Katherine Howard Was Not A Slut/1am Thoughts #14

***Content warning for discussions of sexual assault and r*pe in this post. Some characters/historical figures mentioned in this post have names that may be spelled in multiple ways, and for this post I am using the spelling that is usually used by Six the Musical. I may accidentally give historically inaccurate information, but most of the time I am talking about the character rather than the historical figure.***

So since I finished Red Queen today I have nothing to read, because I was stupid and didn't order the next book/s (I will tomorrow). So I decided to go on my laptop because sleep is for the weak.

As I briefly and randomly mentioned in my Red Queen book review, which I also posted earlier today (it's 10:40pm right now, in case you hadn't noticed most of my "1am Thoughts" posts were not written or published at 1am), I went to see Six the Musical tonight. 

Let me tell you, it was amazing. I immediately cried as soon as Catherine of Aragon said "DIVORCED" the first time. And I barely ever cry, so in the spirit of musicals I will say "I wAs HaViNg My PeRiOd" (those who don't get that reference will be very confused). Literally everyone was so talented and the soundtrack and *cough* slime tutorials *cough* don't do the live show justice. My performance had Howard and Parr as swings, too, and they were both incredible. I really liked Shannen Alyce Quan's outfit (as Parr) for some reason and she gave off really good vibes and also their voice was amazing. Also Phoenix Jackson Mendoza (Aragon) had a great voice. I mean, everyone did, but those two (and probably also Chiara Assetta, a swing who played Howard) really stood out to me. And my mum. Because I went with my mum.

That segues well into what this post is about. My mum, unlike me, had never listened to, watched or had anything to do with Six before the show. I mean, I played Heart of Stone for her a couple times in an attempt to draw attention to the most PG song in the show and away from... the others, but apart from that, nothing. 

I don't know about you, imaginary blog readers, but there's something kinda awkward and at times frustrating about sharing a musical or movie (etc.) that you really like with someone who has never heard about it before. I don't know why, because at one point that was me, too. But it was just kinda awkward that I had to say stuff like, "Anne Boleyn-- I mean, the one in green..." or "Katherine Howard-- the one with the high ponytail..." etc. 

It was also kinda awkward that my mum kept getting information wrong, and that she was so judgy. That combination is why, my imaginary blog readers, this blog post is titled "Katherine Howard Was Not A Slut".

Don't get me wrong, my mum has never seen Six before or heard the songs. She had no way of knowing the song lyrics, so she probably didn't know what was going on half the time.

During Ex-Wives, I pointed out Katherine Howard and said she was my favourite. Ok, yeah, I know, I have a favourite. Shannen Alyce Quan's Parr is also up there. But overall, K Howard is probably my favourite... I dunno why. She is very sassy and also a history buff but doesn't wanna admit it. I guess I can also kinda relate to her song, too, on a much lower level. Maybe me saying I relate to her is just a stretch so that I can have a better reason to like her than just "she's good at roasting people and aesthetically attractive". I dunno. Anyway.

I was really nervous when All You Wanna Do started. And the whole way through. I am definitely old enough to know what certain things meant, but you know, you're expected to act five years younger around your parents. Maybe that's just me.

Anyway, All You Wanna Do was amazing. I cried. Chiara Assetta did such a good job of portraying the emotions in the song. I was secretly kinda disappointed that I didn't get Chelsea Dawson with the original costume. I wanted to see pink hair. Oh well. Chiara Assetta was still really good.

Moving on. In the car on the way home, my mum and I were discussing the musical. Obviously. She said some interesting things. Like I said, she is pretty judgy and seems unafraid to express her opinions. She outright said she disliked Anna of Cleves. I mean, yeah, she isn't my favourite either, but like, why?

Anyway, my mum was like: "So the one with the high ponytail was your favourite? I didn't like her that much. I mean, I didn't dislike her. I just didn't like her song. I mean, I liked her song, I just didn't like her personality. I mean, I liked her personality..." and she kept going around in circles for a while, while I prepared for the worst. I was preparing for a talk on sexual assault or something. But then my mum said: "I just didn't like how slutty she was. Like, how she went through lots of men."

As I said before, my mum did not know the lyrics to the songs. She had limited understanding of what was going on, and I can't really blame her for that. But... at the same time...

1. Uhhhhhhh why did she think Katherine was literally crying and saying "when will enough be enough?" I'm kinda confused about that one. 

2. I don't think she was going through lots of men. I think lots of men were going through her. I'm not sure if that sentence is grammatically correct. But still. This was especially suggested in the musical.

I read an article about Katherine Howard when I got home, and it described her as "a young woman who was very aware of her sexuality" or something. This is portrayed in Six, sure, both in All You Wanna Do and in other parts of the musical. Like, yeah, she knew that men ~liked her~ and she knew how to act upon that. But what if she didn't actually want to? What if society back in the 16th century had just convinced her that her only purpose was to let men use her like that? Maybe she didn't know any better. Damnit, society still convinces so may women of that today. 

She was literally a teenager when she was married off to dear old Henry VIII. And she had been involved with other men well before that, too. This is all just my interpretation, but I believe that she either learnt to like being used by men, or thought that she owed it to them. Some men today still get angry when a woman who only wants friendship doesn't sleep with them. Some men think that the women want to be friends with them so that they can end up having some sort of other relationship with them. It's kinda disgusting to see men complaining over being "friendzoned". 

