Holden Caufield time:
You know what burns me up?
Every time I take a class where we read something from the "WESTERN LITERARY CANON", the instructor inevitably has a discussion or assigns a paper about how SEXIST or RACIST Odysseus or Abraham are. Why read the books if they're so hurtful? It's because they're great fucking books chock full of metaphors, imagery, and analogies to our lives that have stood the test of time. The instructor will also always have an aside saying something about how great the Tao Te Ching is, but that we're not reading it, 'cause, you know.
My biggest problem with English classes is that they brush aside things like historical context and cultural norms so that they can over-analyze shit. Yes, western society has always been racist and sexist by today's standards. But I feel like discussing women's roles in these works can be reduced to a simple "life sucked for women and the greeks were pretty gay also they had slaves". I have a very hard time believing people who read so heavily into the text that they can pull things out like "penis envy" from a couple lines about Penelope.
Final note, the story of Sodom in Genesis is about a city entirely populated by rapists being punished. Everyone in the city is a rapist. Who cares if they rape dudes or chicks EVERYONE IN THAT CITY WAS A RAPIST BURN IT TO THE GROUND. How could you possibly read into that story as them being punished for being gay?
100% RAPISTS
