This is a man. He is from the 1930s. At my house there is a dictionary from 1938 which defines his role for him.Masculine: 1.Having the qualities of a man, strong, robust. 2. Resembling man, characteristic of or used by men 3. Bold Brave, as in masculine spirit or courage.
I like to contrast it with another definition.
Feminine: 1.Of pertaining to, or characterisitic of a woman. 2.Having the qualities natural to women. 3. Destitute of manly qualities
And further.
Feminism: A theory, cult or movement on the part of those who assert and advocate what they consider to be the rights of women, and who favor doing away with all social, economic, and political restrictions on the sex.
What I like about the above picture is the two portraits on the wall. The first is inscribed, Our First First Lady Martha Washington.
Beneath it a smaller picture with the words, Her Husband.
That is the work of Steven Kellogg (a man!) in The Wizard Next Door published in 1993.
We've won girls! Social and political anarchy achieved!
3 comments:
Julie, I love it but I must say that when I first read it I thought the 3rd definition for feminine was "lacking many qualities" luckily upon reading it for a second time I had just missed the "l." phew. lol. That is too funny. We have come a long ways. It would be interesting to compare it to more recent definitions. Histerical... the husband.
I'm so glad you got a laugh out of it too. I actually checked a 1956 definition of the same dictionary and a 1994 check. '56 they were adding that being feminine included being a well rounded housewife. They also used the word human being at every opportunity. Wow.great.Women are also humans. And feminism was a little kinder. It alluded to the idea that maybe the cult had some justification behind it. By 1994 there was only a brief description that masculine meant "like a man" and feminine meant "like a women" and feminism wasn't touched at all. By then you could take a doctorate in it at any university in North America. I think feminism is funny probably because I've never been held back economically, socially or politically for being a women.
Dang those are funny def's. We have come a long way since then.
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