Ballad of Ladies Lost and Found

The song Ballad of Ladies Lost and Found is an important piece of work that characteristically shows the social and historical events from the time it was written. The work reflects the social and historical issues from its time. Hacker, through this work, portrays the characteristics of the educated, lesbian and feminist foremothers. The poem reflects the social lives of women who fought for women equality at the time. Feminist women at the time began to understand the importance of going to school. The work mentions several women who went to colleges and graduated with degrees. For instance, “where are the women who, entre deux guerres”. The work shows that the socio-cultural environment had allowed women to get education and also to participate in male dominated fields. The feminists were doing everything to ensure equality of women with their male counterparts. They played football, went to colleges and excelled in mathematics. These fields were seen as fit for men and not women. The work reflects a society where women had started to work hard and excelled in the fields previously termed as suited for men. Women had discovered this fact and were doing their best to outshine men in both academic fields and sports world. The poet in the second verse of the poem says, “Where are women who came to New York on football scholarships”. This shows that women were getting scholarships to continue with their higher learning from football clubs. The poem also reflects the history of lesbianism in the society. According to the poet, the early women, who lived before her. had practiced lesbianism. That is why the poet talks about a mathematics head of department whose nature was bisexual. It means that the head of department could participate in sexual activities with man and woman at different times. This work shows the complexity of excavating a lesbian past. That is why Hacker asks where all those educated women who had a past of lesbianism went. She also wonders if the generation of her time will follow what the earlier generation did. The poet asks if the “nieces still follow what their old aunties did”. The poem creates a community of past that was dominated with rebellious women. For example, the poet talks of some rebels who grew out their hair while still at school. The poem reflects a history of women who rebelled against social rules. Women were not allowed to wear jeans pants but some did it. Examples of women who rebelled in this era of feminism and lesbianism were Stevie who wore pleated school dresses and Rosa who had a permit to wear pants. This work thus shows that the society had denied women the right to do the things they liked and in a manner they wished. Women had to obey the rules, rebel or seek for permission to do the things they desired. Because of such oppression and inequality between men and women, the theory of women literacy, feminism and lesbianism grew its root deep into the history as depicted by this work. Women pooled resources together to do joint feminism campaigns. For example, Hacker asks, “Has Ida B. persuaded Susan B to pool resources for a joint campaign” . The work reflects historical events of how women worked tirelessly to fight for their own rights and to ensure the spread of feminism. The poet mentions the grandmother of Frankenstein, who was the fighter for of the Rights of Woman. Women literacy, feminism and lesbianism are the major events that the song Ballad of Ladies Lost and Found presents as the social or history events of its period. About the author: Jessica Sanders is a bachelor in English philology and sociology at California University. Jessica is currently working as one of the best writers at the https://essayswriters.com/ She also studies feminine psychology.