Category: Gender

Can gender be a challenge when learning a new language? When learning a new language, there can be many aspects like environment, motivation, interest, etc. Gender can be defined in a biological or identity aspect. In our case, we will many refer to two genders, female and/or male. Although, gender may not seem to be a challenge when learning a new language, it may actually become a difficulty when learning.

There have been multiple cases examining to see if gender can play as a factor in language acquisition. Gender did not show any effect when it came to native and non native speaker interactions, but female native speakers were willing to negotiate more in conversation than male speakers. Women interact for input while men interact to produce more output. Women talk to receive input on their topic and how they can become better situated with the topic. While when men converse, talk in order to show their superiority or try to challenge one another. This shows that women have the upper hand when it comes to conversation speaking with one other individual.

Women have typically shown to be very positive and have a stronger emotional and cognitive connection when it came to learning and using a language in a conversation. In a case study, women have shown to use more strategies when it comes to language learning. Males, on the other hand, preferred to use more analytical strategies when learning their second language (SL). Females would use fourteen strategies while males used only one when it came to conversational speaking. Males are more relaxed when it comes to conversation where unlike women who tend to be more nervous when conversing with others. But women did show to have used these strategies more naturally in conversations, unlike males.

It was proven that females had practiced more than males did when it came to the SL because females had a better learning strategy for learning vocabulary. It was also shown that females used more memory strategy when attempting to learn as well as having more self regulated learning strategies in learning than males. This is due to their ability to having a better conscious control than males. This enacts to gender behavior, where females are more capable of paying more attention to their SL learning. Males are less likely to feel fear and anxiety in public speaking whereas females can easily become anxious when speaking. Males tend to detach themselves from unpleasant emotions in order to obtain more self control. So although females do use more strategies to speak, males still manage to feel more relaxed in conversations.

Although women do have an advantage when it comes to learning a second language, it is not much of a difference for males. Males can be more comfortable when it comes to speaking to others whereas females become more nervous. Males also have a more naturalistic advantage than females in an emotional connection to language.With this said, gender does play a role when it comes to learning a second language.

Citations

1. Tseng, Wen-Ta, et al. “Self-Regulation in Language Learning: Scale Validation and Gender Effects.” Perceptual and Motor Skills, vol. 124, no. 2, Apr. 2017, pp. 531–548, doi:10.1177/0031512516684293.
2. Yang, Mihwa. ‘Language Learning Strategies of English as a Foreign Language University Students in Korea.’ Order No. 3404469 Indiana State University, 2010. Ann Arbor: ProQuest. Web. 19 Nov. 2019.
3. Rafek, Mahfuzah Binti, et al. “Gender and Language: Communication Apprehension in Second Language Learning.” Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 123, no. C, 2014, pp. 90–96.
4. Pavlenko, Aneta., et al. Multilingualism, Second Language Learning, and Gender. De Gruyter, 2001.

This essay will attempt to introduce the ideas and points that will be used to critically discuss the concerns over the sexualization of girls and the extent this reflects normative and naturalized assumptions about childhood and sexuality. My essay will touch on several points and will establish how the discourse of sexualization obscures sexism and unwittingly reinforces patriarchal constructions of female sexuality. This prominent discourse ensures that young people and girls particularly are characterized as victims and targets of dangerous sexualization and children are not taken sincerely as both social actors and meaning-makers.

Sexualization is quite a complex concept and process that is very really articulated in the debate. What we get is a narrow definition or an assumption. Discussions made throughout my essay will look at some of the debates around sexualization with reference to key and recent government reports such as the Bailey Review (2011) ‘Letting Children Be Children’ which gave recommendations regarding sexualization, and so my essay will attempt to look at some of the assumptions within them. It is emphasized that these naturalized assumptions about childhood are that children are in a process of development, that their sexuality evolves slowly, and that anything that is too much, too soon, is harmful. The framing of the discourses around sexualization is also highly gendered; girls are supposed to be at risk and boys are not at risk at all.

Access to communication technologies over the years has transformed, and so increased sexualized imagery in the media and on the Internet has increased, which has brought about alarm about its impact on children. Children, especially females, are to be seen as at risk, and any sexual behavior they partake in that is deemed sexual is also considered risky due to childhood and sexuality being constructed as antithetical. The social constructionist view of childhood and sexuality is the idea that both are socially constructed. Foucault makes known that in today’s Western society, sex views have sustained a huge fluctuation over the past centuries, and so a need to protect from sexualization has risen, whilst these views are dominant in academic discourses, on the other hand, pragmatic conceptions of childhood and sexuality continue to consider such ideas as natural.

What is important in terms of these debates is the idea of proper and improper sexualization, and Foucault recognizes points that have connected both power and learning to sex, including the pedagogy of children’s sex. Proper sexualization is where adults, teachers, parents, and professionals are to determine the time of access to sexual knowledge and what sexual knowledge is given. Improper sexualization is where children take control themselves and find out information themselves, and all of the debates around sexualization are based on the idea that the child is passive; a passive sponge that lives in a sexualized culture and is unable to resist any of the messages they receive both in terms of sexualization and in the media.

Part of what we have a concern about in terms of the representation of sexualization and children and sexualized behavior is what we can call a cultural incongruence. The construction of children is to be seen as pure innocence, so to see children and child behavior in what is according to definitions a ‘sexual’ way is so incoherent. What is seen as acceptable and unacceptable is solely based on what adults say, and children’s voices are not listened to. A very mechanistic and passive view of children is presented, and many argue the idea that once children become sexual, they become a risk to others. Here there will also be a discussion on a legacy of discourses such as the sexualization of older imagery and how girls are encouraged and socialized to use sexuality to get their way, and so the sexualization of girls is imminent. Similarly, adult meaning is being imposed on situations and images, and children merely take these situations and images and incorporate them into their own meaning. This will be emphasized by discussing the work of William Corsaro (2003) and interpretive reproduction.

Reports such as the Bailey Review (2011) ‘Letting Children Be Children’ and Rush and La Nauze’s ‘Corporate Paedophilia: The Sexualisation of Children in Australia’ (2006) are examples of how boys are left out from many reports around the discussions of sexualization, and even though it is mainly girls who are exposed to sexual imagery and are the ones deemed at-risk, boys are also not immune. Children soak up images they are presented with from the adult world and interpret them into their own with whatever tools they have, and so being exposed to sexualized media will most likely lead to a domino effect of boys sexualizing girls. It is assumed that sexualization is homogeneous and affects all children in the same way. However, boys are expected to be strong and dominant emphasizing sexualization is still a problem for both genders.

Concerns about the sexualization of children and young people in media, products, and services are also predominant. There have been many debates surrounding problems, such as female clothing, advertisements, and girls’ magazines, encouraging sexualization and impractical ideals of what women should look like. Concerns have also been constructed about children’s products/toys, for example, the body and colors of dolls. It could be argued this emphasizes the assumption that exposing children and young people to sexualized images and products at young ages has been argued to lead to premature sexualization.

In conclusion, to a large extent concerns over the sexualization of girls reflects normative and naturalized assumptions about childhood and sexuality. There have been many discourses around sexuality that emphasize the idea of children and young people as a risk as they are victims and targets of dangerous sexualization. A very mechanistic and passive view of children is presented in key debates around sexualization. In turn, children are not taken sincerely as both social actors and meaning-makers, and it should be heard that sexualization both affects girls and boys and what is deemed as sexual and not sexual should not be solely based on adult thinking.