Katherine's repetition of "playtime's over" reminds us that she was still a child when she first had an intimate relationship with a man. She was thirteen. The guy, Henry Manox, was twenty-three. Nicee. That's not even a big age gap compared to some others. Katherine didn't even make it to 20 years old, if I remember correctly. The "playtime's over" thing references both the fact that she died so young (because kids and playtime) and the fact that she was somewhat locked in a child-like personality, because she had to grow up so fast and because she associates men liking her with a time when she was a child. And also the fact that her childhood -- her "playtime" -- was taken from her when she was first taken advantage of.

None of that probably made sense. But I will continue and probably repeat myself.

3. Sure, Katherine is kinda one of the more sexually conscious/confident queens in the show. But I  believe that she's only like that because that's how she adapted to being constantly used and assaulted. And, sure, it's kinda awkward around parents, but is there really anything wrong with that? Apart from the fact that she might be like that because of trauma, I don't believe that there's anything wrong with being confident -- and that's coming from an asexual person. I don't think women should be put down for that. Men aren't. So even if Katherine was a "slut", I don't think there should be anything wrong with that.

4. Six is a feminist show. My opinion that one of the biggest problems with the inequality between men and women is the power men hold over women, and how they can use that assault women, or assault women to assert dominance. It's bad now, and I can only imagine what it was like while Katherine was alive. I think that All You Wanna Do is possibly the most important song from Six (I Don't Need Your Love is up there too) because it addresses an issue that was relevant back then but also now. I would also call All You Wanna Do the saddest/most tragic song in the musical.

The power men have over women goes hand-in-hand with the fact that women are called "sluts" and such, but men aren't. Did my mum call Henry VIII a slut? Nope. Did she call Alexander Hamilton a slut when he had an affair (multiple, actually, but we don't talk about John with my mum) and broke Eliza's heart? N-n-n-n-n-n-no way. But the thing was, unlike Katherine (and Maria Reynolds, actually), Alexander and Henry knew exactly what they were doing, and they chose to do it. It is very clearly shown in Six that Katherine Howard was repeatedly r*ped and sexually assaulted. Yet nobody batted an eye when Henry and even Alexander had affairs (a lot of people freaked out at Alexander's affair but nobody called him a "slut"), and when Henry killed people so he could have a new woman to basically r*pe. Henry VIII is basically famous for being "slutty". He literally created a new religion so he could have a new wife. And then proceeded to behead the wife for whom he created a new religion. Then have four other wives. And even more mistresses. But I don't think many people have called him a "slut".

I swear, there are so many double standards in the world. This post has turned into a badly-written feminist rant, but whatever. Men be like "you won't sleep with me? How rude. I am definitely entitled to every part of you because I was nice to you." but then when a woman is confident they're like "you're a slut".  

In conclusion, Katherine Howard Was Not A Slut. Here's why:

1. She sang an entire song about how she just wanted friends but then everyone initiated a sexual relationship with her. She explicitly stated that she didn't like it and wanted it to stop. She cried just remembering it.

2. She did not choose for these things to happen. She was a child when men started paying attention to her, and so she grew up thinking that she owed things to men. She was repeatedly sexually assaulted and r*ped.

3. Just because Katherine was confident doesn't mean she liked it. I mean, who likes being r*ped? The confidence was likely a coping mechanism and/or all she knew. 

4. You can't only call women sluts. Especially when those specific women wouldn't have chosen to have relationships with the men they had relationships with. If Katherine is a slut for being assaulted, then Henry VIII must be something a million times worse since he, you know, is literally famous for having six wives.

So yeah. I basically just wrote almost 2000 words defending a person who died 480 years ago against my mum who didn't pay attention to some song lyrics. I'm still trying to figure out whether my mum a) was just not paying attention to the crying and other signs that Katherine was assaulted, or, b) believes that being r*ped is equivalent to being a slut.

Oh no. I just realised that my mum probably now is concerned that my favourite character was who she believes was "the slutty one". It is now actually 1am. Yay. But I should probably wrap this up.

All You Wanna Do is an absolutely heartbreaking song. The people who play Katherine Howard always put so much into their performance. Also! The choreography in All You Wanna Do is very effective. In my performance, the other queens put their hands on Katherine while she sang, and more and more people had their hands on her as the song went on. It was really sad but also clever how, at the end, it looked like she was drowning and suffocating in all the bodies around her. Katherine's song was definitely my favourite in the performance. Umm I don't have much more to write. So... thanks for reading this 2000-word boring, repetitive, feminist rant. If you call Katherine Howard (or any of the other queens, or Maria Reynolds, for that matter) a slut, I will hunt you down and blab in your face for 17.1 minutes. Because apparently that's how long it takes to say about 2200 words, which is the length of this post.

I copied and pasted pictures from the internet for this post oops. I hope that's legal. If it isn't I hope I don't get caught. Also I used Chelsea Dawson because there were none of Chiara Assetta as Howard. I'm actually tired now so goodbye. 

Update: I thought it'd be a good idea to put in a (likely illegal, slightly low-quality) recording of All You Wanna Do live. I believe that this is the original Broadway cast. I find their accents kinda weird and they replaced "mates" with "friends", which I find very funny. Again, please don't arrest me, but here it is.