Sexist Salutations.

   I had a blast reading The Principles of Letter Writing, mainly because I was wondering what these posts would look like as a Facebook status or a Twitter update. Honestly. Just think about it. "Salutations of Delinquent Sons to the Same Parents..." in Facebook form. It becomes much less of a "My parents SUCK," forum to a: "Mom and Dad, I'm so sorry and I send you good fortune. And stuff." Entertaining -- truly!

   However, I couldn't help but think about how each of these Salutation forms are incredibly male-dominant. I understand that during the time period, women were still struggling with the right to education and we won't see more women until the end of our dive into this section, but it still made me chuckle at their audacity to title these sections the way they did.

   "The Emperor's Salutations to All Men"
   "Principally to Monks"
   "Salutations among Noblemen, Princes, and Secular Clergy"
   "The Salutation of a Teacher to His Pupil"
   "The Salutation of a Pupil to His Teacher"
   "Salutations of Parents to Their Sons"

   Even within the specific salutations guided towards both  parents from their son, the salutation is directed towards the patriarch:
 
   "Another example: "To N----, most beloved lord," or "dearest father," or "relation," or "brother," or "comrade,"..." (501, emphasis added).

   This is something I want to continue to think about -- both the modern implications of these texts in terms of digital multi modality and the feminist reading of the texts. I'm still unsure of which I want to continue with for my paper, but I know that they are both interesting for me. I'm not sure if you all noticed yet -- but I'm a Feminist.