Introduction

The government has been committed to solving the problem of social poverty for many years. New Labour also issued new policies on child poverty and pensions and promised to solve these problems (Bradshaw, J., 2003, P5). Labour’s measures deal mainly with child poverty and retirement security for the elderly and poor communities. Although the measures are not aimed at solving the problem of gender inequality and poverty but improve the environment for children to grow up in the family, the fact is that women are the main caregivers of children in most families, reducing child poverty also means that various policies have an implicit gender dimension (UK Government, 2001). There is evidence that relevant policies have made progress in a macro sense, alleviating economic pressures on women and parents with children (Bradshaw, J., 2003, P5).

Body

1. Gender differences at work

In the 1999 Family Resources Survey, women were found to have a higher poverty rate in their households. Nearly 25% of female households earn less than the median, while 22% of male households earn the same amount (Bradshaw, J., 2003, P3). Women are also more likely to lack two or more social necessities and are more likely to rely on income support, according to surveys of poverty and social exclusion. Evidence from research shows that women are more likely to be poor in society, and the persistence of occupational segregation leads to the emergence of gender gaps (Bradshaw, J., 2003, p4). However, women’s need to bear and care for children leads to the job prospects and status of many women in the labor market, especially women with less education, who are more negatively affected than ordinary women (Bradshaw, J., 2003, p4). Moreover, most part-time jobs are filled by women, and their jobs tend to be low-paid (Van Lancker, W., 2012). As a result, the wage gap between full-time and part-time workers is widening.

This also highlights the importance of investigating factors that contribute to the gender pay gap. Costa Dias, M., Joyce, R., and Parodi, F. (2020) studied some key factors of the gender wage gap and found in their study that the gender wage gap would gradually expand with the growth of children. Women who may take time off from paid work or work part-time may slow down women’s wage growth through skill depreciation or skill accumulation. In addition, the gender wage gap will also be reflected in different occupations or working conditions, and this gap will be reflected in occupational differentiation (Costa Dias, M., Joyce, R. and Parodi, F., 2020). However, occupational differentiation can result in men and women being assigned to different occupations. Rudman et al. (2012) pointed out in the study that women and men are naturally considered to have different abilities and tastes, and the study showed that men are more active than women. Women tend to have more typically female abilities, such as social and nurturing skills, while men are seen as stronger more logical, and better at management-skill types. Similarly, Levanon, A. and Grusky, D.B. (2016) also pointed out that essentialist discrimination also exists in the workplace. Employers will internalize essentialist assumptions and assign jobs according to these assumptions. Costa Dias, M., Joyce, R. and Parodi, F. (2020) evaluated the quantitative importance of gender wage differences from the longitudinal data of households since 1991 and established an empirical model of wage dynamics. And found that full-time hours were a key factor in wage growth. The model shows that the wages of men and women increase with age in their 20s but gradually increase over the next 20 years of the life cycle, much of which is related to the arrival of children. Women need to pay more attention to their children (Costa Dias, M., Joyce, R. and Parodi, F., 2020). Bertrand, M., Goldin, C., and Katz, L.F. (2010) also pointed out in their study on American MBA graduates that career interruption and working hours were the main drivers affecting the salary gap. In general, taking part-time jobs has stalled women’s work. For college graduates, work experience was a decisive factor in explaining the post-delivery gap (Costa Dias, M., Joyce, R. and Parodi, F., 2020). Paul, G. (2008) also found in the study that the gender wage gap would gradually expand in the life cycle, especially when the arrival of children was closely related, and paid jobs for women would be negatively affected in terms of salary and employment rate.

2. Temporary employment and poverty

Van Lancker, W. (2012) studied the relationship between temporary employment and poverty from a European perspective, using the EU-SILC data of 24 European countries on the risk of temporary workers. Eu-silk used a sample of contract workers from 16 to 64 private households and coded individuals, families, and jobs. All other factors being equal, he found that temporary workers had a higher risk than regular workers, with lower wages being the main factor. In addition, women in temporary employment have a lower risk of poverty than men. Age, education and family characteristics are determinants of poverty risk.

Conclusion

Gender differences in postnatal rates of full-time and part-time paid work are important drivers of gender wage differences (Costa Dias, M., Joyce, R. and Parodi, F. 2020). It can be found in the study that full-time work is an important factor in promoting wage growth and narrowing the gender wage gap. Research shows that simply encouraging or promoting more mothers to stay in work after childbirth will not be enough to reduce the gender wage gap significantly unless the causes of slow pay progress in part-time work are addressed. Public interventions to promote female employment and childbearing have indeed proved important in determining the female Labour market. We can identify three main policy tools that can effectively address the relevant issues: parental leave, childcare services, income support, and tax incentives (Olivetti, Petrongolo, 2017). A key challenge for future research is to address why part-time work holds back wage growth so much. Possibilities may include less training available, and a lack of informal interaction and networking opportunities.

Gender is a crucial concept to think carefully about in a society and is made up of social norms that determine the behavior of men and women in a society. A gender role is an appropriate behavior and attitude that has been developed over the centuries that both males and females of society are supposed to go along with and live their life by. Gender has always played a major role in both ancient and modern societies, and even in the different mythologies of distinct cultures. Gender roles change as time progresses but something that does not change is that there will always be two genders. Some generally accepted behaviors of males in our society that people are well-known of are that males are courageous, have strength, and are leaders. Some generally accepted behaviors of females are that they are caring, show affection, and have a life-giving force. The function of gender in mythologies of different cultures are all unique and they are all dissimilar from each other. Depending on the society they live in, males and females are seen differently in the different mythologies of Mesopotamian, Paleolithic/ Neolithic, and Egyptian and one or both genders can have a prominent role whether it being monarchs, parents, heads of households, or housemaids corresponding to their gender, religion, and belief system.

The function of gender in Mesopotamian mythology starting with the male gender is that men were always looked at with great appreciation in that they were granted the rights and capabilities to be in government. The roles of men in this mythology varied from being kings and fathers or even political rule makers. As a result, these roles that males played, gave them the highest sense of command in their Mesopotamian civilization. To add, on page 69 in Gender and Aging in Mesopotamia, men were the heads of their households in Mesopotamia because this mythology was patriarchal. “For the most part, the father as the head of the family retained both possession of and control over land for life.” Since they were the heads of their households, men also had land which they were the owners of for their entire life and this expresses them as playing a prominent role. Since men were the heads of their households, women were seen as playing a less prominent role in the household. Instead, they would be seen as being a housemaid. In Mesopotamian mythology, religion was very important because Mesopotamians believed that the gods had an influence on how they lived their human lives. A well-known male god in Mesopotamian mythology is Marduk, who was the chief god of Babylon. Marduk was an important god during this time because he was the most powerful god of Babylon. The female gender is a bit different due to the different influences that both cultures of Sumer and Babylon had on the female gender and the way they treated women. The female gender was treated with more respect under the rule of the Sumerians in comparison to the Babylonians, who treated women poorly. Sumerian women had roles in their society that were different from males. Women’s roles consisted of being wives and mothers for most of the time but there were other roles that women played which were them being priestesses and housemaids. The gender roles of women changed however under the rule of the Babylonians. The leader of the Babylonians at the time was Hammurabi who was a significant king of Old Babylon. The Babylonians had strict rules during the time, which made for the gender roles of women to quickly change. This was shown since women were starting to be considered as property of their husbands and the sense of liberty that they once had while the Sumerians were in command, was now lost. Even though women were treated this way under the Babylonians, a well-known female goddess in Mesopotamia is Tiamat. Tiamat was the Babylonian she-dragon of chaos and was a strong female goddess who had a life-giving force which is shown when she mingles with Apsu and gives birth to Lahmu and Lahamu.

