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From: Michael Vik
Date: 9/14/2003
Time: 3:36:29 PM
Remote Name: 199.44.215.199
While the women seemingly had to wait in the church for the men to come, bear in mind that it was actually Pampinea who voiced the idea of leaving the infested city (p 73-74). Boccaccio was trying to illustrate the foolish sexism of the time when the ladies conversed. They were not really silly or weak spirited; they were brainwashed by society into thinking that they would have no recourse but to wait for a man to guide them. He was not trying to make them look weak or silly. He tried to make society's opinion look weak and silly. On top of this, the women also acknowledged (right in front of the men) that they (the men) were honest enough to be trusted (p 75); they may have even known them to some extent; this shows that they were not simply traveling with the men like little slaves, but that they willingly wanted to go with them. The entire part where the women talk about how weak their sex is in general is actually a mockery of the sexist times; after all, Dioneo even acknowledged that the women found the mansion they went to, not the men, and in so doing, acknowledged the excellence of their leadership during a major crisis (p 76). Pampinea was then immediately and unanimously elected Queen. There was no election of a "King" from the men, and the men did not protest Dineo's statements; they agreed with him. Also, the women could have easily been portrayed by a sexist author as "running around with their heads cut off" so to speak; after all, seeing dead rotting bodies in the street is enough to disgust or frighten anyone, male or female. But did the women run around screaming (like they do in most modern horror movies) or did they calmly congregate in a church where they decided upon a logical course of action? They kept their calm, and “calm heads prevail in times of crisis.” I don't think Boccaccio was trying to make females look weak.