Peter Rinaldi's Modern Critical Thinking Series: "Woman is the Nigger of the World"

I was halfway over the Williamsburg Bridge on my bicycle when I realized that the two “prettiest” characters from the traveling pants movie had “boy adventures” and the two less conventionally pretty ones had adventures of some other kind. Up until then for some reason (maybe because one of the lead actresses was shaped like most of the girls that might watch the movie) I had thought this film was helping young girls feel better about themselves. So this was a sad revelation. Ten minutes before, when I was on Center Street, I was listening to “Woman is the nigger of the world” and started to feel guilty for being a member of my gender. Perhaps it was the song that caused the ‘pants realization’.

Lennon says that woman is the nigger of the world and the slave of the slaves and tells us men a series of things that we do to women - when she’s young we kill her will to be free, while telling her not to be so smart we put her down for being so dumb, we make her paint her face and dance, and so on. On The Dick Cavett Show, Lennon talked about writing the song after being inspired by Yoko Ono’s views on the topic. I always found very interesting the way he described being made aware by this; that Ono changed his thinking. It brought me to the song again, and I was once again very affected by it.

It affected me even more in recent days knowing two women who are being controlled by men in strangely straightforward ways. Actual lines from the song can be used to describe what is going on. Lennon tells us three things to do - think about it, do something about it, and look at the one you are with if you don’t believe “me” (Lennon). I had the idea that I would play the song for these women. I was sure they hadn’t even heard of it. This would be my way of “doing something about it”. But then I had another realization.

Isn’t it also damaging for me to think of these women as helpless creatures that I will be “saving” with some enlightenment, be it from a song or from whatever? Was Lennon also implying that these were helpless creatures that were being continually abused in blatant and hidden ways by a “ruling” other? And by implying this was he not calling for the end of the oppression of this helpless gender thereby insinuating that we, men, were the only ones who could stop this oppression? I guess what I am asking is this – by addressing the song to men, calling for the end of the oppression, is he not continuing the oppression by implying that men have the “keys” to actually open the “chains” of women?

Shouldn’t he have addressed the song to women, telling them that the chains are, and always were, illusions created by men? In other words, instead of urging men to NOT kill her will to be free when she is young, shouldn’t he have urged women to laugh at man’s attempt to kill their will to be free for they are and always were free? I guess I just pictured myself in a “Lennon/Ono Approved relationship” in which I followed his order to “look at the one you are with” and then made changes for the better by NOT making her paint her face and dance, and NOT killing her will to be free, and NOT putting her down when she is dumb. And I just pictured myself as a good slave-owner, one who doesn’t abuse his slave.

And the only way to remove myself as slave-owner is to remove myself as someone or something that could ever even have the ability to “kill her will to be free”. Ah, but….you know what? Maybe that’s what Lennon was talking about all along. Ah…Nevermind.