In Paleolithic/ Neolithic mythology, women were seen as playing more of a prominent role in comparison to men. The female rather than the male, was appointed as the supreme deity in this mythology. In addition, women were seen to be both culturally and governmentally superior to men. On page 11 of When God Was A Woman, “In the very early stages of man’s development before the secret of human fecundity was understood before coitus was associated with childbirth, the female was revered as the giver of life. Only women could produce their own kind, and man’s part in this process was not as yet recognized.” The man’s part in the process of childbirth was not perceived at the time because many did not have an understanding of the relationship between sex and reproduction. Therefore, people believed that babies were born from women because of nature and not because of the sexual intercourse that occurs between males and females. This means that the mother would have been seen as the singular parent of her family. There were also a great many sculptures of women that were discovered in the cultures of the Upper Paleolithic Age. These sculptures were built at the time to provide a sense of devotion to the female gender. In addition, on page 32, “In early society, women wielded the main sources of wealth; they were the owners of the house, the producers of food, they provided shelter and security. Economically, therefore, man was dependent upon woman.” This is taken to mean that women were seen as playing a prominent role in this mythology for all that they did including being the property owners of the house, producers of food, and providing a roof over their families’ heads. However, there was a different view of the female gender once the Northern Invaders arrived. On page 66:

The arrival of the Indo-Aryan tribes, the presentation of their male deities as superior to the female deities of the indigenous populations of the lands they invaded, and the subsequent intricate interlacing of the two theological concepts are recorded mythologically in each culture. It is in these myths that we witness the attitudes that led to the suppression of Goddess worship.

Once the Indo-Aryan tribe took over, male deities were superior. The worship of female deities was decreasing while the worship of male deities was increasing due to these foreign invaders.

In Egyptian mythology, males had more of a prominent role than females. Egyptian mythology is different with respect to the Paleolithic/ Neolithic mythology because males were claimed to have the prominent role of having a life-giving force in Egyptian mythology, while females in Paleolithic/ Neolithic mythology were seen as having the life-giving force. A story that supports males having the life-giving force is the Ennead in the book Don’t Know Much About Mythology. In the Ennead, the sun god Atum masturbates and creates Shu and Tefnut who then create Geb and Nut. Geb was the god of Earth and Nut was the goddess of the sky. This role in gender in comparison to other mythologies where the deity of the earth is normally a goddess and the deity of the sky is a god, is switched in this civilization. The man plays the role of planting the seed in the woman which means that the child is produced by the man and carried by the woman. On the contrary, women also had important roles in Egyptian mythology. This is shown on page 36 of When God Was A Woman “It is for these reasons, in fact, that it was ordained that the queen should have greater power and honor than the king and that among private persons the wife should enjoy authority over the husband, husbands agreeing in the marriage contract that they will be obedient in all things to their wives.” During most periods of time in Egypt, the culture was matrilineal and the mother was seen as the head of the family, meaning that they had more power. Also on page 36, “Egypt was a land where women had great freedom and control of their own lives, and perhaps of their husbands’ as well.” Women were free in Egypt rather than women that were ruled by the Babylonians.  

Puritan beliefs were rigid and extremist. They believed that man exists to carry out God’s will. There was great debate within the Puritan movement on whether to adopt Presbyterianism into their religion or keep the bishops’ hierarchy. The Puritans believed that demons were among us and proactively possessed the morally weak people of the colonies. Pastors performed exorcisms and sentenced alleged witches to death or other strong-willed women like Anne Hutchison and Mary Dyer strong-willed women who were either banished or executed for their actions defying the patriarchal society. 

The Puritans believed in Millennialism meaning that Jesus Christ would rule Planet Earth for a thousand years. As Puritanism encouraged individualism, education was mandatory for everyone so that they could read the Bible and interpret it for themselves and not have to depend upon the Church to dictate what to think about their relationship with their religion. The institution of marriage was believed to be for the purpose of salvation, procreation, and love. Husbands were the titular spiritual head of the home whilst women were to be submissive homemakers who did what they were told. Puritans did not have an idea of separation between the Church and the State. The movement was created to expunge catholic practices from the daily life of the Virginians. The Native Americans’ goal was to live in peace with nature. Although the Amerindians tried to establish alliances with the Europeans the Europeans wanted to subsume the most land as fast as possible. The relationship between the two parties was conflicting owing to this European quest for land. 

The religious aspect was a conflict of culture as their ethics were more harmonious to the environment than the Christian belief that the land was given for man to use as they see fit rather than the idea that land must be looked after (ecologism). The Puritans eventually organized their churches upon a Presbyterian system; each church community was designed to be an autonomous, self-sufficient, unit. This structure was not great for furthering the conversion of the neighboring Indians as unlike the other Protestant denominations or the Catholics, the Puritans lacked the necessary funds to spearhead missions to convert the Natives. Naively, the Puritans expected the Amerindians to eagerly embrace Christianity by themselves. However, this was not the case. After waiting several decades expecting the Indians to turn up on their Church doorstep they slowly began to wonder whether their expectations were correct! Indeed, they consequently began missionary work in the mid-1600s. Eventually, an organization called the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel was created to coordinate the receiving of donations, work, and a new seminary to train young Indian men for the ministry. 

The Puritans segregated the allegedly inferior Indians into ‘Praying towns’ where they spent all day learning about God, the Bible, and the creeds, as well as learning to be more ‘English’ and ‘civilized’ using black chattel slaves, European dress, and follow European gender norms. The Puritan missionaries were at least partly successful indoctrinating the young Indian men to lead official worshipping positions within the church and only they were given permission to study at the Harvard Seminary. Christian Indians attested to having faith in the Puritan’s male God. However, the gender norms of the Indians never did mirror that of the Puritans as some traditional ideas of gender remained the same as they always were including who could speak at religious gatherings and the level of spiritual authority women could hold. Moreover, another example is an Indian man named Towan asking ‘Why was [Christ] a man’ Indicating that the Amerindians were not quick to forget the female iconography of their own religions. This was the opposite of the Puritan idea that women were weak, morally dubious, individuals who needed to be saved by men. In addition to this, some Native American cultures contained transgender roles which meant that men would dress femininely and carry out tasks that are often associated with women; they call this two-spiritedness. Two-Spirit is a modern, pan-Indian, term to describe people within their communities who are of a third gender. This term replaces the pejorative term ‘berdache’ which conflated intersex, sexuality, and gender describing anyone who was effeminate by Western standards. Many Christian Indian men still listened to women at meetings and ceremonies, unlike the English who persecuted women for having opinions.

