Greek misogynist satire targeted marriage itself, disguising women’s real domestic power

Evidence

The Greek woman was too closely controlled to be attacked for her conduct; and it was not the flesh in her that was vilified. It was more the responsibilities and duties of marriage that weighed on men; this leads to the supposition that in spite of her rigorous conditions, and although she had almost no recognized rights, she must have held an important place in the household and enjoyed some authority; doomed to obedience, she could disobey; she could bombard her husband with tantrums, tears, nagging, and insults; marriage, meant to enslave woman, was a ball and chain for the husband as well. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 192

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the pattern of moral panics and sumptuary/satirical complaint against marriage found across cultures, echoing the reader’s ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’ essay on how such complaints mask class and power dynamics. — connects to: Marriage, designed to regulate female eroticism, instead destroys it — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1179; Greek monogamy legally concealed a functional polygamy that treated wives as property — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 188

Broader Connections

• Greek monogamy legally concealed a functional polygamy that treated wives as property #expands (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 188
• Marriage, designed to regulate female eroticism, instead destroys it #complicates (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1179