Fallen From Where?

The other day, a girl quipped to me, “Why is it always ‘fallen woman’? Why do you never hear the term ‘fallen man’?”

“Easy,” I answered, “men have nowhere to fall from.”

The term “Fallen Woman” is one that’s always bothered me, and I’ve only recently gathered the words to explain why. It has various connotations, the most common of which are prostitute, criminal or adulteress, but can also expand to include drug addict, homeless woman, porn actress- basically any woman who has a lifestyle that offends the mainstream, whether she has chosen it or not.

The Victorians, and even their predecessors, passed down to us a ridiculous romantic notion of what it is to be a ‘woman’. A woman is a pure, beautiful, untouchable thing to be won or bought, prized and treasured for her aesthetic value. In other words, a woman is supposed to be no more than a vase perched on a pedestal.

A vase can useful, in a domestic way, as it could potentially hold liquids for some practical purpose, but largely it’s use is only decorative. The vase has one main purpos, and that is to be attractive to the viewer. The more ornate or fine the vase, the more expensive, the more highly it is prized. You buy the vase from it’s maker and you own it, and because it is yours you can control where it goes and what it is filled with. A vase is an empty vessel; you may fill it with whatever you like.

If the vase should topple from the pedestal of decorative domesticity, the owner has 2 options. Patch up the vase and make it look shiny and new, or throw it away and forget about it. It is no longer a vase, it is a pile of broken ceramic.

Likewise, when a woman ‘falls’ from the perfect pink pedestal of womanhood, she is no longer a woman. She becomes another creature entirely; a slut, whore, degenerate, cunt- a fallen woman. A man cannot be fallen because he has nowhere to fall from, he is considered fully human, not some kind of ornate possession.

Bullshit. Let’s tear down these fucking pedestals.