Stereotypes are “a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing” (‘Stereotype | Meaning of Stereotype by Lexico’, 2020) and either contribute to or contradict gender stereotypes. Gender stereotypes are very common in children’s literature as stories regularly present boys and girls in relation to specific socially defined norms as well as societal expectations. Thus, “The Beauty and The Beast” by Disney reflects the contribution to gender stereotypes through the use of the characterization of Belle, Gaston, and the Beast. By having a much broader selection of gender-neutral stereotypes it is able to contradict gender roles due to exposing young children to diversity which is evident in Kimberly Bruker’s pictorial illustration “Ballerino Nate” illustrated by Robert W Alley. Lastly, gender inequality is represented as there is an unequal balance between male and female roles. This is revealed in “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” as the protagonist is male, exploring a sense of superiority on the male’s behalf.

Initially, A contribution to gender stereotypes for both males and females is being presented in children’s literature to fulfill societal expectations. Disney’s book “The Beauty and the Beast” has one of the most obvious and extreme stereotypes conceivably out of all Disney illustrations. In ‘The Beauty and the Beast’, Belle, similar to former Disney princesses, is being represented as white, thin, and beautiful. Although her relationship with the beast is firstly described as being an abusive relationship, Belle subsequently is seen as a nurturer and housekeeper, which is exposed to be two archetypal female roles. This depiction book emphasizes that it is tolerable for men to be aggressive and abusive and despite how they treat you, you will continuously love and take care of them. Moreover, Gaston is a rich bachelor whom the entire village population seems to drool over as he is big, strong, rich, and handsome. This immediately forms an ideal image for males that they will solitary gain women’s responsiveness by obtaining those specific characteristics. Additionally, the beast interprets the typical manly image revealing his strength and toughness while lacking emotion. He begins to treat Belle like an object and displays clear authority by exploiting violence in order to make her submissive (‘Female Stereotypes’, 2020). The article “Harmful Stereotypes We Never Realized Our Favourite Disney Movies Taught Us” By Michelle Juergen, reveals that weight determines temperament in this specific book. Disney forces the readers to believe that being small and emaciated creates a sense that you are gentle and kind, whereas being larger and greater makes individuals become beastly, coarse, and being susceptible to anger outbursts. The juxtaposition comparing the Beast and Belle implies that an individual’s dimensions affect mood, essentially teaching young children that corpulent people are intimidating whereas smaller individuals are good-natured. (‘9 Harmful Stereotypes We Never Realized Our Favorite Disney Movies Taught Us, 2020) Thus, a contribution to gender stereotypes is reflected in “The Beauty and The Beast” by using the characterization of Belle, The Beast, and Gaston, in order to be able to accomplish community expectations.

Furthermore, having a broader selection of gender-neutral stereotyped children’s literature can essentially expose young children to diversity in gender roles, thus contradicting specific gender stereotypes. In Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s book ‘Ballerino Nate” illustrated by Robert W. Alley, Nate decides he wants to become a ballet dancer after attending a student ballet performance with his kindergarten class. Due to stereotypes, his second-grade, sports-devoted brother Ben exclaims ‘you can’t… You’re a boy, “Boys can’t be ballerinas. They never, ever, ever can”. The repetition of “ever” in the statement illuminates that he is against Nate participating in a girl’s sport and unremittingly reminds Nate that his aspiration is for girls and will necessitate him to wear pink shoes and a dress. Despite his parent’s encouragement, Nate begins a class and learns that he is the only boy enrolled. Although he is classified as a ballerina, Ballerino is later used meaning that he is a male ballet dancer making him feel more involved and included. (2020) Throughout the story the repetition of ‘He loved’ in the short, powerful sentences “He loved the fluttery costumes that the dancers wore. He loved the way the dancers jumped and leaped and spun. He loved the way their movements looked like music” reinforces the idea that individuals should encourage peers to participate in their hobbies and interests regardless of gender role expectation. In the article “Bulletin of the Centre for Children’s Books” reviewed by Deborah Stevenson exclaims how “It’s refreshing, though, to see a book about gender opportunity that focuses on the widening of male, rather than female”. (‘The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books | JHU Press’, 2020) Further, Alley’s use of line, watercolor illustrations touched with colored pencils represents a sense of softness as the individuals are portrayed as dogs and are overstretched in physical detail. This enables dance to become welcoming and approachable, which is also revealed in the illustrations of the pleasant crowds which invite familiarity. Therefore, “Ballerino Nate” contradicts gender stereotypes by participating in dancing, but society has evidently viewed it to be specifically just for females, allowing him to affirm diversity in gender roles and go against expectations.

Also, the stereotypes withheld in children’s literature demonstrate gender inequality as there is an unequal balance between male and female leading roles. In the morality children’s pictorials, for example, “Jack and the Beanstalk”, “Little Red Riding Hood”, and “The Three Little Pigs”, they all teach about good and well as evil, but they also convey implied and insinuated messages about gender. When paying attention to who gets to be the hero whereas, who needs rescuing, it is undeniable that we can see that the male and female roles are rarely replaceable showing the readers that males are dominating and preponderate characters. In the “Tale of Peter Rabbit” by Beatrix Potter, the initial sign that complies with traditional gender roles is the colors being worn such as blue for the males and pink for the females. Another way Potter observes gender roles is in which women are to be obedient and create/ gather the food for the family which is shown through the three sisters, whereas males are conveyed to be adventurous, independent, and self-regulating, which is shown through the characterization of the main character Peter as he is the only rabbit allowed in the garden. Moreover, Mr. McGregor’s unremitting chasing of Peter highlights the traditional expectation that men are revealed to be aggressive and authoritative compared to females. Furthermore, the female gender role of being nurturing is portrayed at the end of the story when Mrs Rabbits tends to Peter’s wounds and puts him to bed with tea thus, signifying traditional gender role attitudes as although females aren’t as governing but they still have the responsibility to care for the males who are prevailing. The Article “Study finds huge gender imbalance in children’s literature” by The Guardian states that “From The Very Hungry Caterpillar to the Car in the Hat, Peter Rabbit to Babar, children’s books are dominated by male central characters, new research has found, with the gender disparity sending children a message that “women and girls occupy a less important role in society than men or boys”, by reinforcing the gender system. (Flood, 2020) To back up this point, in “Pooh, Peter Rabbit & Clifford: Males Dominate Children’s Books” By Stephanie Pappas emphasis, the patterns that are found in children’s books strongly support the belief that female characters are less important or less interesting than male characters. It also demonstrates how it’s more challenging for males to connect with female characters when they are the protagonist. (Pappas, 2020) Consequently, children’s literature demonstrates gender inequality, especially through the children’s illustration “The Tales of Peter Rabbit” as males have higher power and authority than females due to the unequal leading roles due to the main protagonist being a male.

Ultimately, it is evident that children’s literature both contradicts and contributes to gender stereotypes. A contribution to gender stereotypes is shown throughout the book “The Beauty and the Beast” due to the characterization of Belle, Gaston, and the Beast. Whereas, the illustration pictorial “Ballerino Nate” contradicts stereotypes as the author exposed young individuals to diversity in gender roles which is presented through the illustrations as well as the text. Alongside, gender inequality is also presented as there is not an equal balance between leading roles as Males are displayed a vast amount more than females due to their authority and dominance. This is visibly depicted in “The Tale of Peter Rabbit”, as evidently, the main protagonist is male. 

