Even 21st century Americans, who view themselves to be all-inclusive and politically correct, hold women to a sexual double standard. We see men who are comfortable with their sexuality as normal, and sexual women as whores. Of course, this existed in America in the 1800’s, as well. But 19th century Transcendentalists, in their purest sense, were supposed to believe that all people were joined together in their equality with nature; transcendentalism began as a rebellion against religious orthodoxy that resulted in the belief that people shared a spirit with one another and with nature. However, like most philosophy in 19th century America, it did not apply to women as much as it did to men; transcendentalists acknowledged women as sharing that same soul, but women still had to fight for their equality in a patriarchal society. Walt Whitman was an exceptional transcendentalist in that his philosophy did not only apply to land-owning white men, or even just men in general. In the first section of “Song of Myself,” Whitman simply sketches the basics of his transcendental ideals; in section eleven, he expands on this to advocate women’s transcendental unity, who share not only a soul with mankind, but also a sexuality that unifies them. Whitman argues for women’s equality by analyzing them under the scope of transcendentalism; he deconstructs gender boundaries, redefines women as sexual beings and defends their respectability as such.
In order to equalize men and women, Whitman deconstructs gender boundaries by applying strictly engendered terminology across both sexes. He begins in the first section of “Songs of Myself” by defining his transcendental philosophy. He engages the reader by telling him or her, “every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you,” asserting that all people are equal down to their most basic structure (3). Here he does not define gender. Whitman continues this philosophy in section 11, blatantly blurring gender boundaries. Whitman applies the number 28 to a group of men: “Twenty-eight young men bathe by the shore / Twenty-eight young men all so friendly” (198-99). But the number 28 is strictly associated with femininity, as it is the number of days in a woman’s menstrual cycle. Already in the first few lines of this section of the poem, Whitman begins to deconstruct gender. He then assigns 28 back to a woman, further emphasizing his indifference to gender boundaries: “Twenty-eight years of womanly life” (200). In these three lines, Whitman mentions defines his subjects by their gender only to then weaken and tear down that classification by ignoring the boundaries of their gender. He continues in this vein, describing men that “float on their backs” (213), alluding to the euphemism for women engaged in sex who “lie on their backs.” Lastly, the scene that Whitman depicts in section eleven is one where one woman fantasizes about many men. This is in contrast to social acceptability that is defined by biological reproduction; one man may impregnate many women and thereby increase society’s population, but one woman cannot benefit society’s growth with any more than one man. That is, it is more socially acceptable for a man to be involved with more than one woman because he may contribute to the stability of his society, but a woman cannot contribute anything to the growth and stability of her society by being involved with more than one man, thereby rendering her promiscuity as wasteful. Now, in section eleven of “Songs of Myself,” Whitman once again turns this idea upside down by granting the female subject of the poem the same sexual privilege as men - she is sexually aroused by a group of almost thirty men. Because this was socially unacceptable for women, Whitman’s inclusion of this image blurs the lines between the sexes. Whitman deconstructs the social classifications of the sexes by applying engendered concepts across the boundaries set by his 19th century society.
After removing the limits of gender classifications, Whitman focuses on equalizing the genders by asserting that women have sexual desires that are equal to men’s, and that they, too, may be defined as sexual beings. In the first section, Whitman describes “nature without check with original energy” (13). Sexuality stems from nature - in other words, sexuality is analogous with nature - and this passage in connection with section 11 defines Whitman’s views of sexuality as transcendentalist. “Nature without check -” the word “check” has multiple connotations that are all relevant to this argument. “Check” can mean “repression” or “restraint,” as one checks his or her emotions; “check” can mean “scrutinize,” as the police may perform a background check or check a suspect’s alibi. And in chess, a “check” is a threat to the king, and consequently a threat to the success of a player. When Whitman comments on his desire for “nature without check,” where nature is comparable to sexuality, he is pleading for the freedom to be a sexual being without being threatened with restraint, examination or social risk. The general context of section 11 shows this: the woman in section 11 is having sexual fantasies about the naked men she sees bathing in a nearby body of water. This woman is a sexual being, just as a man could be; she is not content with living the rest of her life asexually, as her patriarchal society would dictate she do. Whitman describes her desires in the line “twenty-eight years of womanly life and all so lonesome” (201), and notes that she desires male physical contact so much that “the homeliest of [the men] is beautiful to her” (206). Whitman describes the intimate sensual details of her fantasy, as she notices that the “little steams pass’d all over their bodies” (211). She imagines she is there with them - Whitman addresses her, “You splash in the water there, yet stay stock still in your room” (207). The line “they do not know who puffs and declines with pendant and bending arch” (215) pushes Whitman’s argument in that he candidly reveals the woman’s sexuality. This woman “puffs,” alluding to the rapid breathing of an orgasm, and as “pendant” is another word for “parallel,” she is “pendant and bending” in the movement of sex. This is exactly what Whitman was talking about in saying “nature without check” - he describes her masturbating to thirty men and orgasming with no restraint, without demeaning scrutiny and without addressing her sexuality as socially reprehensible.
