Were women ever sacred? Some medieval and modern men would like us to think so

Posted October 17, 2018

External Article: Medievalists.net

Richard Utz, Chair of the Georgia Institute of Technology School of Literature, Media, and Communication, recently wrote an article for Medivalists.net entitled "Were women ever sacred? Some medieval and modern men would like us to think so." In his article, Utz analyzes recent media discussions around chivalry.

Here's an excerpt:

In her October 7, 2018, article for the Washington Post, “Chivalry isn’t dead. But it should be,” Amy Kaufman questions the use of medievalist values like “chivalry” in defense of Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh during his contentious confirmation process for his appointment on the U.S. Supreme Court. Kaufman concludes that chivalry, always more literary than real, was not only a “protection racket” because it obliges women to rely on men to protect them from other men, but also only ever protected certain (noble) women. Upon reading her article, I remembered that I had heard similar medievalist statements before, and directly from the White House. 

Read the full article here.

The School of Literature, Media, and Communication is a unit of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.