Marylin Farwell offers a detailed response to the complicated genre of lesbian literature. Farwell recognizes the need to “’read against the grain’” in order to establish the encoded meanings and forms in lesbian writing that are not clearly placed across a fictional tale. It is with this type of reading perhaps that a lesbian narrative space is created by Cather in My Ántonia. Cather illustrates a story of Jim Burden and his relationship with Ántonia within a backdrop of events that can be appropriated as forming a lesbian narrative space. Cather’s characterisation, with effective use of binary oppositions, a male narrative voice and critique of conventional gender/norms and roles allows this lesbian narrative space to be drawn out from the main text.
In “Die Black Pervert” by Reginald Lockett, displays perfectly the militant and hyper-masculine mentality that was prominent throughout the movement. Also, ‘It is time for action’ by Bob Bennett is calling for a revolution in the poem but he states, “So you chumps, you punks, you faggots/ who ain’t movin’ yet.”. (quoted in Baraka, Neal 421) This quote clearly shows the attempt to portray gays as a group that is insufficient and inadequate. Another interpretation of this quote is that homosexuals have a type of coward-like demeanor, which, by means of the social norms of western civilization is considered feminine. Thus, giving the underlying message that homosexual males are in fact, not “men”.
Description In Siren Songs: Gender, Audiences, and Narrators in the Odyssey, Lillian Eileen Doherty shows us that the attitude of Odysseus, as well as of the Odyssey, is highly ambivalent toward women. Odysseus rewards supportive female characters by treating them as privileged members of the audience for his own tales. At the same time, dangerous female narrators--who threaten to disrupt or revise the hero's story--are discredited by the narrative framework in which their stories appear. Siren Songs synthesizes audience-oriented and narratological approaches, and examines the relationships among three kinds of audiences: internal, implied, and actual. The author prefaces her own reading of the Odyssey with an analysis of the issues posed by the earlier feminist readings on which she builds.
Paula C. Rust, in her article, “Two Many and Not Enough: The Meanings of Bisexual Identities”, paves a way for those people who have been marginalized and have been forced to categorize themselves into a monotheistic label of sexual orientation. Her thoughts are supported and based on the entire sample collected for the International Bisexual Identities, Communities, Ideologies, and Politics (IBICIP) study. Through the individuals responses, we are able to see how those who are attracted to both genders or have had romantic or sexual relations with members of both genders, deal with the oppression of an exclusive heterosexual/homosexual binary construction.There can be a little bias when the majority of the study is focused on middle-class, white, non-transgendered, highly-educated people, however, through the respondents insight, we are able to get a better understanding of their psychological, political and social relations. Furthermore, “...in a cultural world in which sexuality is seen as a source of identity and individuals who lack sexual identities are seen as deficient, individuals who do not fit neatly into culturally produced heterosexual, lesbian, and gay categories seek to claim the experiential space that can form the basis for bisexual identity” (34). This article is about claiming and making visible that third space that has been silenced and historically received hatred and even stated to not exist.
I feel that our concepts of gender and sex contribute to the ways we embrace gender and sex in diversity. I feel that we look at males in one light and females in another, we all at some point expect men to be the ones that are tough, and brave and look at women as being emotional. When it could be the other way around. There are still those who feel that women should be home makers and not working to where men should be out bringing home the bacon. Do our concepts of gender and sex contribute to our understanding of sexual orientation?
The research also extends the concept of the “double closet” in which the participants actually felt more conformable with their identity as homosexual males versus wealthy males (Hokemeyer, 2009). It would be interesting to find out if Low-SES homosexual males also identify more with being homosexual or being poor. Does being homosexual keep them from achieving all of their goals emotionally, personally and professionally? As is well known, problem of violence against homosexuals is so pervasive that they were a specifically identified group when the United States Congress ordered
Próspero brings up previous theories that suggest masculinity could be learned by other genders, including women and even LGBT populations, especially if these traits were valued in that society (such as excessive aggressiveness)(2008, 640-641). In his study, he found the gender of the perpetrator had effects on the type of intimate partner violence (644). Erbaugh makes another crucial observation when she remarks, “Isolation is a central tactic of abuse.” (453). The abusers take away the victim’s support network, encouraging co-dependence and leaving them nowhere to turn, socially, physically, economically. Not only is this abuser their familiarity, but they will be forced to give that up frequently for nothing familiar.
“The hardboiled condition is when a man or a woman, is pressed to physical, emotional, economic, and/or intellectual limits-past, present, and for the foreseeable future; it’s when the hammer is coming down and there’s not a friend you can count on, not a spare second for you to reflect.” Why is gender so important in this writing style? In the novels, The Big Sleep, Devil In a Blue Dress, and Red Harvest, exploring gender differences is an essential aspect when looking at power and identity. In the novel, The Big Sleep, Chandler sets up a reoccurring theme throughout the book that plays with the issue of gender. The exert above shows a stained glass panel showing a knight trying to save a maiden. Marlow is represented as a “hero” in the novel while he is also fighting to achieve his own goals in an idealistic manner, never losing his belief in his potential.
Does using them make an individual a racist, homophobic or sexist? Should anyone be allowed to use them? The “F” word brings a lot of controversy in modern society as well. “Fagget” is used to determine a person’s sexuality like the word gay. People are strongly against homosexuality and sometimes miss use the “F” word and are commonly used to insult gay men.
Gender is often viewed as a system of meanings and influences, affecting access to power and influencing social status (Crawford, 2003). It has been suggested (Crawford, 2003) that both men and women use humour and jokes in both same-gender and mixed situations in order to create a tool for gender construction. The following study aimed to overcome the controversy in this field somewhat, and hoped to provide a clearer understanding and answer to the recurring question of whether there is a significant amount of gender difference in humour appreciation. We hypothesise that there will be a significant effect of gender on humour type. The null hypothesis states that there will be no significant effect of gender on humour type.