Essay on Sex in Ursula K. LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness

It is clear that she plays a very aggressive , dynamic role in this reading, a more masculine role. Unfortunately, men are commonly known to have more authority than women, however Lady shows much more authority here than Sir Gawain. Her control of language empowers her, which gives to the shift in gender roles. As well, her sexuality which is used to her advantage this proves to be a weapon of control in her gender role alteration that she is playing. The Lady generally proves her  authority over Gawain through not only sexuality, but through language. Not only the way Lady acts towards him, but the way she speaks to him is very assertive and extremely aggressive. It is very uncommon, especially to see and hear a women act this way to a man in this time

I have found the perfect definition of sex from Greta Christina’s paper “Are We Having Sex Now or What?” and that is, “Maybe if both of you (or all of you) think of it as sex, then it’s sex whether you’re having fun or not.” I find this definition as sex because it clearly tells the audience that sex is sex if you thought of it as sex. For example, when opposite or same sex have a sexual activity or intercourse with each other whether you like it or not, it is sex. However, this definition can be unsatisfactory to others because there can be cases when people may not want to count it as sex, such as getting sexually assaulted by someone. In this case, the person who got sexually assaulted would not want to count it as sex and avoid the truth, but for the person who made a sexual assault to someone, that person would count it as sex. It may be hard for those people who gets sexually assaulted, but that is the reality and the truth that he/she had sex with someone. Therefore, even though this definition may be broad and unsatisfactory to some people, it will narrow down and clearly prove that you had sex if you think you had sex.

For centauries, women have been forced to live life in the outskirts of a male dominated society. During the 1800’s, the opportunities for women were extremely limited and Mary Shelly does an excellent job in portraying this in her gothic novel, Frankenstein. Furthermore, in this novel, Mary Shelly shows how society considers women to be possessions rather than independent human beings. In addition, the female characters rely heavily on men for support and survival, thus proving their inability to do it on their own. Lastly, the female characters in this novel are in many ways victimized by the male characters. In conclusion, in Mary Shelly’s novel Frankenstein, the female characters always fulfill the limited and archetypical roles that

During the Victorian Era, women struggled to attain gender equality by challenging the traditional roles that defined them. These women no longer wanted to remain passive and obey the demands of their husbands nor be domestic and the caretakers of their children. They strived to attain the role of a 'New Woman', an intelligent, liberated individual who was able to openly express her ideas (Eltis 452). Whereas some women were successful in attaining this new role, others were still dominated by their male counterparts. The men felt threatened by the rising power of women and repressed them by not allowing them to work, giving them unnecessary medications, and diagnosing them with hysteria (Gilman

'Sex Without Love,' by Sharon Olds passionately described the author's disgust for casual sex in which she vividly animates the immorality of lustful sex through the variety of her language. The sarcasm used in this selection can easily be misunderstood and quite confusing if the words and lines are not analyzed with specific construction. Olds' clever use of imagery and frequent uses of similes, to make the reader imagine actual events, makes this poem come to life. For example, Olds describes making love as 'Beautiful as dancers.' (Line #2) in this line, she questions how one can do such a beautiful act with a person whom one is not in love with. Olds also describes sex as 'gliding over each other

Dracula is a novel written by Bram Stoker during the late 1800’s. The book starts out with Jonathan Harker, who is a smart young business man, who wants to travel to Count Dracula for a business ordeal. Many locals from the European area warned Jonathan about Count Dracula, and would offer him crosses and other trinkets to help fend against him. Mina, who is at the time Jonathans soon to be wife, visits to catch up with an old friend named Lucy Westenra. Lucy gives Mina an update on her love life telling her how she’s been proposed to by three different men. The men are introduced as Dr. Seward, Arthur Holmwood, and Quincey Morris. Unfortunately for her she will need to reject two of the men, and Lucy ends up choosing to marry Holmwood. Later on after Mina visits Lucy, Lucy starts to sleep walk, becomes sick, and then finds out she has bite marks on her throat. Due to this incident, another new character is introduced who happens to be Van Helsing. As the novel progresses, lady vampires are introduced and Lucy is eventually turned into one of the lady vampires as well. With the introduction of female vampires, the novel Dracula turns into a sexual and sensational novel by Bram Stoker. The female characters in the book are overly sexualized to where we can compare it to how women are viewed from back then in history to today’s world.