Disney took a massive risk in 1937 when they promoted and produced the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The industry thought this movie was going to flop as it had a massive budget of 1.49 million U.S. dollars and was the first animated movie of its kind. However, the movie ended up grossing well over sixty-six million dollars in 1937 alone. As of 2018, Snow White’s total box office value is over 885 million dollars, which puts the film at number ten on the highest-grossing domestic movie of all time (Symington). It is a well-known fact that Disney princess films draw a huge multitude of not only revenue but viewers as well, a lot of which are of the younger audience. Disney has a ton of influence on children and they must conform to society’s standards to set a ‘good’ example for their young viewers. Simply taking a look at three Disney princess films; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), The Little Mermaid (1989), and Brave (2012), from three different eras in society, indicates a clear relationship with how Disney conforms to the current women’s standard of its time.

Snow White was produced during the 1930s, back then gender roles were very obvious. Back then girls were not viewed as holding a position of power let alone independence. The opposite of male roles, being powerful, determined, brave, strong, independent, and the list goes on. A study was done on gender stereotyping in children’s books where, “…which makes the 1930s the decade in which we found the greatest amount of gender stereotyping… (Clark)” This proves that it was very evident how normalized these specific gender roles were in the 1930s, when Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs came out. In the film, Snow White comments on the messy house of the dwarfs saying, “I suppose they have no mothers” (Snow White). This implies that if they had a woman in the house (motherly housewife-type role), their house would be clean and organized.

Other than this quote, Snow White’s personality throughout the film was; nurturing, dependent, gullible, and housewife-like. A couple of examples from the movie include her cleaning, washing, and cooking for the dwarfs during the film. She was dependent because she has to rely on the dwarfs to protect her, and she is gullible as she gets tricked into being poisoned at the end of the movie by a poisoned apple. Then dies, after this, the only way she gets revived is by a prince (alpha male character). This scene shows that she must be dependent on an alpha male character. The film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, perfectly show the gender stereotypes of the 1930s. By being very dependent on others, pretty, a housewife, and gullible. In the future, the Disney princess will get to be more independent. Snow White builds a platform for the evolution of the Disney Princess.

The Little Mermaid evolves the Disney princess into becoming more rebellious with a modern twist (modern for the 1980s). A study was done to show the increase in more masculine characteristics in Disney princesses over the different eras throughout Disney’s history. Saying, “The ratio of feminine characteristics exhibited by the princesses decreased over time, with 86% of the princesses’ behavior in the early films coded as feminine, reducing to 58% in the middle movies…” (England). Here, there is a very clear indication of the change in the ratio of feminine characteristics in Disney princesses over time. However, in the film The Little Mermaid there are still some stereotypical gender role scenes even in the 1980s. During the film, Ursula, the villain of the movie sings “Poor Unfortunate Soul” (The Little Mermaid). This song hints at some of the still-current gender roles of the 1980s.

Some of the verses of the song include,” The men up there don’t like a lot of bladders” and “It’s she who holds her tongue gets a man” (Snow White). These quotes indicate that men only go for women if they have a nice physique or are relatively skinny. Also, the next quote tells that men do not want to hear a women’s opinion, or women aren’t attractive if they talk too much. This proves that Disney is still holding onto some of the same principles of the stereotypes being used in Snow White. Overall, The Little Mermaid offers a little more masculine quality than previous Disney princess movies like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Although there are still some social standards within the movie, this is why The Little Mermaid is considered more of a median film in terms of the ratio of gender stereotypes used in the film. This film still gives a perspective on the progression from the 1930s to the 1980s in terms of social standards for women.

In the film Brave, Disney conforms to society’s most recent social norms being used today. Brave takes a very modernized outlook on gender stereotypes in relation to the past era of Disney films like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and The Little Mermaid. A study was done to view women in Disney movies from a feminist perspective. Saying, “Viewing Brave from a feminist critical perspective reveals that it is not filled with instances of patriarchy, as past movies have been” (Morrison). This study reveals that Merida offers a fresh look at the Disney ‘princess’. Taking away the more standard women’s personality traits. Merida is a competitive, determined, and independent character. She displays this as not wanting to marry a prince to rule the land. She is rebellious by going against her dad’s wishes on wanting her to marry a prince. This also proves her independence by not wanting to rely on a prince of a husband (alpha character).

Furthermore, Merida breaks the gender formalities of women in the previous Disney films. An article done by James Madison College states, “No longer is the studio accepting or reinforcing societal norm; instead by labeling Merida as a true hero and not a dependent female counterpart” (Garabedian). Brave’s character Merida shows that Disney has truly shifted to empowering female roles instead of a clumsy-dependent character like Snow White or other princesses of that era. In relation to the eras of Snow White and Ariel, today’s societal norms on women have completely shifted with characters like Merida. More so, empowering female roles are largely more popular in today’s society than having an empowering female rule back in the 1930s or 1980s. Merida does a great job of displaying this, telling younger girls that you don’t have to marry someone to be successful or just because it’s what’s ‘normal’. In addition, it’s ok to be different and it’s okay to be a girl and do something that usually guys do. For instance, Merida loves to be adventurous and practice using her bow, even while riding a horse at fast speeds. Something that you would see an alpha male-like character do in films like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Little Mermaid, or other films within the same time frames.

An argument could be made that there are princesses that are not influenced by society. An example could be Tiana from the movie The Princess and the Frog. For example, she proves to be gullible when she is tricked into kissing a frog. One could say that Tiana is an example of a princess that is not affected by society, or even a princess that goes backward in time. However, the movie was in fact very progressive. Maybe not in the princess’s personality but this is Disney’s first African American princess. Tiana also dreamed of owning her own restaurant, she worked two jobs during the movie to help her towards that goal. Tiana is not only African American woman, but she also demonstrates a hard-working woman at that, working two jobs to try and reach her dream goal. This film takes a different view on today’s culture showing an independent woman working to achieve a big goal.

Disney’s princess films from the past and the present cast a light on what societal standards were for women during those time periods. Disney’s; Brave, Snow White, and the Seven Dwarfs, and The Little Mermaid all show various time periods with different progressions on gender roles and stereotypes. The films do this by presenting the character’s personalities and demeanor throughout the film as well as surrounding characters that have an impact on the princesses (alpha male-type characters). Moving into the future it wouldn’t be much of a surprise to see Disney implement same-sex relationships into some of their characters or even princesses. Disney has always ‘modernized’ their movies, it will be interesting to see what the future has to offer for Disney and their take on the current culture’s standards.

The time of the events that the book states that the story is set is the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne, who gives birth to a daughter through an affair and is punished for it. Throughout time people have asked how and why females were treated differently through these last couple of decades, how Hester Prynne was treated by the people, and also how they treated Pearl. The daughter of Hester.

Do you think that women of this current timeline have always received the same level of respect as they have been given nowadays? Today, women are treated with respect as well as compared to their counterparts in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and how they have been treated even better than those in the very early years of America( James, par 3)

. Women in the past were not allowed to have freedoms and rights, their personality and their life were stripped and they were always being forced to meet the constraining point of view that the traditional American would see. Women of the new America are granted a level of recognition and a level of respect unexplored by American women from past generations. Women were judged very unfairly in the past. Throughout American history (Hawthorne, pg 34)

Hawthorne is usually not really straightforward in his way to see Hester as a strong woman worthy of admiration. He always has a way to confuse, in combination with the way gender roles are said in The Scarlet Letter, it makes some readers into deciding that Hester is weak and her behavior unacceptable. But in fact, even those actions that might strike us as tricky self-defeating become, from closer reading, evidence of Hester’s strength. “Finally, all other difficulties being obviated, women cannot take advantage of these preliminary reforms, until she herself shall have undergone a still mightier change; in which, perhaps, the ethereal essence, wherein she has her truest life, will be found to have evaporated. A woman never overcomes these problems by the exercise of thought.'(Hawthorne, pg 67) This quote describes how women had an extra hard time that men did not have. They had no place in society women also had to deal with the trials that they face at home such as raising kids or washing and making clothes for the whole family. Women have an extra burden while men do not.

