Femalecide and the Power of Writing.

This morning, whilst patiently trying to teach some algebra to the adorable math-hating girls of my school, the most puke-inducing thing in the world happened. You see, teaching Math leaves little time in class to do anything other than strangle myself with frustration due to the relentless barrage of mathematical blasphemy that the girls utter every day. So when the opportunity of having a mature conversation with the girls arises, I never let it escape me. Today, in between the x's and the y's I managed to squeeze in an interesting discussion regarding the idea of women-priests. In the 97% catholic Malta, this is still a heretic's plea to say the least, so of course, when someone brought it out in class, I couldn't resist indulge in controversy. Now, I do understand that I have absolutely no monopoly over morality and everyone is entitled to his stupidity; I do understand that some people cling tightly of their beliefs, being the unfortunate offspring of an age riddled with church-totalitarianism: I was brought up in a Christian environment and nearly everyone I love is catholic. What I struggle to understand is how a bunch of 14 year olds today threw at me a concerted effort in order to convince me that they would never agree with the idea of having a woman for a priest just for the simple reason that they would never trust her with their confessions.
That, I admit, shook the holy Bejesus out of me. One of them, with the most natural of smiles, simply said that yes, "we are women and we gossip. That's our nature." A popular phrase in Malta is that women are sometimes their own worst enemies and every cell of my body was urging me to subscribe to this point of view in that instant. Of course, there were other girls who reacted with boos, insults and, I sincerely hope, a good beating afterwards. So it begs the question: is this what our society is doing to our girls: depriving them of their self respect and convince them that women are somehow all ancestors of Evil Eve? Why? I ask myself, should we subtly continue to pave the way for this medieval hegemonic tide and continue to raise women who still feel terribly guilty when they embark on a new career or ask their husbands to help them clean the kitchen. And whilst I am at it, please, don't use the words "Help in the kitchen" because help implies that the kitchen is the women's domain and somehow she has the divine duty to clean the bloody thing.
But, you might ask, why is a man getting so worked up over a women- issue? Nope, I'm not gay, buddy; nor am I a spanked sissy (although of course there wouldn't be anything wrong with the former and the latter might even be interesting-but I digress.) All I am is a straight, concerned man who has had the opportunity to teach girls for a while and understand that notwithstanding the age we are living in, their roles are still being defined more or less by tradition. I am also a boyfriend of an incredibly talented woman who has had to fight terribly harder in life just because she has that  F on her id card.
People, let’s do ourselves a favour and be a little bit existential for a while. Understand that there is no bloody female role or male role but it is only our decisions and actions which define who we are. A woman can be a Formula 1 driver and a man can be a House-husband if they so desire. Grow the hell up society!!!! People, like me, who have the responsibility of being an educator, in some formor another, need to hammer this point in. It's we and only we who shape our lives, no matter what society or tradition or our parents decree.
Which brings me to my weapon of mass-convincing of choice: Writing. Books have always been the catalysts of change. Think about the "Communist Manifesto," Adam Smith's "Wealth of the Nations", Darwin's "On the Origins of Species" or Newton's Principia. Well, think about the Bible. Even God, if you choose to believe, selected a linguistic medium to get his message through. This is because, undoubtedly, we are linguistic beings. Wittgenstein used to say that language is a form of life and indeed, yes, it would be hard to think of any form of life were it not for language. But should fiction be used to lecture? Should a writer cunningly sneak in his hidden agenda disguised as a fiction story? He or she can, but I doubt anyone would continue reading.
The main argument that many short story or novel writing courses emphasize is that to become a successful writer you have to deliver a catchy story, simple, coherent, with great characters, good, but simple language-use and an ending which makes the reader beg for more (in the good sense of course). All true, of course. Writers have a role to entertain, first and foremost. It is a wonderful job because we entertain. We give something to people. But, nonetheless, we have the power to move with our words, to make people think and most importantly feel. Thus all writers are, to a certain extent, educators. What is the added value of a book which not only entertains, not only makes you smile, laugh or cry, but also empowers you with profundity? Well, "Of Mice and Men " or "Fight Club" immediately spring to mind. What would these enormous works of art be without their ideas? Their story lines were great; their characters even greater. But what truly stood out was their ideological values.
When there are gaping holes in the tapestry of societal reason, the writer should contribute to its patching up with his words. Do not underestimate this privilege my dear writing colleagues. Do not, for one second, assume that people are dumb and that sales will decrease if you squeeze in a couple of interesting ideas in between the sex and the murders that unravel in your novels. I know for fact that people enjoy thinking, only when not inundated with the ultra complex monologues of the egotistical elite. People love ideas neat, with no frills and will get more engrossed when an idea resonates deeply inside them. The important thing is to strike a balance.
Of course, going back to my classroom incident, it must be said that that example should not have surprised me. There are many other areas which still reveal a deep red societal scar and perhaps the world needs intelligent writers now more than ever. As said before no one needs any lectures or sermons, no one needs to be spoken at. Culture, as I sadly discovered this morning, is rather a bitch to change. But just sprinkle a little tolerance and equality ideas on your flesh-famished zombies; add the subtle herbs of liberalism on the romance dish you've so diligently prepared, and then, finally, serve your plates with a dash of piquant warning. This will not make your novels boring; on the contrary, it will take them to the next level.

      

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