Analyzing the gender roles of ‘Beauty’ and ‘Beast’ in Madame de Beaumont’s fairytale entitled “Beauty and the Beast” illustrates why I view women as the civilizing agent in their relationship with men. Madame de Beaumont, through her story “Beauty and the Beast,” showed her view of sexism and the typical gender role of both males and females at that time. She used ‘Beauty’ to describe ideal women while she used her sisters to show the cynicism in women. On the other hand, she used ‘Beast’ alone to show two personalities that men may have had. As seen in the plot, one may observe subservience in ‘Beauty’, dominance in ‘Beast’, and arrogance in Beauty’s sisters.
Such myths, Beauvoir explains, are derived trough literature and Social beliefs. The construct of the “essence of women” have been grossly misconstrued by a male dominated world. In her essay, she strongly argues about the two-sided opposition of the “self” and “other” through an existentialist perspective, which is through the experience of the human condition. She boldly announces that the male has appointed himself as “self” and the female as “other” in order to gain dominion and authority to call the female inferior, passive, or weak. I will take an in depth look at the contradictions and myths that men have created of women as outlined by Beauvoir.
The explanatory models of science, like the plots of literary works, depend on linguistic structures which are shaped by metaphor and metonymy. The feminist reader is perhaps most sensitized to those symbolic structures which employ gender as a major variable or value. When Francis Bacon announced, "I am come in very truth leading to you Nature with all her children to bind her to your service and make her your slave,"1 he identified the pursuit of modern science with a form of sexual politics: the aggressive, virile male scientist legitimately captures and enslaves a passive, fertile female nature. Mary Shelley was one of the first to comprehend and illustrate the dangers inherent in the use of sexist metaphors in the seventeenth-century scientific revolution
Pope's gender ideologies deflate the power, intelligence and beauty of women while supporting man's violence and belittling of women. The symbolism of the lock of hair can be viewed with two different types of gender criticism, one that defies the patriarchy and one that feeds into the power of the patriarch. In Ellen Pollak's essay, "Rereading The Rape of the Lock: Pope and the Paradox of Female Power," Pollak maintains that the lock of hair is a phallic symbol and therefore it is cut off to reduce Belinda to femininity. The symbolic loss of the Belle's much-coveted virginity is realized in the form of a castration or literal cutting off of that body part of her associated most strongly with those 'masculine' attributes of the coquette - her power, skill, and pride (Singh 472). Julie Kristeva, author of "Women's Time" while not accepting Pollak's theory of castration believes that castration is unique only to men: "castration results in the creation of a sense of separation which is symbolized by the penis"(Singh 472).
In this respect, Lidia Curti argues that “[t]he monsters that have recently invaded female fiction may be instances of new freedom, signs of the possibility of bringing them to life, after the times when monsters and doubles, just as witches and freaks, had to be suppressed and repressed” (qtd. in Linda Carter 214). They learn to elude the patriarchal gaze and to deconstruct it in multiple strategies. Destabilizing rather than internalizing the patriarchal binary thoughts, postmodern female monsters overtly and freely express their perverted sexuality while destroying the hierarchized structure of gender, sex and sexuality. Relying on the academic basis of Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity, I will display the contractedness of the categories of sex and gender, deconstructing its binary basis created by the dominant patriarchal discourse and demonstrating that these notions are culturally and discursively manipulated and constructed by the phallogocentric discourse, instead.
English Literature Discuss Coetzee’s presentation of Sex and gender roles in Disgrace. This essay discusses Coetzee’s presentation of sex and gender roles in Disgrace through an analysis of David’s attitudes and actions in relation to sex, his relationships with women and the rape of his daughter. David’s views on sex and gender roles are major themes in the book and are seen entirely from David’s perspective. Although the book is written in the third person it’s David’s thoughts and perspectives that dominate the book. I will explore the contradictions in the way that David behaves towards and views women and his inability to reconcile himself to his daughter’s passive acceptance of her rape.
Caged by the Patriarchal Society Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and “Fragment of an Analysis of a Case of Hysteria” by Sigmund Freud, both show women who exist (one in fiction and the other in reality) about a hundred years from one another. These women have learnt to survive in a world where rigid structure, manipulation, deceit, and loneliness are caused due to the tight control exerted by the patriarchal society. Dora and Jane struggled to escape this cage that was exerted due to male dominance. Dora and Jane Eyre are both objects of manipulation of the patriarchal society who resorted to forms of male dictated “female hysteria” in order to escape the rigid handcuffs placed upon them. Both Dora and Jane are quiet young when they first encounter some kind of hysteria, or symptoms of hysteria.
Jane Eyre voices strong opinions on; women’s rights, class and property, religious sincerity, love and justice. Brontë’s scrutiny of these topics relates flaws in each, despite the appearances of some. The novel is subtly humiliating towards males, displaying them a insincere. These flaws are demonstrated through…; consistent character action, The narration from a woman’s point of view establishes a strong voice for women rights, or lack thereof. At the commencement of the novel, Jane’s character is “… a picture of passion!” (pg7, Jane Eyre), when she rebels against harsh treatment at the hands of her cousin John.
Here, one can question Huxley's word choice through the feminist lens; the adjective "pneumatic" immediately constructs for readers the violent sexual imagery of the so-named drill. However, one could take from the word that Lenina is filled with air. This in particular seems damning to the female public within the "brave new world". The artificial child-bearing described prior to this extract
Sexism in The Hunger Games Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm once said, “The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, "It's a girl. "” Collins demands that we take notice of the fact that society has made it acceptable to degrade women. The Hunger Games urges society to recognize the way it diminishes women by sexual objectification. From a young age women are told they should act a certain way, usually to please others. In the article, “Controlling your reality” Paige Pfleger states “Reality television can also preserve old fashioned notions about sexual stereotyping.