"No biblical hell could ever be worse than the state of perpetual inconsequence."
This statement, relates a mother's dilemma in the film Dangerous Beauty (which is based on The Honest Courtesan , a 1992 biography by Margaret Rosenthal about a 16th-century Venetian courtesan named Veronica Franco)----to condemn her daughter to a boring marriage by contract or to have her train as a courtesan. It is her own hell she refers to----and that of many women of her time, and of our own time, unfortunately. She would prefer to have her daughter live a more educated and exciting life, albeit one of selling her body for the duration of her youthful beauty, than to have her live in the relative ignorance and dearth of love that defined a marriage at that time.
Jumping back to the present, many women (and men, I'm sure) feel inconsequential as a result of our competitive culture, always comparing themselves to others (either depressingly falling short or egocentrically superior). Many never feel "good enough" to enjoy the moment, it seems, and are always encouraged to do more, buy more, be more, more, more. Many people are simply lost within our culture----unable to feel good about themselves, unable to recognize or acknowledge their strengths if they do not match the media-driven "ideal" of the airbrushed face, the muscle-lined skeleton, the politically-correct drivel.
In Italy, aging courtesans once treated royally became streetwalkers abused by men as if it were their right.
What happens to women now as they age? We become invisible or "inconsequential" to many. . .
I was reminded of what Gardenia wrote in response to my first post here when she said, "In this ageist society, we women past 45 are shamed into erasing every line and vestige of our being ~ I battled eating disorders for over 27 years, when it just fell away as the fear of a frailer body took over and I allowed myself to eat 'permitted' foods that would not put on weight.... but still at my age of 57 have not been able to answer "what do you want to be when you grow up?" Must we all have a given purpose? How to find it? How to trust that inner true higher self voice and know that it is not our childish, frightened, wishful thinking ego? Where are our ELDERS? I used to envision myself as becoming an old Squaw, what a wonderful word that is ~ does a Crone mean age or wisdom?"
