gender

• most men assumed Venetian women were promiscuous which explains why female sexuality is a threat to men in the play
• women were seen as objects of their husbands and fathers - a prize
• Jacobean society was patriarchal - women were lower than men on the chain of being. Desdemona pushes this boundary by disobeying her father and Othello
• Being a prostitute, Bianca is viewed as lower on the chain of being
• Gender and race overlap in the play - several characters believe black men sexually contaminate white women