“Ruined by Yoko” - The Curse of Female Roles in Male Fame
If you’d never heard of the Beatles, I’d make an admittedly topical joke about you living under a rock; however, The Beatles were a 1960’s English rock band composed of four Liverpudlian male musicians, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They rose to prevalence in the mid-1960s alongside their innovative infusion of various genres with rock, and proceeded to sell over one billion records and become one of the most influential groups to ever exist. As a result of this, the Beatles acted as a direct inspiration for an eclectic selection of modern musicians, including Nirvana, Oasis and Lady Gaga, and were accredited as key components in the formation of a mid-century social and cultural revolution.
However, all that glory couldn’t last forever, and the dissolution of the musical partnership occurred officially in 1970, with the predominant cause of disbanding being attributed to the sudden death of the band’s original manager, Brian Epstein. Despite the rifts, rivalries and complications associated with being part of one of the most famous rock bands of all time, the public eye quickly drew to none other than John Lennon’s second wife, Yoko Ono, as the villain and instigator of the brand’s breakup. A common theory that was quickly rolled out amongst the devoted Beatlemaniacs and rock music lovers across the globe, and as such, the Beatles became yet another example of the concept of powerful men falling prey to perceived entrapment and subjugation at the hands of ‘temptress’ women.
Since the dawn of humanity, the concept of “men-ruining” women has existed throughout many forms, and changed shape alongside adapting cultural values. One of the earliest examples was that of the Abrahamist creation myth of Adam and Eve, in which God gave first humans Adam and Eve the opportunity to eat from all the trees in the Garden of Eden, with the exception of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; however, a snake tempted Eve into eating the forbidden fruit and giving a piece to Adam, which brought about the existence of death and evil. This idea was adapted by many Abrahamist figures to hold women accountable as the instigators of evil, including the early Christian author Tertullian, who stated that women were “the devil’s gateway.” Latterly, another example of the vilification of women was that of the relationship between Cleopatra and Mark Antony, in which Cleopatra was labelled by her political rivals as the woman who rendered the once-great Roman general Mark Antony weak, emasculated and overpowered by the sheer faculty of her bewitching charms. This idea was alluded to by Cassius Dio, a third century historian, when he detailed a speech supposedly presented by Antony and Cleopatra’s rival Octavian, (latterly known as Augustus) where he stated: “We Romans are the rulers of the greatest and best parts of the world, and yet we find ourselves spurned and trampled upon by a woman of Egypt. [Mark Antony] is either blind to reason or mad, for I have heard and can believe that he is bewitched by that accursed woman, and therefore disregards all our efforts to show him goodwill and humanity.” In more modern times, this concept was converted into the ‘femme fatale’ trope in film noir, which populated Hollywood screens and usually depicted the downfall of beguiling women who tempted men into immoral or improper behaviour. This was an attempt to suppress perceived ‘immorality’ in relation to the burgeoning growth of divorce, birth control and promiscuity in the mid-century social climate, as the downfall of these female characters usually resulted in their deaths to effectively restore the principled message of the storyline.
Despite the moral (and musical) dubiousness of Yoko Ono as a person, her media-constructed portrayal acts as a direct result of the ‘femme fatale’ seductress trope, where otherwise cruel or manipulative women lead men away from ‘the good path’ for their own selfish gain, which is, in practice, a stereotype motivated by misogyny. The main reason Yoko Ono was considered the saboteur of the Beatles was due to the depth of her capture of Lennon’s attentions, causing him to refocus his creativity to other avenues of life that did not include the Beatles; however, Lennon’s uncoupling from the Beatles had been in the works since even prior to Lennon and Ono’s relationship, as motivated by Lennon’s desire to create something fresh following more than a decade of the highs and lows of Beatlemania. Despite Ono’s seemingly abrasive nature, Lennon entered her into a position of vocality within the Beatles inner circle by choice, and as put by Philip Norman in the Beatles biography, ‘Shout!: The True Story of the Beatles,’ “Yoko Ono, quite simply, did things that John Lennon did not dare.”
Not only this, but the unending and vocal criticism of Yoko Ono (especially in second-hand scandal from Lennon’s behaviour) only seeks to revile a woman for the same actions as undertaken by her well-celebrated husband. A lot of the common issues that are discussed in relation to Yoko Ono’s condemnation are actually resulting issues created or supplemented by Lennon; the drugs, the affairs, the admittedly terrible relationship with Lennon’s son and Ono’s step-son, Julian Lennon. But, it’s harder to pack a punch against a much loved founding member of the Beatles, than it is a highly contentious and disreputable performance artist, like Yoko Ono. Even as stated by Lennon himself, “They want to hold onto something they never had in the first place. Anybody who claims to have some interest in me as an individual artist or even as part of the Beatles has absolutely misunderstood everything I ever said if they can't see why I'm with Yoko. And if they can't see that, they don't see anything. They're just jacking off to - it could be anybody. Mick Jagger or somebody else. Let them go jack off to Mick Jagger, okay? I don't need it.”
While there has been a cultural notion of ignoring the transgressions of eminent public figures, the acknowledgement of immoral behaviour as a byproduct of talent and and masculinity is one of the key factors in why Yoko Ono and John Lennon’s reputation differs so drastically; especially factoring in that Ono is a well celebrated avant-garde artist, though professedly not as well celebrated as The Beatles. Lennon’s own actions, including allegedly committing acts of domestic violence against his first wife, Cynthia Lennon, harbouring repeated affairs throughout multiple long-term relationships, avoiding and subsequently physically abusing his child, Julian Lennon (as well as leaving illegal substances around his own home unattended) and almost killing Bob Wooler in a fight during a birthday party are all behaviours that would qualify him to be remembered as a cruel and neglectful person, and not the peaceful, free-wheeling creative spirit that wrote songs like “Imagine.” Even this is overlooking the notion that if the downfall of the Beatles was as a result of Yoko Ono’s influence on Lennon, Lennon was a key element in maintaining that toxic relationship dynamic; Ono herself reportedly stated, "People said I followed him to the men's room, but he made me go with him. He thought that if he left me alone with the other Beatles even for a minute, I might go off with one of them."
This overarching obsession with Yoko Ono being the catalyst for the downfall of the Beatles only reflects a societal expectation that men cannot be perceived to fail, unless at the hands of ‘temptress’ women. Irrespective of whether or not John Lennon and Yoko Ono were good people, or whether or not they had a healthy relationship, Yoko Ono was not the sole (or even main) factor in the demise of the Beatles; Lennon’s choice to involve Ono in various creative elements of the band was as such: his choice. The more important discussion pertains to why we have allowed discussion of John Lennon’s destructive nature to take a backseat to his musical talents, and yet have held Yoko Ono responsible for the multifactorial dissolution of a band in which she never maintained a starring role. Hopefully with time, the consistent infantilization of fully grown men will dissipate, and the stereotype of women being the harbingers of male misfortune will be resigned to a more ‘primitive’ time.
Cover Photo by Eric Koch. Edited by Katrina Kwok.
