"Bridesicle"

Reading "Bridesicle" by Will McIntosh angered me a bit. As a woman going to Wellesley College, I have been developing strong feminist views recently and I felt as though "Bridesicle," in many ways, went against feminism.

First of all, the setting of the story enraged me. The fact that women who have died, from 125~100 years ago up till recently, are stored in what seems like a "bride market" for the men makes women seem like objects sold at a store. One question that came up to my mind was why it would be women and not men in these "bridesicles." Perhaps there is a deficit in the women population but in comparing the future and the past, such setting surprised me especially since women have been gaining more voice and power overtime. In the story, however, it seems as though, with the establishments of these "bridesicles," time and history has taken its step backwards. Once again, women, though lifeless, are placed into bride markets for men to shop for.

Another reason why I was enraged was because of the requests the men made to the protagonist, Mira, in exchange for their offer of reviving her. The first man seemed to ask Mira for sexual favors. For example, he asks, "If I revived you, what sorts of things would you do to me?" The second man, Lycan, seems like a nice man who keeps visiting her to have conversations but at the end, doesn't have the money to revive her. Lastly, the third man who visits Mira, claiming to be Lycan's grandson, asks her for a "platonic" marriage in which she would carry he and his real wife's child and serve as the baby's caretaker. Overall, it seemed as though the women in in the bridesicles didn't have much say in their desires since it is the men who have the advantage because they are the ones offering them a chance to live again.

Overall, I felt as though the story was swayed towards a more masculine perspective than a feminine one.