Carly Groben

CLST/WGST 114

Clara Shaw Hardy

19 February 2002

Carnal Conquest:

Sex as a Means of Agency

“A woman’s harder to conquer than any beast, than fire, and no panther is quite so ferocious.” (Aristophanes 1058)

Life for an Athenian woman was marked by her daily occupation to the household and its occupants. This was the sphere of life where she was able to exert the most power and maintain a certain degree of agency. Her domestic duties included attendance to her husband, and his sexual needs. In the comic portrayal of women in Lysistrata, Aristophanes exploits this domestic power to create a scenario where “the harsh and intractable realities of life, politics and international aggression are transformed so that wives manage to overcome husbands, love conquers war, insignificant citizens manage to discredit powerful ones” (Henderson 36). Aristophanes manipulates the Athenian reality by operating on common stereotypes of women, adding to the comic element but also highlighting the gaping gender division that existed in everyday life. In this comic utopian ideal, women are able to overcome their lack of agency in the public sphere by juxtaposing their domestic (primarily sexual) power with the general polis.

It is important to note that in ancient literary portrayals of women, men depict women according to their perceptions and the common social stereotypes. Although this may, in some cases, create a certain amount of discrepancy between the depiction of women and their actual life, it can still be a beneficial tool to understand their attitudes and struggles. As Henderson writes, “…even by itself the male view is interesting: it enables us to study the rules and roles that men created for women and to glimpse the desires and fears that prompted their enforcement” (20). In Athenian society, the fear that a woman might tarnish the reputation of a man or his household would be a paramount motivating factor in the monitoring of his wife. As men created more restrictive roles for women, they came to view them as inherently deviant, and “consequently came to believe that women needed watching; women were therefore thought naturally to lack self-control and loyalty” (Henderson 23). This view of women as sex-obsessed permeates Aristophanes’ comedies, and is sometimes used as a humorous element that counteracts women’s ambitions for loftier endeavors.

The female ambition to overcome their lack of agency is illustrated in Lysistrata, as the women monopolize the men by rallying their collective domestic power, in this case, in the form of “conjugal strike.” The basis for this plot stems from the pragmatic notion that “even under the strictest patriarchies resourceful women can wield considerable power within their own families and exert influence on their husbands even on public matters…” (Henderson 27). The concept that women are each the ruler of an individual “polis” is illustrated as Lysistrata argues with the Magistrate. She explains that the wives will manage the money, to which he replies with skepticism:

MAGISTRATE: You’ll manage the money?

LYSISTRATA: What’s so strange in that? Don’t we manage the household finances for you already? (494-496)

Lysistrata attempts to convince the men that the women can run the polis, exemplified by their successful management of the household.

However, it is not until they use the power of sex that they significantly sway the men. As the Women’s Leader puts it, “you haven’t even seen the tiniest fraction of our forces yet!” (347): their most “penetrable” force being sexual suppression. By restricting men from any sexual fulfillment, women use their bodies to extend their limited household power into the public sphere in order to accomplish wider social goals. The comedic lens provides the perfect setting for this scenario, as it exaggerates the common stereotype that women are sexually insatiable creatures. Aristophanes depicts this as the biggest barrier between the women and the fulfillment of their plan as the women themselves initially denounce the idea due to their own sexual needs crying, “Oh what a low and horny race are we!” (144), “I’m even ready to walk through fire; that rather than give up cock” (140), and “By Twain Gods, is difficult for females to sleep alone without the hard-on” (148). While this perspective of women is humorous, it reinforces the notion that women lack self-control and are primarily male-dependant.

However, when the women finally agree to the pact, the full force of their power is delineated in a role reversal in which the men become submissive and sex-obsessed and are completely under the control of the steadfast and ruling women. Seeking his wife at the Acropolis, Kinesias cries,

I’ve had no joy or pleasure in my life since the day Myrrhine left the house. I go into the house and feel agony; everything looks empty to me; I get no pleasure from the food I eat. Because I’m horny! (888-891)

Similarly, as the full force of the women’s abstinence spreads to all of the Spartan and Athenian men, they become eager to pacify the women’s demands. The Athenian Ambassador himself says, “…We’re worn totally by being in this condition!” (1131). The Spartan Ambassador pitifully responds, “Dear Colleague, we’ve had a fearful time, if those men saw us fiddling with ourselves” (1141). The men subsequently and quickly agree on a settlement, taking into account the advice of Lysistrata. Therefore, Lysistrata and the women now master the men and control the governance of the polis, typically male characteristics.

Aristophanes thus incorporates a clever comedic tool in reversing the gender roles for typical Athenian men and women. As Lysistrata reflects the actual domestic power that women held on a lesser level, it is realistic to assert that Aristophanes and most men were aware of this agency simply due to its presence as a plot basis in several of Aristophanes’ comedies. In addition, it is possible that Aristophanes is echoing actual complaints that women had at the time in regard to their lack of voice. This is especially pertinent given that Old Comedy often reflected topical concerns of the present period (Henderson 21). As Henderson writes, “By using women as his heroic voices, Aristophanes could admonish and advise the Athenians from an unpartisan direction (the private world), and in case the spectators should be offended they would have to admit that it was only a woman talking” (37). Consequently, the comic use of women’s voice as a dispenser of political advice reciprocally reinforces the lack of consideration given to women’s voices in reality. It is likely that one of women’s foremost complaints would be their invisibility in the public sphere. Therefore, although this comedic piece is clearly an exaggeration of reality, it is a useful tool in understanding the lives of women in the Athenian period.

Aristophanes mirrors and manipulates Athenian reality as he portrays women and men through the comedic lens. In the case of Lysistrata, he incorporates common stereotypes and current institutions of power into a plot that not only puts women in a position of power, but also delineates them as the protagonists in forming a well-functioning polis. As this reflects the women’s role in maintaining a respectable household, he manifests their domestic agency on a higher level as a collective “mothering” of Athenian society where the entire polis is analogous to a household managed by competent and sensible women.