Sexual Healing?...

Sex is a prominent theme throughout the works, “The Gilded Six Bits”, “To His Coy Mistress”, and “I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed”. In each story, the female protagonist is faced with a question or desire to have sex with a man. The decisions to have sex in each piece are hasty ones. These foolish decisions do have consequences and the three different authors show how detrimental a passionate act, such as sex, can be.

In Zora Neale Hurston’s, “The Gilded Six Bits”, the audience learns of a deep love between Missy Mae and her husband Joe. The two African Americans are youthful and their love is extremely strong. “Ah don’t want you to git no sweeter than whut you us already is,” (Hurston 367). However, just when the audience is starting to believe that this is just another picture-perfect love story, a bump in the road occurs. Upon coming home one evening, Joe encounters Missy Mae having sex with another man. The man, Slemmons, is a rich man who had admired Missy previously in the story. Missy Mae was tempted to have sex with Slemmons because he possessed many pieces of gold. “…he said he wuz gointer give me dat gold money and he jes’ kept on after me--,” (Hurston 370). Missy Mae made a mess of her devoted relationship with her husband by having meaningless sex with a rich man. Missy Mae knew what she did was wrong and knew she still loved Joe very much. Joe did not give up on Missy Mae and their loving relationship by the end of the story. Hurston’s story goes to show how sex can be the real antagonist.

“To His Coy Mistress” is a poem in which the male speaker is desperately trying to have sex with his mistress. The woman may not have a speaking role, but the speaker insinuates her presence during the poem. The reader believes that she is being pressured into a difficult situation. The speaker, during the beginning of the poem, tried to prove how immeasurable his love is. “Vaster than empires, are more slow; An hundred years should go to praise…” (Marvell 12). Even though his love is vast and growing slowly, he keeps insisting to engage in intercourse. Time is of the essence according to the speaker and he does not see a change in his mistress’ opinion in the near future. Towards the end of the poem, the speaker has become extremely impatient and is starting to believe that the mistress will take her virginity to the grave. “The long preserved virginity, And your quaint honor turned to dust, And into ashes all my lust,” (Marvell 28). Virginity and purity defined a woman back when this poem was written. The speaker wanted to take his lover’s virginity while they were young so he could claim her forever. However, by pressuring her, he probably pushed his mistress farther away.

When reading Edna St. Vincent Millay’s, “I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed”, the audience learns of a woman who has lost her virginity. She is very blunt in the way she describes her sexual experiences and relationships with men as well. The title alone adds insight into the speaker’s personality. “By all the needs and notions of my kind, Am urged by your propinquity…,” (Millay 2). The speaker has been forced into sexual situations, which do not lead to marriage or a promising relationship. “And leave me once again undone, possessed,” (Millay 8). The speaker is hard on herself and is waiting for the right man to come along. In spite of this, she has had sex based on lust and physical desires. These action may not allow her to reach her ultimate dream man.

Premarital sex, abstinence, and being sexually active are all prevalent in this day and age. Not only women, but men are pressured into having sex earlier and earlier. The characters and speakers in these three works are very relatable to males and females today. Whether it is the 21st or 18th century, the north or the south, or males and females being pressured, sex is still a very influential topic in society and will continue to be that way for years to come.