During these times it was not easy for almost anyone, especially for Hester Prynne, she was seen as a threat to the city people because she broke all the rules. If everyone does whatever they want, then a community would have it very difficult time surviving at any point in time and any place, that book says that was a very special community created for a very special purpose, and therefore the expectations are higher. The intention of the community leaders was to be ‘the city on a hill’. The way that book says that it entire world how to create a society where the town church and their government are one and the same. They felt that God would reward them for their good doings, but only if everyone in society follows the laws and put them into practice. The leaders felt safe and had a sense of comfort that would help to ensure their survival and success. Therefore, when anyone behaves in such a way that does not conform to the standard, it could bring lots of danger to the community. One of the rules is that a person cannot sleep with anyone aside from their partner because, for them, lustfulness and or nonholy. when 

Cultural relativism is “the idea that the significance of an act is best understood by the standards of the actor’s own culture”. (Crapo 2013) Gender is a huge topic today and over the course of American history, we have seen how gender has evolved into many different things. Gender has become a hugely controversial issue within our society, gender was originally only seen as two: female and male. In my normal culture, gender is to be thought of just as men and women, and then sexuality plays a whole other part in that. However, today there are so many different ideas about one’s gender. The other issue surrounding gender is the stereotypes that surround men and women. The stereotyping of men and women has been around for as long as anyone can remember. These issues originally started as women only being seen as homemakers while in a situation of having and raising children. Certain cultures do still view women in this light and are not close to the level that the United States is in terms of accepting women in larger roles in society. While some may say that men are stronger and smarter than women, there are many things that prove women are just as strong and smart as men. Throughout this paper, we will discuss the many stereotypes and equality issues that have arisen over time and how we have overcome them and continue to keep growing.

In this first part of this paper, we will talk about how women have been looked at in the past and how women are currently looked at and treated in other cultures as opposed to American society. Freud is a famous name in the psychology world and had many ideas as to women’s and man’s gender development. Freud talks about how girls and boys are both very different because they have different sexual reproductive parts. Freud states that during the ages of 3-5 years, girls will distance themselves from their mothers and form a stronger bond with their father also known as penis envy. While society doesn’t seem to be hung up on this idea and has not had a whole lot of influence on society it does seem to raise some questions as to the competency of a women’s ability later in life. Although his theory has not been proven to be true. Delaney Abraham’s theory is quite interesting as it talks about the founding of Abraham’s monotheism which is the assumption of male monogenesis, the institutionalization of the father’s rights, and the requirements for conquest. Male monotheism theory says that it glorifies Man as God’s chosen vehicle for creating new life and concomitantly, demands woman. It also brings in ‘Genesis’ from the Bible which is the chapter containing information on the creation of man and women. This section talks about man’s ability to contain females within themselves. According to the male monotheism theory, only the male has the “seed” and can only be the true parent.

Americans have a reputation for doing things that have been criticized by other cultures. For years Americans have faced numerous issues involving stereotyping, while America has made a lot of advances in gender roles other cultures have not made it this far yet. These other cultures see women as homemakers, not money-makers. The Middle East is one of these cultures where women don’t make money. Women have always been looked at to take care of the home and children and pleasing the man. Women in places like the Middle East also wear veils to cover their faces and are covered with many layers of clothing. They do these things to maintain their modesty, morals, and freedom of choice. Another reason they do this is to avoid harassment. Americans may see these dress codes as weird and are sometimes racist towards people from these cultures, however, they don’t have as many issues with sexual harassment as women in America do. American women dress how they please and sometimes some women choose to wear short skirts and crop tops. These invite a lot of harassment and in previous years people from strongly religious views will state “they deserved it because of what they are wearing” usually targeted at incidents of sexual assault. While women from the Middle East might deal less with harassment, however, they still have the issue of not being able to vote or make their own money. A lot of people from the Middle East relocate to America because America allows women to work and vote.

While women in these different cultures seem to still be thrown aside one thing that women in all cultures have in common is body shaming. Certain women struggle with self-image based on what is put out by the mainstream media as the ‘perfect’ body that a woman should have. Miner’s article discusses how they have their own cultural rituals “Female clients find their naked bodies are subjected to scrutiny, manipulation, and prodding of medicine men.” (Miner 1956) It seems that women all over the world struggle with body image and it does not help that the media plays a role in that. Becker. A. E’s (2004) article talks about how women in all different cultures struggle with eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia based on the images the media releases. The media often portrays women as skinny, tall, gorgeous women and even though these models are beautiful they too struggle with Eating Disorders. Today working out doesn’t seem to cut it therefore people turn to alternative measures to lose weight and look beautiful. This seems to be another gender issue as the article talks mainly about women’s issues with eating disorders and none of men struggle with eating disorders. Women all over the world seem to be struggling with this body image and this is an issue that continues to grow. Miner’s article talks about how there are practices of how the natural body is not good enough. “There are ritual fasts to make fat people thin and ceremonial feasts to make thin people fat. Still, other rites are used to make women’s breasts larger if they are small, and smaller if they are large. General dissatisfaction with breast shape is symbolized in the fact that the ideal form is virtually outside the range of human variation.” (Miner 1956)

Other cultures see American women as privileged because they have so many different types of things at their fingertips. For example, body changing surgery, and Miner talks about these rituals that they perform to help women change their body image. American women seem to go to various lengths to get the “perfect” body they so badly want. This becomes an issue because women then go to teach their children these traits of “your body won’t be good enough if you don’t look like this” to their daughter and to son “Women are only attractive if they look like this.” This creates more of an issue in American culture because it once again encourages body shaming.

Women in American cultures use birth control or other sources of birth control to protect against pregnancy. American cultures also have abortion clinics that help with unplanned pregnancies. While I don’t agree with abortion other cultures like the middle east don’t have these sources for protection. Birth control usually doesn’t cost and now you can get it online through a doctor’s approval however, places like the middle east don’t have these advantages. This would seem to be another reason why women would want to come to the United States so that they have a right to what happens with their bodies. It is often thought that women are reasonable for protection against pregnancy usually in all cultures and an unwanted pregnancy is usually not treated right in other cultures like the middle east. This usually turns out with the mother being left to take care of the child and often leads to child abandonment.

In part two of this paper we will talk about people in other cultures think about themselves. We are all taught from a young age to think for ourselves. American societies do a good job of teaching the growing youth that we live in a great place. We often don’t think that we need to really improve on anything. American women and men have fought hard for their rights. In cultures such as the Middle East women don’t get the chance to work and make money for themselves and are often seen as property. Another issue that happens in Middle East cultures is young girls being promised to older men. American women can say that they are lucky because we have the right to choose who we marry and are not promised to anyone. We have the right to choose what we do with our bodies.

