For this section of my study, I have sampled twenty-five examples of traditional Scots songs from a variety of sources within which this dominance is evident and central to their narrative/existence. By analysing the songs within Appendix .I through a feminist lens, using both feminist theory and analysis, this section of my study will attempt to reveal layers of hegemonic masculinity that are not only responsible for the female characters’ suffering within, but which reflect social attitudes of the past that are still evident today.

This study does not deny the existence of songs in which men may experience abuse at the hands of women. Songs from the tradition, such as ‘The Bald Headed End of the Broom’, detail physical abuse inflicted by a female character upon a male, although these are greatly outnumbered by tales of the abuses and mistreatment of women.4
Tracy has noted: “…women are also often initiators of intimate partner violence and intimate violent acts almost as often as men… The fact is that male violence against women is far more damaging; generally occurs in a far different context (aggressive dominance vs. self defence); and typically has a more pernicious meaning (establishment of control)…” (TRACY 2007: 573).

Female violence towards men often occurs as a result of the dominance placed on them by those men, against which they feel they must retaliate; male violence is often an aggressive act, reasserting power and control over the female in question. The vulnerable position women find themselves in within many of these songs is a result of this control and oppression by men within their lives and their wider cultural surroundings. Violence towards women can be shown to be a much more frequent and disturbing occurrence, as it still is today.

4.1 Traditional Scots Songs and Patriarchal Dominance

Appendix I. and II. contain a selection of twenty-five traditional songs, from a variety of sources and time periods within traditional Scots song in Scotland, chosen for their discussion of or narrative plot involving sexual violence, sexism and evidence of patriarchal dominance as the driving factor of these.5

When coding these songs for ‘sexual violence’, one uses this term to refer to or identify, as defined by Kelly, “any physical, visual, verbal or sexual act experienced by a woman or girl at the time, or later, as a threat, invasion or assault that has the effect of hurting or degrading her/and or takes away her ability to control intimate contact” (KELLY 1988:41). ‘Violence’ is here used in place of ‘assault’, as violence more accurately reflects the man’s desire for power and aggressive control during acts of sexual violence. Physical abuse, as found, for example, within the examples of songs that speak of domestic abuse, can be identified as an extended expression or manifestation of male sexual violence too, “rather than (a) discrete, disconnected issue…”, as it, too, is an expression of male sexual domination over women and the subordination of females (RADFORD 1992:3).

Here, I detail a few of the themes that emerged from Appendix II.

Silencing of Women

One particularly noticeable characteristic within Appendix II is the silencing of women within song narrative. From the table of twenty five songs, only three are autobiographical in nature, from the perspective of the suffering woman: 4. ‘Why Should I?’, 14. ‘What Can A Young Lassie?’ and 1. ‘Blue Bleezin Blind Drunk’ (Appendix II). 4. and 14. are accounts by young women expressing their despair and contempt towards their forced marriage to a much older gentleman; a widely prevalent historic and, sadly, current practice.6 Comedic in nature – “Why should I, a brisk young lassie be forced tae wed a feckless auld man?” – it is often possible for an audience to overlook the serious nature of forced marriage, and so, although autobiographical, empathy from the woman may not be felt.

6 “Marriage before the age of 18 is a fundamental violation of human rights. Yet among women aged 20 to 24 worldwide, one in four were child brides” (UNICEF 2016).

Women are often portrayed as passive characters with little control of their fate or the telling of their mistreatment. Songs are rarely told from the victim’s perspective, unlike ‘Blue Bleezin…’; perhaps one of the more emotively powerful as a result of this (Appendix VIII, Song 1). Silencing of women in song contrasts women’s interaction with song as “women enjoyed a prominent role as the purveyors of oral culture” (HOUSTOUN 1989: 139-40).

Physical Dominance

One of the more apparent manifestations of male control is physical dominance over females; both sexually and violently. Ten of these songs contain a murder or attempted murder by men upon women and eight with described, suggested or attempted sexual assault upon a woman. Caputi notes: “femicide is an extreme expression of patriarchal “force”. It, like that other form of sexual violence, rape… is a social expression of sexual politics…and ritual enactment of male domination” (CAPUTI 1992: 204-5).

Violence exists within these songs as a means by which men consolidate their power over women, which is representative of social attitudes at the time, which condoned this behaviour and patriarchal domination. In current society, this is still evident within statistics surrounding femicide: In 2015, 126 women were killed my men in their lives in the UK.7 The male’s sense of entitlement to a female’s body is still evident.

