Power and Subjugation

Paper Summary:

This paper analyzes Ahern's article in terms of the main theme, which is how, through subjugation, society disenfranchises women because of the potential power and great influence that they wield over the society. This stance is supported by Ahern's article and two articles discussing the same theme in Gary Seaman's "The Sexual Politics of Karmic Retribution" and Margery Wolf's "The Woman Who Didn't Become a Shaman."

From the Paper:

"Ahern, through the article, discusses three important facets that illustrate women oppression in the Chinese society: physical/natural/biological image of women, social reasons supporting the prevailing women image, and response of the people to justify norms that are implemented against women. In "The Power and Pollution of Chinese Women," images of women in their society connotes a negative idea, portraying them as dirty and undesirable in their community because of one important woman characteristic that men do not have: blood released through menstruation and during birth-giving. According to Ahern, "[i]n Chinese society women are regarded as both ritually unclean and dangerously powerful" bodily effluvia associated exclusively with women are unclean: menstrual blood and postpartum discharge" (269-270). Because of these beliefs, women in Chinese society are considered unclean and powerful, opposing qualities that reflect the society's fear in women. This is because through women, society, especially men, can see that they have the power to create and maintain social ties with other people, which men perceive as women's way in reversing the social order in the society, i.e., men as the outcasts and women are put in a higher, more dignified, and desirable status and role in the society."

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