{"id":3712,"date":"2018-06-09T15:18:57","date_gmt":"2018-06-09T22:18:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/?p=3712"},"modified":"2025-08-09T15:30:34","modified_gmt":"2025-08-09T22:30:34","slug":"you-silly-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/you-silly-men\/","title":{"rendered":"You Silly Men!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thirty-five years ago a friend in Mexico City confided that my version of Sor Juana’s notorious remonstrance against the hypocrisy of men, <\/em>Hombres necios<\/span>, was exactly what this 17th century nun would have written today in English, if she were alive. Not so sure about that but I found translating it to be a wonderful experience working out how much rhyme can be wrung out of English. Here is a spectacular reading of the Spanish<\/span><\/em>: <\/span>http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VFsrs2_AST8<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

You silly men impugn the Dame
\nwith innuendo out of mind
\nyet remain so blind.
\nYou cause the things you blame!<\/p>\n

You insist that women’s
\n<\/span>wile is nothing but a slight,
\nmake believe that she’s upright,
\nthen deplore her sins.<\/p>\n

Sieges laid and won
\n<\/span>you put to her frivolity
\nand boast about the levity
\n<\/span>of her you wish a nun.<\/p>\n

Is she not a boogey-man
\nyou brandish like a boy,
\nthis woman you enjoy
\nthen flee as fast you can?<\/p>\n

You stupid men think that life
\nis but prudery or smut:
\nyou want her — she’s a slut;
\nyou have her– she’s your wife.<\/p>\n

What temper could be queerer
\nor prone to greater error
\nthan breathing on a mirror
\nyou grumble is not clear?<\/p>\n

Upon rebuff and grace
\nyou men set the same store.
\nYou scorn her if you score
\nbut beg for her embrace.<\/p>\n

Repute no woman earns,
\nprudent though she be.
\nIf she lets you, she’s too free;
\nshe’s frigid if she spurns.<\/p>\n

Impartial but unfair,
\nstupidly you tax
\nthe one who is too lax
\nwith she who brings despair.<\/p>\n

What should be the demeanor
\nof the one who wants you?
\nShe’s chaste: you say she haunts you.
\nShe’s not: you demean her.<\/p>\n

Between the lust and loathing
\nyou speak so smugly of,
\nluckier she who does not love
\nthan she who lifts her clothing.<\/p>\n

For first your flirting lures
\ninto a sordid snare,
\nthen piously you damn with prayer
\nthe pleasure love procures.<\/p>\n

Who deserves our clemency
\nonce the bar is breached,
\n<\/span>she who was beseeched,
\n<\/span>or he who begged on bended knee?<\/p>\n

Whose guilt is at the origin
\nthough both have gone astray,
\nthe one who sins for pay,
\nor he who pays to sin?<\/p>\n

Why does it astound
\nyou we resent your taunts?
\nFigure out your wants
\nor love what you have found.<\/p>\n

If you would cease to woo,
\nyours would be the right
\nto reprove the appetite
\nof whoever came to you.<\/p>\n

By every trick you enmesh
\nus in the web of your conceit.
\nFie!\u00a0 <\/span>In you we women meet
\nWorld and Devil in the flesh.<\/p>\n

*<\/p>\n

My favourite video version of the Spanish is at\u00a0https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VFsrs2_AST8<\/a><\/p>\n

The text in Spanish:\u00a0http:\/\/users.ipfw.edu\/jehle\/poesia\/hombresn.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

Highly recommended, Octavio Paz’s bio of Sor Juana:\u00a0<\/span>http:\/\/www.hup.harvard.edu\/catalog.php?isbn=9780674821064<\/a><\/p>\n

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Thirty-five years ago a friend in Mexico City confided that my version of Sor Juana’s notorious remonstrance against the hypocrisy of men, Hombres necios, was exactly what this 17th century nun would have written today in English, if she were alive. Not so sure about that but I found translating it to be a wonderful … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “You Silly Men!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[44,25,55,75,31],"class_list":["post-3712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","tag-berkeley","tag-erotic-poetry","tag-mexico","tag-spanish","tag-translation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3712"}],"version-history":[{"count":29,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5107,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3712\/revisions\/5107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alteritas.net\/pastis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}