7 http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/mar/08/jess-phillips-reads-out-list-of-120-women- killed-by-men-in-past-year

Mockery of women’s physical appearance

Several of the song’s content solely speaks degradingly of women’s physical appearance, such as 13. ‘Ah Widna Gee A Button Fur Her’ and 19.‘Nae Hair On’t’. (Appendix II). In current society, particularly within the media, women are often valued based on appearance rather than other characteristics. These attitudes have survived from before the composition of these songs, which laugh at women’s expense.

Abuser known to victim

An important consideration when selecting songs was that the experiences within them contain events and aspects of women’s experience that are still evident today in order to provide myself with a number of songs which can raise awareness of relatable experiences that still take place. In terms of assault on women, it has been noted that women are at most risk from men they know in their lives: amongst victims of sexual assaults aged 12 and up, approximately 80% of the victims know the offender.8 In many songs within Appendix I. and II., women face abuses at the hands of men known to them in their families, as well as husbands and men of status. There are also a number where the men are unknown, and this reflects random attacks on women by unknown attackers, which still unfortunately take place.

8 Sex Offender statistics: <http://meganslaw.ca.gov/facts.htm&gt;

Female resistance/retaliation

Although in this selection, women are largely victims at the hands of men, there are some examples of retaliation and/or resistance by the female within the song. The dominance in physicality and status of men within the song usually prevails against the female’s attempts, however, as in real situations of this nature, women are often victims despite fighting against the injustice against them, which again, provides me with examples of songs true to current day experience of a similar nature.

4.2 Song Analysis

Here, I will conduct literary analysis of six songs from Appendix I, each containing a different example of abuse faced by women at the hands of men, as identified in the coding within Appendix II. This then provides the study with song examples that have not only been identified as abusive and misogynistic in content or nature, but songs with relatable elements to current abuses to take forward into the performance aspect of this research.

4.2.1 The Mill O’ Tifty’s Annie/Andra Lammie

The first of these songs is the disturbing, historical Aberdeenshire ballad ‘The Mill O’ Tifty’s Annie’, or ‘Andra Lammie’, as it is also known (Appendix VIII, Song 6). It is said this ballad is based on true events as a grave, dated 1673, which existed in Fyvie, was believed to be the grave of the unfortunate main female character Annie, or Agnes Smith (Figure. 1). Due to its historical basis, this ballad provides us with possible insight into the treatment of women and gender inequality during the period within which it is set.

Figure 1: The original inscription on the grave of Annie or Agnes Smith, the main subject of ‘The Mill O’ Tifty’s Annie’, Fyvie, Scotland.

Annie, the central female character of the ballad, falls in love with the trumpeter Andra Lammie, whom her family greatly disapprove of due to his low status. Annie remains true to her love throughout the song despite facing mockery and contempt from her Father, who, alongside her brother, beat her to death for going against their wishes and dishonouring their family.

Figure 2: A turret on Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire, depicting the object of Annie’s love, the trumpeter Andra Lammie.

Male dominance and control are the driving forces of the plot and suffering throughout the tragic narrative: from the offset, ownership of Annie is established, as she is introduced secondary to her Father, despite her central role within the narrative.

“In the Mill O’ Tifty lived a man…He had a lovely dochter dear…” (Appendix VIII, Song 6 ).

From the offset, she is silenced and positioned as secondary, as she is under her father’s control and is in his possession, highlighting the disparity of power between men and women. Dworkin identifies this inequality: “…Men have it (power), generally speaking; she does not because she is a woman” (DWORKIN 1987: 171).

He keeps Annie under lock and key when he hears of her admiration for Andra:

“Her faither locked the door at night, laid by the keys fu canny…” (Appendix VIII, Song 6 ).

Issues of control “…appear central to the ideals of masculinity…” within many of the traditional Scottish ballads; here it manifested within Annie’s father’s physical and protective control over her, which highlights the societal pressures and that existed at the time of composition and within the ballad narrative, to fulfil gendered roles in a “cultural system of male hegemony” (WOLLSTADT 2002: 296). Annie’s youth within the ballad may give credence to her father’s controlling behaviour within the song, however the assertion of this control continues throughout the ballad, despite Annie’s strong stance on her feelings towards her love.

The culmination of Annie’s refusal to stop loving a man below her station is death at the hands of her family. Although beaten in part by each family member, her father and brother play the most damning and violent role in her painful demise and eventual death:

“Her father struck her wondrous sore and also did her Mother,
Her sister also did her scorn, but woe tae be her brother.
Her brother struck her wondrous sore wae cruel strokes and many, He broke her back ken on the door for loving Andra Lammie.” (Appendix VIII, Song 6 ).

Historically, subjecting women to violence has been one of the main ways men have established dominance and control over women, as Dworkin has noted: “Men must make women afraid and compliant, including through beatings…” (DWORKIN 1987:11). This violence and dominance stems from a mind-set that upholds the belief that women are the property of males within a family; older traditions still evident reflect this value. [9]

She is seen as an object, a possession to be passed on from dominant male to dominant male. Male sexual proprietariness can be considered responsible for murderous acts against women as “…Men exhibit a tendency to think of women as sexual and reproductive “property” that they can own and exchange” (WILSON AND DALY: 85). When this is challenged, this can lead to a violent response in an attempt to re-establish control, as in this ballad.

‘Mill O’ Tifty’ is first, and foremost, a tale of a gruesome honour killing; ‘honour killing’ here referring to the murder of someone who has been accused of bringing shame upon their family. More commonly associated within Islamic countries and immigrant communities, between 2010 and 2014 11,000 cases of honour crimes, including murder, battery and abduction, were recorded in UK, proving this ancient way of thinking and barbarity is also found within our own multi-cultural country (BBC: 2015). Martin Simpson acknowledges the disturbing inclusion of honour killing within this Scottish ballad and our own disillusionment with the act, stating: “Just incase we thought honour killing to be a shocking new event, here it is in our high society” (SIMPSON 2007). A parallel can be drawn between the experience of this historic character and that of the female born in rural areas of India: “What is clear is that she has very little say in her own destiny, little sense of her own rights”. [10] Annie remains strong and true to her love, despite the controlling forces around her.

9 …such as the tradition of a suitor approaching a Father for permission to marry his daughter and the handing over of a daughter, by her Father, to her new husband as part of many marriage ceremonies.

10 http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14142154.In_India__where_giving_birth_can_be_a_d eath_sentence/
11 As noted in the comments section: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcH0qtyvbQE&gt;

4.2.2 The Wee Cooper Of Fife

Current traditional song performers interviewed have detailed they would not perform, or would feel uncomfortable performing, this song in public due to its abusive content and promotion of antiquated traditionally sexist household roles and violence, despite its prior popularity; in the past this song has been performed by The Corries, American singer, Burl Ives, and was, somewhat shockingly, widely sung and taught within British primary schools [11] (POLWART 2014: Appendix V, 2).

The song’s origins date back to Shakespearean times; the song is a tale of one man’s disdain for his wife’s reluctance to perform her stereotypically traditional, domestic wifely duties (WARNER 1984: 36). As a result he resorts to beating her until she yields (Appendix VIII, Song 7). At the end of the song the narrator addresses the listener, stating: “A’ ye wha gotten a gentle wife, Send ye for the wee cooper o’ Fife”, suggesting and promoting the idea that violence is an acceptable means of asserting control over a woman (Ibid). Dworkin identifies the role of violence in patriarchal control within the home: “Men must make women afraid and complicit, including through beatings… women must be house-bound and servile” (DWORKIN 1987: 11). In order to regain control, the male must assert physical dominance over the woman.

Hastie has noted the manifestation of tension surrounding women’s newfound sexual liberation within Appalachian ballads; depictions of violence against women in song illustrate disdain for the “cultural modernism that threatens the hegemony of the past” (HASTIE 2011: iv). So, too, could this be said of ‘The Wee Cooper of Fife’, in its condoning of physical abuse and traditional gender roles.

The jaunty melody that accompanies the song contributes to its misogynistic content:

Figure 3: Transcription of cheery melody that accompanies the lyrics of ‘The Wee Cooper of Fife’, contrasting the song’s violent narrative

The jarring disparity between the sadistic abusive act contained within and its upbeat, comedic melody highlights laughter at the expense of the victimised female.

In regards to performing this, Rod Paterson notes this comedy song must “operate…in the context of the time, otherwise it would be so outlandish…” as the values and depiction within are extremely old fashioned (PATERSON 2014: Appendix IV).

4.2.3 Blue Bleezin’ Blind Drunk/Mickey’s Warning

The Scottish traveller and traditional singer Belle Stewart learned this song from an unknown ploughman at an annual tattie-lifting, and her daughter, Sheila Stewart, added this to her own repertoire (ROWE 2002: n.p.). A comparatively modern song, discovered in the early 20th century, it is an autobiographical account of one woman’s abuse at the hands of her alcoholic husband. The majority of other songs sampled within Appendix I. are narrated by an observer, male character or solely contain brief moments of dialogue from the female character(s), which I would argue is representative of Scots song as a whole: female’s personal narratives are greatly outnumbered by men’s (Appendix. II).

When discussing the documentation of women’s stories throughout Scottish history between 1500-1800, Houston notes women were “…omitted entirely from accounts of the period, women are commonly treated as peripheral and unimportant”, thus positioning their experiences as secondary in importance to men’s (HOUSTOUN 1989:118). This would appear true of women’s voices within songs. This relatively modern song marks a development in the documentation of women’s own stories within traditional song. Sheila Stewart added the third verse to this song in order establish a “stronger women’s viewpoint”, liberating the female character (ROWE 2000: n.p).

The song is a tale of alcoholism and domestic abuse; although the woman clearly states she is victim of domestic violence, the song almost offers a justification for this, detailing the woman chose to marry for wealth, but soon discovered her husband was an abusive alcoholic: “ I married a man for his money, but he’s worse than the devil himsel’” (Appendix VIII, Song 1).

A parallel could be drawn between this inclusion of monetary incentive and the practice of victim blaming, evident with current society. [12] The original motive for marriage provides the male with a justification for the abuse.

The song is descriptive in its depiction of the violence in verse two:

“For when Mickey comes home I get battered,
He batters me all black and blue,
He throws me about from the kitchen to the bedroom right through to the room…” (Appendix VIII, Song 1).

The clarity of the lyrics and the accessibility of the language enable the listener to clearly identify the abuse and injustices. She is a victim of abuse at the hands of her husband, within a domestic setting. Although, arguably, the song attempts to justify this abuse by detailing her desire for his money, this only further highlights the control of men over women within the song. She must sacrifice her safety, as she must depend upon him, despite the abuse she experiences. Cynthia Ezell disagrees that patriarchy is responsible for an individual husbands’ violence towards his wife arguing, rather, that it “creates an environment ripe for abuse” (EZELL 1998: 39).

12 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/28/culture-rape- victim-blame-too-far

4.2.4 Laird O’ The Dainty Dounby

‘Laird O’ The Dainty Dounby’ is a rape ballad; a girl is approached by a stranger, the Lord and protagonist, whilst working on her Father’s property, and after refusing his sexual advance, he rapes her:

“To lie ae nicht that’ll never, never dee Suppose ye’re the Laird o’ the Denty Dounby, But he catched her by the middle sae sma’ He laid her doon where the grass grew lang

It was a lang, lang time till he raised her up again, Sayin’ “Ye’re lady owre the Denty Dounby”.

(Appendix VIII, Song 8)

Rape within traditional song is rarely depicted as the aggressive act it is, here shown in the use of phrases such as “catched her by the middle sae sma’” and “laid her doon”, which suggest a playful gentleness, undermining the seriousness of the act taking place.

Post-rape the daughter is silent, as the men around her dictate decisions in her life, and the song narration: “Being owned and being fucked are or have been virtually synonymous experiences in the lives of women” (DWORKIN 1987: 66). This male entitlement to women and their bodies continues through the rest of the ballad, as, when her attacker discovers her ill health, or assumed pregnancy, he takes her from her family and places her in his keep as his Lady. Prior to this, money is exchanged between the Lord and the father:

“To face the lassie’s father some money had to pay…” (Appendix VIII, Song 8). Brownmiller has noted the past business-like nature of a Father’s ownership of his daughter: “Criminal rape, as a patriarchal father saw it, was a violation of the new way of doing business. It was, in a phrase, the theft of virginity, an embezzlement of his daughter’s fair price on the market.” (BROWNMILLER 1975: 18). The Father allows his daughter to be taken by her attacker, despite his actions against her, as she has lost her value now she is pregnant and no longer virtuous. Her Mother and Father rejoice at their daughter’s match:

““O,” says the auld man, “what will we dae?”
“O,” says the auld wife, “we’ll dance tae we dee.” “O,” says the auld man, “I think I’ll dae that tae Since she’s Lady owre the Denty Doonby.”“ (Appendix XIII, Song 8).

They are concerned with her wealth and societal position over her well-being. Although, unlike other ballads here analysed, some may argue the abuser makes amends for his wrongdoing by placing the girl within his keep. However, the daughter is given no say in the matter, further highlighting male societal dominance and control.