The Alphabet versus the Goddess The Male versus the Female and The Verbal versus the Visual
"A, b, c, d"-how could the creation of the linguistic confines of theEnglish alphabet, that which is the source of our language, the source ofthe ability to communicate on this paper, on this computer, in this moment,be an act of misogyny' On the surface, the alphabet seems so innocent, soSesame Street. The act of reciting the alphabet is one of the firsteducation experiences of children in our culture. In the realization ofthe alphabet and of language's highest forms of the novel and of poetry,language seems infinitely inspiring in its potential for creativelinguistic interpretation and creation. However, in his text The Alphabet versus the Goddess, Leonard Shlainalleges that the creation of a text and language based culture limited therole of female development in out culture. Language evolved as an act oflinguistic exclusion of the female, according to the author. In his firstchapter, Shlain writes that literacy has promoted the subjugation of womenby men throughout all but the very recent history of the West and thatmisogyny and patriarchy have risen and fall with the fortunes of thealphabetic written word. To examine Shlain's thesis, it is instructive to
Thisis not simply to shallowly allege that religion oppresses women-quite theopposite. ) Over the course of his text, Shlain examinesthe evolution of the human animal and the human brain from the world of theapes to today. Because even thegospels written by or in the voice women used written language, Shlainmight argue, and because men dominate language for biological, cerebralreasons, women were never able to make religious claims of power withinChristianity. Irigaray in particular is notorious for her assertion that forwomen alone, unlike men, sex is "one," an apparent division and split thatis really a unity, rather than the dualism as promulgated by patriarchalunderstandings of the world. It should be noted that Shlain's thesis about men's greater ease in averbal rather than a visual culture not purely relate to issues ofcanonization, but the act of linguistic creation in general. (Ironically, Irigaray interpretsthe language through the metaphorical body, Shlain through the visual,biological body of the human. Perhaps the most notable example of this factis that of 'George Eliot' or Mary Anne Evans, who wrote novels under a penname in 19th century England-as did even Charlotte Bronte or Currier Bellwhen she penned Jane Eyre. Women exists as a visual icon in film, perhaps, but real women often must'speak' the language of men within the industry to gain access to the moneynecessary for filmmaking. He examines how this relates to the gender differences inthe human species' ability to acquire language. Shlainsuggests that the very act of fissure, of putting sound into written textrather than images is masculine in nature. Later, male compliers rendered the 'J' or more story-oriented aspects of the Old Testament linear and coherent with thelegalistic and theoretical philosophy penned by rabbis. And, in manyways, the construction of the Bible seems to support Shlain's thesis. However, as discussed in Elaine Pagels' The Gnostic Gospels,more often than not, canonization through male dominated strictures ofchurch government excluded female modalities of religious expression andinterpretation from the Biblical canon. However, Evans wrote texts considered to bequite abstract and masculine in their philosophical scope, because of herunusual education, thus her pen name has endured while Bronte's moreintimate and personal visions have not.
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Acceptance Essays
