Sex Strike in Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, J.P Clark’s Wives’ Revolt and Julie Okoh’s Edewede

Abstract

Issues of injustice, exploitation and dehumanisation on the domestic setting are usually downplayed. They become national points only and when women revolt against such indignities. The three plays chosen for this study centre on women’s protests incessant wars, unjust sharing formula and circumcision. The women in the plays are fearless against a patriarchal system that tries to stifle their social, economic, personal, medical, and psychological rights. Thus, the paper interrogates female dynamism and bonding and the nature of their protest in Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, J. P. Clark’s Wives’ Revolt and Julie Okoh’s Edewede. Issues common to their protest are the critical identification of the root of the problem, democratically discussing it, taking of oaths to enforce compliance from weaker ones and most importantly, the refusal of sex to men. This denial is a sacrificial step needed to register their dissatisfaction and disenchantment with the status-quo. In the three plays, sex strike as a significant icon becomes the point of men’s capitulation. Its viability or otherwise will be interrogated. Using such concepts as Radical and Cultural Feminism as theoretical orientation, the paper critically examines how women can transform their lives and situation without lifting physical weapon but by asserting their dignity and uniqueness using what they have and employing their differences as instruments of social re-ordering.

Keywords

• patriarchal system, capitulation, Cultural Feminism, social re-ordering