The Cult of True Womanhood: “The Fall of the House of Usher”, Part 2

Explicit content warning

07/21/24 • 29 min

Paranormal Pajama Party

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This episode is the long-promised part two of our exploration of “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe.

Poe was doing his thing In 19th-century America, at a time middle- and upper-class white women were being encouraged to join the "Cult of True Womanhood", which idealised women as pious, pure, submissive, and domestic, confining them to the private sphere while men dominated public life. It’s all very tradwife.

Tonight on the podcast, we’ll examine how this cultural ideal influenced Poe's portrayal of women in his stories, often reducing them to beautiful, passive reflections of male characters. Madeline Usher from "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a prime example of this characterisation.

This is particularly ironic because while Poe's fictional women were often two-dimensional, he was surrounded by and attracted to strong, independent women in real life. Make it make sense!

I’ve got bad news for the tradwives who aren’t allowed to listen to this blasphemous podcast: The constraints of True Womanhood paradoxically led to the rise of the “New Woman” and first-wave feminism.

Unfortunately, if you think female characters being used as set decoration for male characters isn’t still happening, you haven’t watched television, seen a movie or read a book recently.

We’ll wrap up tonight’s chat with a conversation about the ways women are still often used as plot devices or mirrors for male characters in contemporary horror and other genres.

Key moments:

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Send me a text message!

This episode is the long-promised part two of our exploration of “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe.

This is particularly ironic because while Poe's fictional women were often two-dimensional, he was surrounded by and attracted to strong, independent women in real life. Make it make sense!

Unfortunately, if you think female characters being used as set decoration for male characters isn’t still happening, you haven’t watched television, seen a movie or read a book recently.

We’ll wrap up tonight’s chat with a conversation about the ways women are still often used as plot devices or mirrors for male characters in contemporary horror and other genres.

Key moments:

Previous Episode

"What Happens Next?": Are Reproductive Rights Human Rights?

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Paranormal Pajama Party is pro-self-care. I mean, come on. Pajamas are right there in the name.
To be kind to myself this week, I'm not releasing a new episode. Instead, I'm sharing an episode I wrote and produced for the other podcast I make – the one people actually pay me for.
This is Monash University's What Happens Next?, episode 79: "Are Reproductive Rights Human Rights?". You'll never guess what the answer is. (You will, they are, please vote this November if you're a U.S. citizen, thank you.)
Learn more about What Happens Next? or view the transcript of this episode.

Next Episode

Rangda: Queen of the Demons

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This episode explores the complex figure of Rangda, a fearsome demon queen in Balinese mythology.

Tourists may be familiar with Rangda’s frightening face, as a version of a ritual dance based on the Balinese myth of the widow-witch Calon Arang is popular at Bali’s many resorts.

But Rangda is a much more complex figure than these simplified and shortened performances may lead you to believe. She’s an important player in the key Balinese concept of “rwa bhineda” – unity in duality – and a reminder that binary thinking often fails to capture nuanced realities.

Tonight on the podcast, we’re tracing Rangda's origins back to the historical Queen Mahendradatta and examining how her story became intertwined with the Hindu goddess Durga.

We’ll also get into how powerful women throughout Indonesian history (and, let’s be real, world history more broadly) have been demonised for political reasons.

Key moments

1:07 – The story of Calon Arang
9:00 – Meet Rangda
11:31 – "Rwa bhineda", Rangda, and Barong
16:05 – Queen Mahendradatta and the Mataram Kingdom
26:29 – The Gerwani women's movement
30:27 – Modern Bali and Rangda

Paranormal Pajama Party - The Cult of True Womanhood: “The Fall of the House of Usher”, Part 2

Transcript

Steph: Before we begin, a quick content warning: Paranormal Pajama Party is a podcast about scary stories and legends, but there’s nothing scarier than the patriarchy.

When discussing tales in which women are often the villains, we’ll have to unpack some stories in which women are the victims.

This episode contains the usual amount of cursing, as well as mentions of forced captivity, pregnancy, and incest. Please be advised.

Tonight’s episode i