|
Equalizing Everything:
A Mania, Not a Necessity
by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira
While the horse is increasingly abandoned
as a means of transportation, it continues to be in vogue
in sport. Everywhere, horsemanship continues to be an object
of lively interest. Football and boxing champions have not
destroyed the popularity of the jockey. Indeed, the qualities
that an authentic horseman should embody – daring
and prudence, acute perception, presence of mind, agility,
knowledge and perfect control in the saddle – merit
public acclaim.
These pictures show three horsemen jumping
difficult obstacles. They are typical of photographs found
in equestrian clubs throughout the world. It is delightful
to contemplate the dexterity, strength and elegance of these
three horsemen.
However they are not horsemen, but horsewomen.
The elements of distinction in French horsemanship, the
way of riding, the attire, in short everything taken together
gives them a markedly masculine appearance.
Without going into details it is good to
note how anti-natural and abnormal it is for a woman to
look like a man in any circumstance. It is just as anti-natural
and abnormal for a man to look like a woman. This strange
mania for masculinizing women (not to mention the feminization
of men!) also infiltrates horsemanship, as is shown in the
pictures above.
Where does this tendency come from? In
each case, it is covertly introduced under a different pretext:
convenience, simplicity or economy. In the case of horsemanship,
freedom of movement and safety were perhaps the excuses
used. However these are mere deceptions…
Here we have a charming group of German
horsewomen, who gallop swiftly in an aristocratic park.
Using sidesaddles, they ride with the distinction of true
ladies, which does not impede their gallop from having the
speed, unrestraint, and lightness of the “Ride of
the Valkyries.” Their whole costume displays all the
grace and delicacy of dignified ladies in a highly civilized
nation. Yet the sportive note, inseparable from horsemanship,
is not damaged in the least. (The word sportive here is
in its good sense, although discussion of its multiple and
dubious applications would demand a whole article.)
Practical reasons, then, are not
what impose the masculinization of women in horsmanship.
Rather, it is a manifestation of the tendency, more apparent
today than ever, to level, equalize, homogenize and confound
everything.
|
|
