In the Iliad, there are continuous examples of women that are treated as an object or materialistically, women are also treated as they are inferior to the men and the gods. According to the dictionary definition of sexism is; prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination, typically against women, on the basis of sex. In essence women are shown to have no power in the Iliad due to the dominance and power of the men and gods. Treating women as inferior is a sign of a possible piece of sexist work. Unfortunately the Iliad does use men as a dominant power and women as inferior. It plays an important role to help prove that the Iliad is a sexist work. A work like the Iliad is considered sexist because of examples that are shown through the gods and …show more content…
The women are constantly being shut down by the men, it shows how men think nothing more of women than just an object. “Aphrodite tries to participate in battle, she is completely ineffectual, and is told categorically to stay in her own sphere of activity.” (V, 348-349). Aphrodite clearly thinks she has the ability to fight in battle with the other men and believes that she would be a great assistance in the battle, but is too quickly told to take a step back and stay in her place as a woman of the house. In the same situation, but opposite outcome shockingly Athena ends up playing a masculine role in battle during book 5, however she is challenged by the gods time after time for attempting to fight in the war. Aphrodite without a question is being discriminated against because she is a woman and traditionally women aren’t supposed to fight in a war. Emphasis of the passive role of women in the Iliad is also present in book 6. Andromache gets shut down immediately for attempting to express her pain for her husband for heading back to war but her opinion is repeatedly disregarded because she is a woman. Helen is also occupied with the war, but she can’t have any say about it without being criticized by a male figure in the book. Instead of speaking about the war the only thing she can do is weave about it. While Paris and Menelaus are deciding her future, she is inside weaving. “She is pre-occupied with the war, but the only way: that she can express her interest is by weaving pictures of it.” (3, 458-466). Helens emotions are completely ignored by the others and her feelings are barely taken into consideration. Without a doubt the inferiority of women during battle scenes is present, and Homer strongly shows that due to the lack of consideration and the carelessness of women besides having them as an object or just being used for sex and nothing