk takers, but if taken in
context with this Shakespeare play, Katherina does the unthinkable and
calls out all women who have been submissive to men and essentially
tells them that their strength does not need to be described as weak.
Overall, Katherina defies a gender role and proves that if the facts and
feelings are present, women can be much greater risk takers and dispel
the romantic and social constraints which have bound them.

Works cited
Barker, Chris. Cultural Studies Theory and Practice. Minneapolis: Sage Publications Ltd, 2008. Print.