#HOO boy I feel like I'm wading into a minefield with this one

[stellaluna33]

Do you think the Chronicles of Narnia are sexist? I've heard people argue both ways. (If you don't want to answer this of course feel free to completely ignore it. But your post about Aravis and assault and so forth made me want to know what your opinion on this was.

Oof. Haha! So... keep in mind that I am really REALLY not an expert, and am no Lewis scholar, so this is just my opinion. However, I have read most if not all of his books as well as some of his letters, as well as done some study of his life, so... With that in mind, my answer would be: it's complicated? Haha! I'll start out by saying this: Lewis was definitely a man of his time. He was born in the late 19th century and spent much of his life in male-dominated academic circles, and with that came certain assumptions (very widely held at the time!) about the way the world and gender roles worked. A lot of those assumptions would now be considered "outdated," to put it generously. But here's the thing, though: C.S. Lewis's views evolved throughout his life. As he interacted with more Actual Women, especially through his friendship with Joy Davidman (who would later become his wife), he rethought a lot of things, and you can really see the difference between his earlier books and his later ones. Even within the Chronicles of Narnia series itself you can see this shift happening! You go from Susan and Lucy being categorically forbidden to partake in the battle in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (I still roll my eyes at that part, haha) to Jill being very definitely involved (as well as being The Best at tracking and stealth) in The Last Battle. Did he get it perfect all the time? No. But he TRIED, and was humble enough to admit when he'd been wrong and ADAPT. And, you know what? I'm going to give him credit for that. That's far better than a lot of people do, even nowadays.

But one area in which I will emphatically answer "No!" to is in the case of Susan. I still remember the first time I ever heard the take that Susan was "condemned" because of, I don't know, being interested in "sexual maturity" or something, and it was an interview/talk with J.K. Rowling, actually (YEARS ago). I remember being just FLOORED and absolutely bewildered because I had NEVER gotten that impression AT ALL. The one comment in the book about Susan being only interested in "nylons and invitations" (or something?) was from the character Jill, who is a young teenage girl who's a bit of a tomboy (I know that's an outdated expression; just roll with it!) and scornful of that sort of thing. But that's not WHY she couldn't come back to Narnia! It's because Susan didn't want to. It has nothing to do with being "sexually mature" or being interested in femininity, it's that she's so obsessed with LOOKING like a grown-up that she doesn't want to believe that Narnia was real. And this has nothing to do with her being a woman because this is how C.S. Lewis talked about HIMSELF. In his autobiographical book, Surprised By Joy, he talks about going through a long phase where he was too embarrassed to read Fairy Tales and acted scornful about them because he was so anxious to avoid anything that might be seen as "childish." What's that quote of his? "Someday you'll be old enough to enjoy Fairy Tales again." This was about himself, and it was about Susan too. Because that's another thing: Susan's story wasn't over yet! She wasn't on the train with the rest of them when it crashed, so she didn't die! And Lewis himself, in a letter written to a fan, said that he expected and hoped that Susan WOULD find her way back to Narnia again! That it might take her a while to get there (as it did with Lewis himself), but she would. I will die on this hill. Haha! Anyway, that's my long, convoluted answer, as best as I can give it. 😊