Deviant Sexuality Is Denoted By The Spaces And Women's Sexual And Economic Freedom

H. Bertens describes female stereotypes to come under four labels “an immoral and dangerous seductress, the woman as the eternally dissatisfied shrew, the woman as cute but essentially helpless, the woman as unworldly, self-sacrificing angel and so on.” These labels were commonly found in both androtexts and gynotexts as feminist criticism’s attention drew towards female writers by giving them more prominence and esteem, yet they were found to both reject the traditional female form and “succumbed to the lure of stereotypical representations.” Christina Rossetti was one who was found to come under such scrutiny with her poems ‘Maude Clare’, ‘No, Thank You John’, and ‘In an Artist’s Studio’ to convey differing constructions of women.

Ever since the days of World War I, women have been seen as second rate to men. They had to live up to many social standards that men didn’t have to and had strict guidelines on how to live their lives. This all changed when modernism deliberately tried to break away from Victorian Era standards in which women were subjugated to a lot more scrutiny. Ezra Pound, who was a large figure in the modernist movement, captured the spirit of the era in his famous line “Make it new!” Consequently, many writers started to experiment with many different and wild writing styles, which led to the short stories and poems we have today. The stories The Wife of His Youth and Mrs. Spring Fragrance were all written in this era of modernism. While they are written in a more traditional style of writing, both these stories have strong implications on feminism from the viewpoints of both male and female writers.

Cisneros was born in 1954 and grew up as an only girl in a family of six brothers. In Dianne Klein’s “Coming of Age in Novels by Rudolfo Anaya and Sandra Cisneros”, Cisneros states along with growing up as the only girl around boys, she had no women-author role models to look up to as a child. Klein argues, in regards to Cisneros’s childhood, “…she felt impoverished with nothing of personal merit to say” (21). Along

Black women’s bodies have always been seen as different. They are deemed as exotic and highly sexual because of the protruding nature and curvaceous shape of their hips, butts, and breast. An example of this exoticism and ridicule can be traced back to the early 1800s. Sarah Baartman, also known as the “Hottentot Venus” became an object of fascination, degradation, and humiliation. Her features were not foreign to Khoisan Women. However, the Europeans who kidnapped her and the people who went to view her body as an exhibit could not believe how big her butt, breast, and hips were. Sarah did not fit into the white standardized image of the body, so her body was seen was unnatural and even un-human. One online magazine writer asserts that, “what

Anne Bradstreet is one of the earliest American poets, and she’s read today as the first feminist in literature. While there are arguments as to why this could be true, I present an argument that Bradstreet cannot be read as a feminist, especially within her earlier works. In her later writing, her feminist identity becomes more real and plausible. Looking at two of her works, “The Prologue” and “The Author to Her Book,” both written at different times in Bradstreet’s life, one can see how Bradstreet’s idea of femininity and how that works with her writing has shifted. Bradstreet could be read more as a feminist writer in her later works because the relationship she holds with her writing has shifted into where she accepts her womanhood.

This is only a single chapter on her wickedest ways-the deepest shade among many brilliant lights. But we would say to the parents of San Francisco to look closer to their daughters, for they know not the many dangers to which they are exposed-know their associates, guard their virtue-and to mildly counsel their sons, for when upon the streets of this gay city they are wandering amid many temptations.”2 –B.E. Lloyd, Lights and Shades in San Francisco,

Sexuality has an inherent connection to human nature. Yet, even in regards to something so natural, societies throughout times have imposed expectations and gender roles upon it. Ultimately, these come to oppress women, and confine them within the limits that the world has set for them. However, society is constantly evolving, and within the past 200 years, the role of women has changed. These changes in society can be seen within the intricacies of literature in each era. Specifically, through analyzing The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, one can observe the dynamics of society in regards to the role of women through the lens of the theme of sexuality. In both novels, the confinement and oppression of women can be visibly seen as a result of these gender roles. Yet, from the time The Scarlet Letter was published to the time The Bell Jar was written, the place of women in society ultimately changed as well. Hence when evaluating the gender roles that are derived from sexuality, the difference between the portrayals of women’s oppression in each novel becomes apparent, and shows how the subjugation of women has evolved. The guiding question of this investigation is to what extent does the theme of sexuality reflect the expectations for women in society at the time each novel was written. The essay will explore how the literary elements that form each novel demonstrate each author’s independent vision which questions the

