I'd say I have too much time on my hands but I really don't

I’ve been working on the latest Donovan draft, the one which has a name I haven’t told you yet, the one which is still, more or less, in my mind.

Donovan has a fun verbal duel with a proto-feminist in the Bronx. Fun for me to write, anyway. I don’t think he enjoyed it much.

Feminism is a fun topic. Growing up, I was told, from my male friends and the voices on TV, that the only male feminists were always emasculated, that it was OK to want things to be fair but that feminists took things too far.

As you get older, appearances start to matter less than fairness. So go ahead and call me a feminist. I realize that on the internet that is an invitation to be called a douche-bag hipster fag or whatever today’s epithet of rage is. I don’t know because I don’t subscribe to the troll-newsletter.

Anyway, I thought I’d put that out there before I jump into today’s topic. As I was reading Le Morte d’Arthur a few weeks back, I was really struck by something. I’ve been digesting this information for a while now and feel I can finally comment on it.

In the Quest of the Holy Grail, a whole lot of knights almost sleep with Satan. Yeah, you read that right: Satan. And sex. Real satanic sex, not that pretend psychedelic stuff that Anton LeVey and Black Sabbath fans do. I am referring to actual sex with The Devil.

You see, Satan…or maybe I should go with Lucifer, which sounds more feminine and well, sexy. Anyway, Lucifer (or “Lucy” for short), being full of metaphysical powers and such, appeared to Camelot’s knights as a drop-dead gorgeous babe in a blatant attempt to get them to violate their vows of chastity. This would, of course, steal their pious mojo and prevent them from getting the Grail. Naturally, most of the knights wanted Lucy bad but discipline wins out and they send her packing.

At first blush, this looks kinda misogynous. And maybe it is. But I’d like to propose a more nuanced

Obviously, a misogynist can put women in positive roles but I think this is more about masculine identity than how the author felt towards women. When Satan appears as a woman, the author is, typical of his period in history, warning men about Satan’s lure. It’s easy to turn Satan down when he’s all ugly-red and razor-sharp with his black horns and hooves. But when Satan is a hottie…well, now it’s far more likely the reader might say “I woulda done her,” which is a result you wouldn’t see as often if the scene was simply the Dark Prince offering the knight power. Many men will tell themselves they can turn down power. But sex? That’s another story.

There’s also the whole angle that being fooled by someone is, in many ways, emasculating. Being beaten in fair combat has a certain manliness to it. But being tricked is another story. Unless it’s because of a woman. Call it the Samson-Delilah Trope. Maybe this gets misogynist, though it could be more a statement about male identity than female. For some reason, getting tricked by a Satan in a female form seems more likely—and palatable—than the alternative.

Or maybe I’m just overanalyzing things.