Silencing Women’s Public Voices

At the beginning of the Odyssey, Penelope enters the great hall and begins to speak. Her son, Telemachus, quickly tells her to return to her room because speech is “the business of men.” And ever since, men have sought to silence women’s public voices.  Indeed, male hostility toward women’s participation in public discourse is far more common today than many of us are likely to be aware. For example, a male attorney recently admonished his opposing counsel that it wasn’t...