In conclusion, gender roles are a key part of society and how we function. Every culture has different views on how to execute their version of gender roles and no one really knows which way is ‘correct’. In our culture, we strive for the utmost openness when it comes to how people live their lives and what they do with them. Women have advanced greatly in this country in more recent times to take up management positions along with positions high ranking in the government. Other cultures don’t have the same mixture of gender roles that ours does and this can leave males and females very separated. It is important for society to expand and grow in ways that allow all people to achieve personal success. Gender stereotypes will always seem to exist across all cultures, but it is important that we realize how untrue they can sometimes be. Overall despite how hot-button of an issue gender seems to be at the moment the more accepting we can be the further forward civilizations and cultures will grow.

References

1. Becker , A. E. (2004). TELEVISION, DISORDERED EATING, AND YOUNG WOMEN IN FIJI: NEGOTIATING BODY IMAGE AND IDENTITY DURING RAPID SOCIAL CHANGE. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=8d47e6dc-0e46-446c-a644-8819bec5803d@sdc-v-sessmgr01
2. Crapo, R. H. (2013). Cultural anthropology [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/
3. Jones, A. L. (2014). The Gender Vendors: Sex and Lies from Abraham to Freud. Retrieved from https://ebookcentral-proquest-com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/lib/ashford-ebooks/reader.action?docID=1775994
4. Miner, H. (1956). Body ritual among the Nacirema (Links to an external site.). American Anthropologist, 58(3), 503–507. Retrieved from https://www.msu.edu/~jdowell/miner.html

In the novels of Gillian Flynn, including Sharp Objects (2006), Dark Places (2009), and Gone Girl (2012), the female characters often use violence as a way of achieving ends and accomplishing goals. It may be tempting to dismiss these women outright as repugnant villains, or perhaps as abnormal examples of female mental illness. Upon closer examination, however, it can be argued that the violence and the femme fatale character type in the novels serve a distinctly feminist purpose. In allowing her female characters to generate and direct extreme violence, including mutilation and homicide, Flynn sets women on an equal footing with men and explores the ways in which the female psyche is as equally power-hungry and capable of violent crime as its male counterparts. While Gillian Flynn has not categorized her books as feminist works, her texts align closely with the goals of feminism, particularly the reclamation of the female figure as a complex, three-dimensional human being. The novels are fundamentally feminist in that they reclaim the negative capacities of women to do harm, as well as to do good.

Introduction

Recently, a new type of female representation has begun to emerge in popular media, including television, film, and popular fiction. This representation usually manifests in a character who is repugnant or highly unlikeable. Representations of the unlikeable woman are evident not only in the works of Gillian Flynn but in other novels like The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins, and in television shows like Killing Eve, Lena Dunham’s Girls, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag. Popular culture has begun to draw attention to a style of female representation that is distinct from any other point in history, at least in terms of the way that this representation is discussed and labeled. Although previous examples of unruly, troubled women are plentiful, including Lady Macbeth, Tess Durbeyfield in Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Emma Bovary in Madame Bovary, and Becky Sharp in Vanity Fair, recent popular media has shown a trend towards featuring these character types at a much greater frequency, and with less restraint. In recent popular works, the authors refuse to present their protagonists as exemplary role models or admirable women. Instead, they focus on the female characters’ negative capacity, sometimes to extremes. These narrative arcs are not stories of correction or redemption. Rather, they are tales of continuous evolution and a constant iteration of personal flaws and defects. Perhaps as a backlash to decades, even centuries, of positive representations of women in literature, these profoundly fallible, often reprehensible characters move the scale of perception into an entirely different direction and viewpoint. Rather than emphasizing women’s strength, virtue, intelligence, and capacity for good, these characters stress the ways in which the female of the species has the potential to embrace and even wallow in negative, violent capacities.

When male characters fit this description, they are generally called “anti-heroes.” From Satan in Milton’s Paradise Lost, and Shakespeare’s Macbeth to, in modern times, Walter White of Breaking Bad, Tyler Durden in Fight Club, and Don Draper in Mad Men, the masculine antihero has frequented the realm of popular fiction for decades. While there have been some efforts to apply the term “antihero” to female characters, another term has proved to be more durable. In general parlance, rather than being given the label of antihero, these female characters are termed “unlikable.” Notably, there is a vast gap in gendered significance between these two terms. The notion of the “antihero” has a long and well-established line of literary standing and criticism, while the label “unlikable” is far more prosaic and is virtually devoid of academic implications. Though the terms “antihero” and “unlikable woman” may carry a comparable set of traits, the gap between the two labels is on the gender axis. Although many books have been devoted to the exploration of the male antihero, far fewer do so in relation to the female antihero. Discussions of these women characters are heavily dependent on gender. Although the traits that define both terms are shared, a male character may be read and described as an antihero, while a female character is merely “unlikable.” A fundamental assumption within this critique is the notion that female characters are supposed to be likable to the reader. The logic of the assumption dictates that female characters in fiction and indeed, women, on the whole, ought to be “likable” and to behave in ways that are pleasing to others. In other words, the personal essence and actual character traits of the woman in question are far less important in comparison with the extent to which she is either pleasing or not pleasing in the eyes of men and society.

This project, therefore, will situate the notion of “unlikable” within a more empowered terminology, one based on the Jungian archetype of the “Dark Lady,” that occurs throughout literature in the form of the femme fatale. Although the term “femme fatale” is not without its problems, it contains the appropriates elements of danger and femininity associated with female villains.

There is also an argument to be made regarding the positive qualities of negative representation. There may be a point at which the extreme negativity of a particular representation may be greater than the positivity found in the full spectrum of female characters. Negative representations of women may be liberating and a statement of feminist power, as this project intends to demonstrate; however, there is also a danger that negative representations could veer into the territory of sexist representations and two-dimensional depictions of women that neglect their humanity entirely.

In navigating these issues, attention to context becomes of the utmost importance. Through an examination of the fiction works of Gillian Flynn, a popular novelist from the United States whose body of work is concerned with concepts of female violence, it becomes possible to parse the ways in which negative representations are both useful and limited, while also examining their broader function within the texts and the implications that are raised regarding fiction and gender. Through an analysis of the way that Flynn’s works reconfigure traditional female archetypes, it will be argued that violence perpetrated by women is a fundamentally subversive, consciousness-elevating aspect of Flynn’s novels. In blending unlikable female protagonists and female villains alongside a narrative focus on the femme fatale archetype of female characters, Flynn’s novels offer a unique and innovative gauge for the parameters of female behavior.

To this end, this project will analyze the perverse, negative aspects of women characters in Flynn’s three novels: Sharp Objects, Dark Places, and Gone Girl. The thesis will examine the ways in which these texts represent and characterize female characters and female acts of violence. Both a feminist perspective and a psychoanalytic framework will be used, with particular attention to the psychology of Carl Jung and the concept of archetypes and the “shadow.” The specific female characters and incidences of violence throughout each of the novels will also be analyzed, with a focus on the ways in which these fictional representations contradict or support expectations around gender.

Descriptive Outline

The first chapter of this thesis will be an introduction and background to the primary texts, to the topics explored within the body of the thesis. The terms used throughout the paper will be defined and the theoretical framework will be introduced. The research questions and aims will be presented. Chapter Two will consist of the methodology section. The theoretical frameworks will be introduced in detail here. Chapter Three of the thesis will contain the literature review. The literature review will draw upon a wide range of primary and secondary sources and will be arranged thematically. Every effort will be made to consult with academic literature that presents support for this thesis, and also with literature that provides contrasting and provocative viewpoints, including the common idea that Gillian Flynn’s novels are misogynistic and anti-feminist.

