behead that woman!

[Jason_Taverner]

I totally agree

[JBI]

She shot a crossbow at him. Clearly she had to die.

[Green]

Originally Posted by Foxtale

This is probably the one thing that makes the most sense. Remember also that they come from a small village which seemed to be big on paternity and all that jazz, so the character's thoughts towards women (whilst not completely understandable in our times) reflects the context from which they come from, not the context from which we or Jordan come from.

It's not 14th century England, although Jordan seems to think it is, sometimes. Women rule the world in the WoT. It's seen on every level of almost every culture he writes about.

Even the Two Rivers has a maternal heirarchy. It has its Wisdoms and its women's circle, or whatever it's called. The woman make all the decisions - the men do the work, but they're not in charge. Even the mayor is subordinate to the women's circle, iirc. So I find Mat having the balls to put an Aes Sedai over his knee and spank her for ten minutes really unlikely.

[Aegon the Unworthy]

I got the feeling throughout the whole series that Jordan was trying to point out both men and women feeling the other sex needing to be protected guided etc. I think to call out the males for being over-protective of females is irresponsible. The females are just as sexist and misogynistic as any man Ive ever met.

I think its a strange representation of people, with all these thoughts of one sex being weaker constantly throughout the series but as a running joke (I guess thats what Id call it) its kind of interesting. Kind of.

[woodsman]

Mat is your typical tear-away though isn't he? He does things Because no-one else is willing/powerful enough to. Since he has the medallian he has the power, the grudge and the daredevil. I always found Mat one of the more realistic charachters in WoT.

[C Of K]

Jordan certainly displayed a world strongly divided by sex. A world that truly hadn't advanced very far in solving problems since Lews Therin took the Hundred Companion into battle.

The village council and the Women's Circle was a strong depiction of this foolishness. The grounds for the story were superbly set up. The Two Rivers setting was by far my favorite in the entire series.