Since the Supreme Court reversed Rove v. Wade, many women have been experiencing intense emotions and some have even been suffering from headaches or nausea in reaction to the landmark decision. Some people criticize these women, calling them “hysterical.”
Jacques-Louis David’s 1798 painting, “Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies of His Sons,” portrays women who are being “too emotional.” The painting depicts servants bringing Brutus the bodies of his two sons while three afflicted women grieve in the center of the painting. Brutus is depicted as the hero, and the women are clearly portrayed as overly emotional. This might not have been artist David’s point—perhaps he was celebrating the women’s strong emotions, instead.
In the center of the painting, two daughters and their mother are shown mourning the deaths of their brothers/sons. One daughter has fainted in her mother’s arms from the pain of seeing her brothers’ dead bodies. The second daughter looks in the other direction as she blocks her own view of the corpses, refusing to accept reality. Wearing an extremely distraught expression, the heartbroken mother extends her arms and hands to her dead boys. In my opinion, the three women are the actual heroes in this artwork: they exhibit courage by enduring the agony of horror and grief, seemingly without support from their husband and father, Brutus.
People should stop criticizing emotion as weak or shameful. Instead, we should accept and welcome strong emotions, especially when they are in reaction to true calamities—and outlawing abortion is a calamity for poor women who live in states where abortion is now partially or fully illegal. In any case, I believe that a woman’s body belongs to her. She and only she should have the right to decide whether to bear children or not.
Jacques-Louis David’s 1798 painting, “Lictors Bringing Brutus the Bodies of His Sons,” portrays women who are being “too emotional.” The painting depicts servants bringing Brutus the bodies of his two sons while three afflicted women grieve in the center of the painting. Brutus is depicted as the hero, and the women are clearly portrayed as overly emotional. This might not have been artist David’s point—perhaps he was celebrating the women’s strong emotions, instead.
In the center of the painting, two daughters and their mother are shown mourning the deaths of their brothers/sons. One daughter has fainted in her mother’s arms from the pain of seeing her brothers’ dead bodies. The second daughter looks in the other direction as she blocks her own view of the corpses, refusing to accept reality. Wearing an extremely distraught expression, the heartbroken mother extends her arms and hands to her dead boys. In my opinion, the three women are the actual heroes in this artwork: they exhibit courage by enduring the agony of horror and grief, seemingly without support from their husband and father, Brutus.
People should stop criticizing emotion as weak or shameful. Instead, we should accept and welcome strong emotions, especially when they are in reaction to true calamities—and outlawing abortion is a calamity for poor women who live in states where abortion is now partially or fully illegal. In any case, I believe that a woman’s body belongs to her. She and only she should have the right to decide whether to bear children or not.