There are several important aspects of the thesis that merit consideration in relation to the literature. First, a broad outline will be established in which the main strands of academic scholarship relating to Flynn’s work and to the femme fatale archetype will be assembled. The feminist and psychoanalytical theoretical frameworks that will be used to analyze the three novels will be discussed in greater depth and in reference to academic precedents, with particular attention in the latter case given to Jungian concepts regarding archetypes. The literature relating to feminist theory and psychoanalytic theory will provide an appropriate academic backdrop from which further analysis and discussion can be explored.

The second part of the literature review will relate more specifically to the texts themselves, and the intersection between the violent female characters in the novel and the femme fatale archetype. At this juncture, various perspectives will be reviewed, including those that present opposing viewpoints. The inclusion of conflicting views is crucial in order to present strong arguments in favor of Flynn’s texts as fundamentally feminist in nature. The literature review will also highlight current gaps in the literature and ways in which the present project can assist in filling those gaps. Potential areas for future research and study will be indicated.

Chapter Four of the thesis will include the discussion and analysis portion of the paper. In this chapter, close readings of the three novels will be included in reference to the female characters and specific instances of violence that occur. In relation to the theoretical templates, the findings of the analysis will be situated within a broader framework.

Research Questions

The primary research questions that inform this work are as follows:

1. To what extent does Flynn represent female violence in the texts as feminized, or as non-gendered violence?
2. At what point does the extent to which a representation is negative outweigh the overall positivity of female representation in fiction?
3. At what point, if any, do negative representations of female characters in Flynn’s work veer into sexist representations?

Preliminary Literature Review

Because all three of Gillian Flynn’s novels were published within the last decade, it is necessary to expand the relevant literature beyond those who are concerned with Flynn’s work to a broader discussion of female villains in the literary canon. To this end, it is useful to consider commentary regarding the notion of the femme fatale. It should be noted, however, that the femme fatale is different from the “unlikable woman” in some key aspects, most notably when it comes to the overt use of sexuality (Courmans 23). Many, if not all, of Flynn’s female characters, do use sexuality at various points; however, the use of sexuality is not typically of the glamorous, attractive femme fatale type. Yet the femme fatale, with its representations of dangerous women, provides a useful starting point for discussion within the academic literature.

Representations of the femme fatale are not exclusive to the modern age. The seductive, dangerous femme fatale is present throughout literature, film, and even world mythologies. This type of character is evident in many ancient works, from classic Greek epics, featuring Medusa, to the nineteenth century, where the femme fatale appears as a vampire alongside Count Dracula (Hanson and O’Rawe 24-28). The concept of the femme fatale also has precedent in female characters throughout history, such as the spy Mata Hari, in the twentieth century. The mystique that arose around Mata Hari, which encompassed terror, anxiety, and psychological projections of both men and women, is typical of the ways in which the femme fatale often is interpreted in popular culture (Huyssen 52).

According to Resti and Soelistyarini, the character of Amy Dunne in Gone Girl is a portrayal of a femme fatale. The authors argue that the representation of Amy is consistent with the traditional femme fatale type because Amy rejects traditional gender roles in order to manipulate her circumstances and gain control in her intimate relationship, thus subverting the patriarchal structure of power. According to this study, however, the character of Amy Dunne cannot be read as a feminist character. Rather, the authors argue that the portrayal of Amy as a femme fatale is fundamentally misogynistic and essentially anti-feminist. The current project will endeavor to disprove the claims of Resti and Solistyarini, along with other critics; however, the study is useful in terms of setting an oppositional stance and providing a critique from the other end of the spectrum.

In keeping with the notion of Amy Dunne as a femme fatale, Burns suggests that the character of Amy is consistent with modern representations of the “cool girl.” In the early part of the novel, the reader believes, as does Nick Dunne, that Amy is essentially good-natured; it is only as the text progresses that her true character becomes evident. The “cool” girl image is consistent with the femme fatale archetype, but less consistent with the concept of the unlikable, reprehensible woman. In fact, within the novel, Amy Dunne complains specifically about having to maintain the “cool girl” image, an image that is at odds with her true desires and needs, and which she sees as being fundamentally misogynistic (Flynn 42). Burns suggests that Gone Girl can be compared with other classic texts, such as Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, in the sense that the female characters are gradually revealed to be “unladylike, unnatural, abhorrent, violent women” (n.p.). However, whereas Rebecca is punished for her transgressions against the patriarchy, Amy Dunne is rewarded. Rebecca dies, but Amy is victorious in gaining complete control over her surroundings. Like Resti and Soelistyarini, Burns does not believe that this representation of Amy is supportive of feminist ideals, rather, Burns argues that it is a fundamentally misogynistic perspective, one that supports classic patriarchal fears regarding strong, independent women: “…the representation of women within the current American political climate reveals that a fear of nasty women resonates throughout contemporary society and that there are much greater strides to be made before women with strong minds, opinions, and beliefs will be viewed with the same level of respect and authority as their male counterparts” (n.p.). Notably, Burns’ critique of Gone Girl is not so much a criticism of Flynn’s representation so much as it is of the novel’s reception, implying that the issue is not so much within the text but is inherent in a culture that continues to view literature through a patriarchal lens. Similarly, Nick Cappello, writing for the Huffington Post, takes strong issue with Gone Girl, arguing that “there is not a single woman in the entire novel that isn’t a complete and utter mess” (n.p.). The absence of any positive female role models in the novel, Cappello suggests, is tantamount to misogyny, particularly because, in his view, the female characters are two-dimensional.

While a number of scholars see the “nasty woman” characters in Flynn’s works as anti-feminist and even misogynistic, others have noted their potential to subvert and upend patriarchal values. Dockterman calls the book “extremely feminist,” pointing out the obvious, which is that equal and fair representations of women must inevitably include negative representations, as well as positive representations (n.p.) Likewise, Marso argues that the actions of Amy Dunne can be interpreted through Simone de Beauvoir’s scaffolding of perverse protests (883). In other words, Amy’s reprehensible actions can be understood as a form of resistance that arises out of a repressive environment. At the same time, Johansen points out that the ending of Gone Girl does little to reassure the reader that equality or civility has been established (48). Furthermore, while many readers and scholars may be tempted to explain Amy Dunne’s character, along with Flynn’s other female characters, through a framework of sociopathy or psychopathy, Marso disputes the idea that the actions of these women can easily be dismissed through a simple diagnosis of mental illness (882). Although the actions of Amy Dunne are extreme and violent, they are understandable from the perspective of women who have found themselves caught in a patriarchal system of oppression (892).

Presenting a somewhat different view, Osborne (2019) takes a positive reading of Flynn’s novels and focuses primarily on the satirical elements of Flynn’s work, suggesting that the violence of the femme fatale characters is intentionally exaggerated as a means to expose romantic tropes regarding “unconditional love” and also to highlight narcissistic tendencies in American consumer cultures (4-5). From this vantage point, the representations of violent women in the novels are neither feminist nor anti-feminist; rather they are applicable on a broader societal level, pointing to the inherent neuroticism cultivated in both men and women. At the same time, Osborne also points out that it is impossible to divorce feminist elements entirely from the text:

Women are expected to live up to the dreams and expectations achieved by second-wave feminists and are simultaneously expected to conform to the gender norms of a doting wife and mother. This, of course, creates an impossible double bind of juggling both personal and professional desires that may lead to a fear of missing out by choosing one or the other.