The interaction of men and women in a city poses opportunities and limitations. The ideas about gender and how female and male characters are depicted in a story, together with gender behaviour, that have shifted over the years in different cities, positions and literary work. The Dubliners (1914) by James Joyce (1882-1941) demonstrate individuals trying to contest or escape paralysis in Dublin. A contrast from Langston Hughes (1902-1967) with 'Pushcart Man ', and Jack Kerouac with the 'The Town and the city ' in the city of New York. Their work is central to demonstrate the sense of the mix of cultures, perceptions of segregation, and the restriction and possibility of the city. This essay will discuss the 'ways in which relations between the sexes are depicted in the set texts, and consider the literary techniques the writer used to create a particular portrayal.

The role of the European woman in the colonial world was consistently complex and often varied. Their role was complex because the filled two roles, a physical role; a role which they directly carried out in the physical realm of the colonial world. This role included being a wife, daughter, missionary, nurse, and even that explore and writer in the rare instance. The second role that colonial women played in the colonial world was one not one of their choosing as Scott Cook explains, “ All [women], however were subject to the legal and customary codes of conduct of a colonial milieu largely set by the male colonizers”. These legal and customary understandings were mainly based around the colonial males understanding of the colonial woman’s sexuality and the sexuality of the colonized male. European women were seen as both the “ ‘bearers of the race, the vessels of their culture, and the ‘angels of the household”. They were also seen as objects of the colonized males lust, and as themselves being overly sexualized and at risk of succumbing to their urges. It was this second role, which served to hinder the access and impact of European women in the colonial world. Their role as a sexualized object, to be protected by their male counterparts was not one of their choosing and prevented them from gaining full access to the colonial realm.

American Literature has always been about men and for men. In this essay, we are going to analyze the women’s role in the book, as inferior and weaker gender.

Another important aspect of the novel is that of sexuality and of same-sex desire. Froehlich states that, in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries,

It is impossible to discuss the role of women in literature without mentioning the influence of feminism. The later in the timeline one reads, the more prominent it becomes. Each new wave of feminism brings with it its own goals, yet it also continues to strive for some of the same goals as past generations because not everything is accomplished all at once. Although “The Well of Loneliness” by Radclyffe Hall and “Rubyfruit Jungle” by Rita Mae Brown, are two starkly different texts that strongly reflect the feminist eras in which they were written, they have some similarities as well.

Women in literature have been portrayed in a multitude of ways throughout time. From goddesses to witches, and even prostitutes, women have not been limited in their representations. One challenge, in particular, is repression of their sexuality. In novels by Kate Chopin, George Orwell, and Kazuo Ishiguro, female characters live in societies that seek to regulate their sexuality. Published in 1899, The Awakening by Chopin focuses on Edna Pontellier, a woman who seeks to create a life outside her marriage by pursuing relationships with various lovers. George Orwell’s 1984, which was published in 1949, features Julia, a woman who rebels against her society by having sex for pleasure and not for reproduction. In addition, like Chopin and Orwell,

All characters in the novel are living in a man’s world; nevertheless, the author has tried to change this world by the help of her characters. She shows a myriad of opportunities and different paths of life that woman can take, and more importantly she does not show a perfect world, where women get everything they want, she shows a world where woman do make mistakes, but at the same time they are the ones that pay for these mistakes and correct them.

Given there is also a long history of silencing women as sexual subjects in favour of rendering women as the passive objects of male (hetero)sexual desire, it is doubtful that such a vision of female sexuality should now be understood as reflecting women's own, authentic sexual desires