In section 11 of “Songs of Myself,” Whitman deliberately includes references to the woman’s character to show that although she is a sexual being, she is still a respectable member of society. He argues that just as men may be sexual without being indecent, so may women; Whitman preserves the female subject’s character and the appropriateness of her sexuality as it is related to the appropriateness of male sexuality. Now, this is not to say that he promotes social restriction of sexuality, but rather that sexuality can exist without being raunchy or vulgar. Although Whitman frankly describes her sexuality, she is a modest sexual being. She does not join them and engage in a thirty-person orgy, nor does she expose herself to them at all. Rather she “hides…aft the blinds of the window” (203) and is thereby sexual without being indecent. Whitman includes important details about her life that preserve her character, so that he may illustrate that sexual women may exist as something other than prostitutes - they may also be high-standing, respectable members of society. This woman is not an immature hormone-driven teenager, but she is a mature adult. Adding her “twenty-eight years of womanly life,” to her years of not-womanly life, or childhood, she should be around forty years old. She is a successfully self reliant woman as she has money and owns waterfront property: she “owns the fine house by the rise of the bank” (202) and is “richly dressed” (203). Her aforementioned loneliness and want for male physical contact (described in the previous paragraph) shows that she is not a prostitute, but has earned her money respectably, by 19th century standards. Whitman intentionally includes these details to prove that a sexual women can be a respectable woman.
Whitman provides a counter-argument: he acknowledged that society does not accept his assertion of the equality of female sexuality, and personally refutes stands against that. He addresses that men are more free to be sexually promiscuous in the last stanza of section 11 of “Songs of Myself,” wherein he claims that men are a separate “they.” Whitman argues that men are free to be sexual without care: “they do not ask” (214) “they do not know” (215) “they do not think” (216). They are free to be sexually promiscuous, as “they do not think who they souse with their spray,” where Whitman uses “spray” as an allusion to semen. Although the woman in this poem who is candidly sexual, is inside, hiding away, without that same freedom. Whitman shows his personal opinion regarding the woman’s sexual freedom as he inserts himself into the poem. He addresses her directly, “Where are you off to, lady? For I see you” (206), showing that he is curious and interested in her expression of her sexuality. But more importantly, directly after Whitman claims to see her, he also mentions that the 29th bather sees her: “dancing and laughing along the beach came the twenty-ninth bather, / the rest did not see her” (208-9). Whitman is not only the poet of this piece, he also establishes as a character inside the poem; Whitman is the 29th bather who watches her as she expresses herself as a sexual being . There is no authorial distance here; Whitman is taking full responsibility for what he is writing by inserting himself into the scene. In this way he shows his personal support for this transcendental unity through the expression of sexuality.
In the first section of “Songs of Myself,” Whitman provides his understanding of the philosophy of transcendentalism and then uses that definition to assert the equality of men and women in their sexuality. Whitman believes in transcendentalism, that all beings are connected with each other and with nature, and extends “beings” beyond men. In section 11 of his poem, Whitman deconstructs gender boundaries and replaces them with an equality between the sexes through their sexuality. Whitman advocates society’s recognition of women as having a sexual identity, just as men do, without being labeled morally and socially reprehensible. Whitman is a true transcendentalist in that the “beings” he discusses are without engendered priority; he encompasses women into his philosophy without restraint.
Whitman, Walt. “Song of Myself.” Leaves of Grass. 1891-92. The Bedford Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Susan Belasco and Linuck Johnson. Boston: Bedford / St. Martin’s, 2008. 1240-1286. Print.
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