SHINING

“When I watch action movies with female protagonists—from “Crouching Tiger, Hid­den Dragon” to “The Hunger Games”—I come out feeling charged up, superhuman, indomita­ble. It’s like a drug for potency and confidence. Lately, I’ve come to wonder what it would feel like if, instead of seeing a dozen or so such films in my lifetime, I had the option, at any moment, of seeing several new releases lionizing my gender’s superpowers, if lady Bonds and Spiderwomen became the ordinary fare of my entertainment and imagination. For men, the theatres are playing dozens of male-action-hero films now, and television has always given you a superabundance of champions, from cowboys to detectives, more or less like you, at least when it comes to gender (if not necessarily race and body type and predilection). I can’t imagine how I might have conceived of myself and my possibili­ties if, in my formative years, I had moved through a city where most things were named after women and many or most of the monuments were of powerful, successful, honored women.“ 

Long afterward, Oedipus, old and blinded, walked the roads.       He smelled a familiar smell.       It was the Sphinx.       Oedipus said, “I want to ask one question. Why didn’t I recognize my mother?”        “You gave the wrong answer,” said the Sphinx.      “But that was what made everything possible,” said Oedipus.     “No,” she said. “When I asked, What walks on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening, you answered, Man.      You didn’t say anything about woman.” “When you say Man,” said Oedipus, “you include women too. Everyone knows that.”       She said, “That’s what you think.”