An Analysis of Egalias Daughters

In the satire of the sexes, Egalia’s Daughters by Gerd Brantenberg, there is put forth a society different from which has ever been present in modern times. This would be a society where women were at the forefront and did the decision making, worked and held governmental positions. The men were portrayed in the way females live in present society, though it was often exaggerated to make that point. Men were dominated and ruled by women and had to do their bidding and cook for them and take care of the children, so on and so forth. By taking a hard look at how sexuality is imagined and experienced on all analytical levels and picking apart the social construction of gender in Egalia’s Daughters, society itself in the present can start to be unraveled as well. What is found in this book can transfer over to a point and parallel itself with present experiences of women and their struggle for equality, recognition and acknowledgement. In order to fully analyze the sexes in this book, the micro, meso and macro levels need to be looked at individually to observe where sexuality is imagined and experienced by both genders. On the micro level, the sexes are very different from one another in this book. The women are expected to be large in weight and wear pants and shirts. The men are often wearing skirts and blouses with a contraption called a peho which holds their genitals in place. This can be compared with a bra to women in society today. When Patronius Bram has to buy his first peho he’s struck with much anxiety and wondering. This means he’s beginning to enter adulthood and will attend the Maidmen’s Ball. Here is where boys expect to be â€Å"swept off their feet† by a certain woman and taken into a maidmen-room and engage in some sort of sexual activity. The boys expect it to be a wonderful experience and hope to have actual intercourse. The women on the other hand appear rather rowdy and in it only for the sexual relations. The whole goal of this ball is for the boys to be offered something called â€Å"fatherhood protection† from a woman. This can be compared to becoming engaged to be married in modern society today. Women view men as a sort of hindrance in this book—just view them as weak and by giving them fatherhood protection they’re doing them a huge favor. It’s the men that seem to actually love the women that choose them and try to not always focus on what’s going to happen sexually. On the meso level, it’s clear that there are certain norms regarding sexuality which are present in schools and the community. The classrooms in Egalia’s Daughters are dominated by the girls. There are many degrading comments coming from girls to boys. Boys are expected to be wearing their peho at all times when they leave the house even though it is often uncomfortable and not wanted. If they are seen without it it’s similar to the reaction of people in modern society seeing a woman who isn’t wearing her bra. Johnson writes in â€Å"Patriarchy, the system,† that socialization is just a process used to teach people how to participate in social systems (33). The men in this book are taught by what they are told to do and fall into specific roles that almost appear pre-determined. If they deviate from the norm, they are shunned which becomes evident at the end of the book when Patronius is trying to make changes and is persecuted for it and his ideas/beliefs. This correlates directly with feminists and the feminist movement that’s prominent in society today. The rules and expectations have been in place for so long it almost seems futile that true change will ever occur. However, as the book illustrates there’s always some others with the same beliefs and aspirations of equality. The women in the book don’t fully realize that though the society was built on equality, men are hardly equal to women. Johnson also writes â€Å"patriarchal culture is about the core value of control and domination in almost every area of human existence† (34). Though this is obviously a matriarchy, this domination is clear. Women make all the decisions regarding parliamentary laws and make the household decisions and control all finances. The men don’t usually work and are expected to watch the children (hence the term â€Å"housebound†) so they don’t have any access to money. They are made to be fully dependent on their woman. Even when engaging in sexual activity there are permissible positions and others that are regarded as dirty or deviant because the man is in control, which is unacceptable. It’s very interesting because the same can be said of modern society today. Women often have little access to financial means and have long since been expected to stay home with the children and let the husband work. This can actually be better explained when looked at on the macro-level. Though this book isn’t about a nation it’s fairly well-spread and established that women are in control of everything. There are some societies that differ in the treatment of men but it’s still a matriarchal situation. Gender in Egalia is socially constructed, similar to how it is in modern society—but opposite. Where men are considered inferior to women. Lorber writes â€Å"gender is one of the major ways that human beings organize their lives† (24). He goes on to describe how it occurs at birth when the genitalia are seen. In the book mothers often hope for a daughter like fathers in modern society often want a son. The reactions to certain events and punishments from women mold the men to be obedient and oppressed. When Patronius is telling his mother he wants to be a seawom diver she just tells him that no real menwim want to go to see. This immediately puts Patronius on a path of secrecy regarding his beliefs and ideas because he will just be told he’s not being realistic and his hopes dashed. He also can see from this that similar treatment will occur elsewhere because the society’s ideas are widespread and accepted. His little sister Ba is already demanding and abusive towards Patronius because she feels entitled since she’s a girl and he’s a boy. She ridicules him on being part of the frail sex and makes rude comments often. She’s been born into this society and her mother only encourages her by not punishing her when she ridicules Patronius. She’s just being a girl and that’s what girls do to boys. Sound familiar? Modern society would say the exact opposite, boys will be boys. So it can be said that Ba is not entirely responsible for the way she acts; it’s accepted and widespread although it certainly isn’t very civil. No one has a problem with it and it just begins a vicious cycle. In Egalia women are threatened by any uprising from men. Patronius tries to make changes that make men become more of an equal to women (though far from it) and he is shot down by the female lawmakers. Which are all of them—there are no men to have say in the laws and regulations. These men are looked at like all they are doing is stirring up trouble and are subject to ridicule and various shunning behaviors. This is also recognized by Hogeland in her article â€Å"Fear of Feminism† where she writes about feminism not being a fear of gender but a fear of the politics involved (18). Many men didn’t participate in any rebellion in Egalia because they feared repercussions or didn’t think their lives were all that bad and didn’t understand the magnitude of what was happening. This parallels directly to the feminist movement that occurred in the United States. As shown above, it’s evident that Egalia’s Daughters employs complete role-reversal of the sexes to illustrate the inequality that exists. By doing this every little think is analyzed and the reader can really see and pick out everything that contributes to one sex becoming more authoritative and powerful than another. Sexuality is present on all levels of analysis but experienced differently by each gender. Even in society today, when asking men and women their opinions and ideas on gender equality there will be very different responses. Men will often hinder change without even realizing it because they’re more privileged and don’t want to see their power leave them. The social construction of gender is also very easy to see throughout the book.