Renaissance Maidens

Metamorphosis swept through Europe,

Transforming the minds of the haves and have-nots,

Men gained freedom of expression and hope,

But women were pressured to suppress their thoughts.

For although a fair maiden was treasured,

A beautiful female was seen only as her husband’s prize,

Chastity, strength, and devotion were honored,

Yet silenced were the woman’s cries.

Lower class, working class, and upper class,

All women were expected to care for the house,

The ideal wife was prim and proper, without sass,

To be seen and not heard was to please one’s spouse.

Most people would say we as a society have come leaps and bounds since the Renaissance. However, we still lag heavily behind in women's rights in comparison to the advancement of our society. We can invent smartphones, but we can't figure out how to respond to rape victims. We dream of flying, but we still oppress women in subtle ways.

We let women speak, but we don't hear them. We tell women to talk louder, but let men shout over them. We encourage the education of women but discredit their ideas.

Glaring sexism prevails right in the public eye. We blame Hillary Clinton for her husband's infidelity, but fail to hold Donald Trump accountable for his own. We blame Hillary Clinton for using a private server for her e-mails, yet let male politicians get away with admitting to the same thing. We blame Hillary Clinton for Benghazi, and say nothing about the 13 attacks on embassies and consulates resulting in 60 deaths during George W. Bush's presidency.

Why does this happen? Why was I taught in high school debate that I had to watch my attitude, my tone, and the length of my skirt because those would matter more than my actual debate skills? Why were the guys taught that female debaters might try to use "feminine tricks" in order to distract them from the competition?

Sexism is also ever-present in social media; why did "dad bod" become a trend but not "mom bod"? Why do female athletes get criticized so much more heavily than male athletes? Why did tragedies like those described in "Audrie & Daisy" happen?

These are the questions we need to ask as a society. The truth is, the modern woman is not treated all that differently from the Renaissance woman. She is still oppressed and constantly told she is worth less than a man (just look at the gender wage gap). Only once we acknowledge this can we move forward and eradicate the sexism built into how we operate.