The Yuck Factor in Patriarchy

Pay attention to the nausea

https://www.deviantart.com/dire7wolf95/art/Jabba-licks-Leia-906868803

“I will be your protector.”

When an image goes viral, as the one above of the massive, slimy alien Jabba the Hutt licking Princess Leia, has done, it is important to pay attention.

That gross scene from Star Wars, The Return of the Jedi appeared after Trump trumpeted “I will be your protector.” He and other Republicans are having trouble attracting women voters and somehow the convicted sexual predator thought that sentence would be welcome.

Instead, thousands (perhaps millions) of women shuddered and said “Yuck” to themselves.”

In her powerful chapter, “The Power of Anger in the Work of Love,” the eminent feminist theologian and ethicist, Beverly Wildung Harrison, reminds us to take anger seriously as a “feeling-signal that all is not well.”

We need to do the same with nausea. It can be a sick feeling you get in your stomach when you are touched inappropriately and the one doing the touching has all the power. In that moment, it may be that you can do nothing about it. The acid in your stomach can stay around for a long time.

It should be noted, that gross out moment with the puppet Jabba was not the only time actor Carrie Fisher had to put up with indignities on the film. Her metal bikini “didn’t go where you went” she has said. Exploiting women’s bodies for profits is a key part of patriarchy.

Fisher’s character does get her revenge when she becomes General Leia, a decorated combat veteran, strategist, and respected military leader in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It is poignant to see Carrie Fisher acting that role with authority as one knows of her impending, too early death.

Not all of us can become generals, but as so many women and male allies are saying about voting for Kamala Harris, “We’re not going back.” We won’t go back to when someone grabs you and licks your ear and there are no laws about sexual harassment in the workplace. It’s hard enough to get redress for such behavior now and look at what the accusers of Trump have had to go through to get a modicum of justice.

Patriarchy is a social system that delivers unchecked power to men to treat women and girls as they wish. It is oppressive, often violent, and, as I have written, history’s oldest and longest war.

 This election season could be called, The Empire Tries to Strike Back.

We need to follow General Lea and make sure the force awakens and stays woke.