Anais Nin’s tales are not feminist, they link sexual excitement with violence

SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES:

• Leen E, Sorbring E, Mawer M, Holdsworth E, Helsing B, Bowen E (2013) Prevalence, dynamic risk factors and the efficacy of primary interventions for adolescent dating violence: an international review. Aggress Violent Behav 18(1):159–174
• Puigvert L, Gelsthorpe, L, Soler-Gallart, M, Flecha, R (2019). Girls’ perceptions of boys with violent attitudes and behaviours, and of sexual attraction. Palgrave Commun 5, 56. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-019-0262-5
• Rebellon CJ, Manasse M (2004) Do ‘bad boys’ really get the girls? Delinquency as a cause and consequence of dating behavior among adolescents. Justice Q 21(4):355–389
• Valls, R., Puigvert, L., & Duque, E. (2008). Gender Violence Amongst Teenagers: Socialization and Prevention. Violence Against Women, 14(7), 759–785. doi: 10.1177/1077801208320365

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COMMENT:

If we start from the fact that we can be socialised into gender violence through different means (Valls, Puigvert & Duque, 2008) such as, for instance, through the tales, there is no doubt that Anaïs Nin cannot be a feminist reference as she promotes the image of the women who is excited with violence. It is worth mentioning that this link between attraction and violence is one of the main causes of the current high rates of violence (Leen et al., 2013; Puigvert, Gelsthorpe, Soler-Gallart & Flecha, 2019; Rebellon & Manasse, 2004).
I leave her the evidence of this anti-feminism of Anaïs Nin: (in the context of the hanging of a prisoner in a square full of people)
“At that moment [she] realized that someone was pushing towards her with much more fieriness than normal. In [her] trembling and excited state, the pressure was not unpleasant. Her body was feverish. In any case, she could hardly move; so fixed she was by the curious crowd. (…) She did not move nor turned her face. Now a hand was searching an opening in her skirt and discovered the buttons. Each button that the hand undid, made her yearn with fear and relieve. The hand stopped, in case she protested, before going to the next button. She did not move.
Afterwards, with unexpected dexterity and speed, both hands made the skirt turn so that the opening was then in the back. IN the middle of the pounding crowd, the only thing she now felt was the penis sliding slowly through the opening of the skirt”. (1)

(1) Author’s own translation of the original: “En aquel momento se dio cuenta de que alguien se apretaba contra ella con mucha más fogosidad de lo normal. En su estado tembloroso y excitado, la presión no era desagradable. Tenía el cuerpo enfebrecido. De cualquier forma, casi no se podía mover; tan clavada la tenía la curiosa multitud. (…) No se movió ni volvió la cara. Ahora una mano buscaba una abertura de la falda y descubrió los botones. Cada botón que soltaba la mano la hacía suspirar de miedo y alivio. La mano se detenía, por si protestaba, antes de pasar al siguiente botón. Ella no hizo el menor movimiento. Luego, con destreza y rapidez inesperadas, las dos manos hicieron girar la falda de forma que la abertura quedase detrás. En medio de la palpitante multitud, lo único que ahora sentía era el pene deslizándose lentamente por la abertura de la falda.”

OTHER SOURCES: