Why Does Santa Have to be Male?

Victoria, I totally agree with you that Santa Claus, this originally religious figure, has been completely sexualized in many ways, including the sexy, Santa costumes for women. I could not even find a picture of a woman in a full Santa suit! However, your blog also got me thinking why Santa Claus is never portrayed as a woman. It is almost ironic, that even after the significant change to Santa Claus, with him going from a religious figure to a very fictionalized character, he cannot be transformed into a women. So in this blog, I am going to explore why jolly old St.Nick is not a woman and why perhaps he should be a she. So start rewriting Christmas songs everywhere because the she-Claus is coming to town!

History of Santa and Gender Roles

There are many stories about the origins of St. Nicholas. For one, St. Nicholas is the name of a Greek bishop who lived in what is now Turkey, in the fourth century(Whipps). He was supposedly generous to the poor and is credited for giving girls dowries so they would not have to prostitute themselves (Whipps). Another legend was that during the Yuletide period in Germany, where spirits and ghosts were frequently encountered, the god “Odin”, who resembles the modern Santa Claus, would come and lead hunts to find the feared spirits (Simek). Regardless whether either of these, or any of the many other stories of the origins of St. Nick are true, they all have one thing in common. St. Nicholas in all these stories is a man.

Why is this?

When Santa Claus first made an appearance, nearly every one of authority and influence was a man due to the gender stereotypes that exist in society. Men ran the government, men ran the church and only men were allowed to work outside the home or own property. Women, on the other hand, had to cook, clean and run the household, though they were in no way the head of it. Women were not equal citizens in any way, shape or form. They were not even persons under the law. However, as Judith Butler remarks these gender divides are not natural but created by people over time (Klassen,80). Any “naturalness” of this system comes from the fact nearly every women has taken on and preformed these roles for at least the past few centuries (Klassen, 80). Butler argues to live is to perform and that is what women, and men, do in these roles that their forefathers have created (Harris).

“Male Gaze”

Du Bois discusses how African Americans view themselves through the “white gaze”. He argues African Americans are truly both African and American but that they view and define themselves through the gaze of their fellow “white” men (Harris). Well, if the “white” gaze is transformed into the “male gaze” it can be applied to women in the same way. Women, have historically represented themselves using the descriptors of their male counterparts (Klassen, 100). Unfortunately, media, including tales, literature, radio and more recently television, have furthered the “male gaze” and reinforced its thinking (Klassen, 100). This has resulted in the idea that Suzanna Walters calls the “one real image” (Klassen, 100) One real image refers to the fact that representations of women have resulted in people believing women can only be one way (Klassen, 100). Stuart Hall discusses this very idea when he talks about representation because he states that a representation is simply one perspective or way to view something (Harris). Both Walters and Hall argue that a single representation can in no way capture the whole image of who someone or some people are (Harris; Klassen 100 — 101) and clearly, women began to agree.

Women’s Movements

In the 1700's thinking began to change and feminism was born. Mary Wollenscraft wrote about the rights of women. She argued that if women did not have education, then she would “…not make a good companion for men, she will stop the progress of knowledge and virtue…” (Klassen, 94). Wollenscraft took the argument of the men in her day that men needed to educate their rational mind and applied it to women (Klassen, 94). Through this she advocated for a quasi-equality, at least on the education front, and this slowly turned into the call for greater rights across the board for females everywhere (Klassen, 95). First came the recognition of women as peoples followed slowly by the right to vote, work and even own property (Klassen, 95).

World Wars — A Game Changer

Between 1914 and 1918 and then again between 1939 and 1945, with so many men off to war, life could not just stop at home. Countries needed people to care for the farms in order to produce food and to work in the factories producing weaponry and goods for the men overseas. So, who did these countries turn to? women! Government propaganda was used to convince women to role up their sleeves and come help out (History Channel). They were encouraged to take on the roles of their fathers, husbands and brothers and until the end of the war, no one really questioned the sudden, radical shift in roles and ideology. There was a job to get done and that was simply that. However, after the war, men returned home and wanted their jobs back but women did not want to give them up to go back to their jobs in the home. Socialist feminism grew out of this disagreement between the two genders in the 1960's. Social feminism studies and advocates for the rights of women in the work force and explored their unpaid labour at home (Klassen, 97). They argued that as women entered the workforce alongside their fathers, husbands and brothers, their work at home did not lessen so it was as if they were working two jobs (Klassen, 97). With tensions running high between the genders over the division of labour, society was forced to look at and even alter their view of women.

So Why Not Change Santa to a Woman?

Even as those roles have altered in modern society, for instance, we now have female super heroes, Santa Claus has been so popularized as a man, it would be significantly complicated to change and explain to Santa Claus’ biggest fans, young children, about the gender change. Thus, society has consciously chosen to keep Santa Claus a man. However, as I have shown throughout this blog, things have significantly changed for since the original Santa Claus came on scene so who knows what will happen in the future. As women gained more rights, society has become more secular. Religions became less traditional and what defined a religion became as ambigious as how people have begun to define gender. Emile Durkheim stresses the idea that religion is a reflection of society just as Judith Butler says gender is social construct (Klassen, 9–10, 80). Thus, if Santa Claus can become a non religious figure, he can become a she.

I will be the first to admit, there will be critics out there who argue this cannot possibly happen. These critics may even attempt to apply old gender roles in order to support their position. They could argue that women would spend too much time perfecting each house’s decorations, reapplying make-up or waiting for CAA to come fix the sleigh, but I disagree. Santa Claus is now a fictional, non-religious character. It can be whatever gender (but also colour, race or nationality) someone wants it to be. It is a very real possibility Santa Claus could be a strong, independent woman who does not wear make-up and can fix the mechanisms on the sleigh. So, as Christmas music begins on radio stations everywhere, I urge you to change the lyrics to “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” to say “she’s making the list, she’s checking it twice and she is going to find out who is naughty or nice, because she-Claus, is coming tonight!”

References

“AMERICAN WOMEN IN WORLD WAR II: Rosie the Riveter”. History Channel. Web. 2010. http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/american-women-in-world-war-ii

Harris, Jennifer. “Mass Mediation of Religion”. Lecture. University of Toronto. Toronto, Canada. October 20 2014.

Klassen, Chris. “Religion and Popular Culture.” In Religion and Popular Culture: A Cultural Studies Appproach, 7–28. Don Mills: Oxford University Press, 2014

Simek, Rudolf (2007) translated by Angela Hall. Dictionary of Northern Mythology, pages 379–380.

Whipps, Heather. “Santa Claus: The Real Man Behind the Myth”. MSNBC. Web. December 12 2009. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/34525202/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.VGfP-fnF-0I