He says that one cannot keep a certain sex bound by a stereotype, on the basis of their nature, when nature, in this sense, is biased to what is known and allowed by society. "Custom [...] however universal, affords no presumption and ought not to create any prejudice, in favour [sic] of woman's subjection to man" (Pyle 89). What is considered a woman's nature is not a well-rounded viewpoint because it does not allow for the differences that might occur if situations were different.

The fight for domination amongst the sexes is a battle as old as civilization, where the ideas of gender hierarchies first began. These conflicts often manifest themselves unwittingly through literature, showing subtle signs of deeper tension that has ensued for centuries. The struggle between masculine and feminine becomes apparent through Frankenstein, a battle that results in the death of the potentially most powerful figure in the book. Frankenstein yields characters motivated by complicated thinking, specifically the title character, Victor Frankenstein. Victor is a brilliant 19th century Swiss scientist who succeeds in generating life with electricity, creating a creature that

The Bride of Frankenstein A horror film is a film dominated by elements of horror. This film genre underestimates a number of sub-genres and repeated themes, such as slashed themes, vampire. Horror films are designed to frighten and panic that cause dread and alarm within our hearts, and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying and shocking endings at the same time entertaining us with excitement and therapeutic experience. Most horror films are designed to show the dark side of life, the forbidden and strange events that take place within the society and our lives.

The late nineteenth century Irish novelist, Bram Stoker is most famous for creating Dracula, one of the most popular and well-known vampire stories ever written. Dracula is a gothic, “horror novel about a vampire named Count Dracula who is looking to move from his native country of Transylvania to England” (Shmoop Editorial Team). Unbeknownst of Dracula’s plans, Jonathan Harker, a young English lawyer, traveled to Castle Dracula to help the count with his plans and talk to him about all his options. At first Jonathan was surprised by the Count’s knowledge, politeness, and overall hospitality. However, the longer Jonathan remained in the castle the more uneasy and suspicious he became as he began to realize just how strange and different

The movie In the Bedroom depicts a mother, Rose, who has certain expectations regarding her son Frank and his life choices. Her idealized view of family and marriage does not include a woman with a violent ex, who is not yet divorced and has two young children. She would prefer that her son go to school, get his degree and meet a nice girl who does not come with all that baggage. On the other hand, Frank’s father Matt does not share his wife’s views. He is willing to look past certain obstacles in order to support his son. It is more important to him that his son is happy regardless of who he is with romantically at the time. Since Ruth and Matt have such opposing views they start to struggle within their own marriage. Eventually, Ruth tries to convince Matt that Natalie is not the woman for their son and as a result of their differing views resentment takes the place of having an open communicative

Sharon Olds’ poem “Sex Without Love” wonders at the ability for two people to have sex and not involve emotions or pretenses of love. The poem argues that it is better to have sex without love under the premise that love is a false savior for people, and everyone is all alone anyhow. In other words, the claim is that personal interactions do not serve a purpose other than being a distraction, and they will inevitably end. However, the notion that attachment and love are false hopes for people and each person is all alone does not account for the inevitability of human interactions and the underlying importance of relationships. While the poem does not give its definition of being alone, complete isolation is virtually impossible and leads

Ursula Le Guin's short story "The Matter of Seggri" is a dystopian tale which is unfolded through a series of different characters' perspectives. The first parts of the tale are a series of 'reports' issued by aliens, which are followed by stories told by the planet's inhabitants. Seggri is a society that is almost entirely governed by sexual differences (much like contemporary Earth) although in contrast to Earth it is a matriarchal society rather than a patriarchal one. Le Guin uses different character's voices to narrate the tale to show the extent to which sexism can hurt perpetrators as well as the victims. It does not matter if sexism is wielded against males or females: it has equally negative effects. She also uses outsider's perspectives to show how what can seem 'normal' regarding gender relations when someone has grown up within a particular social context is, in fact, not intrinsic to human nature but is imposed upon the body by culture.

Left hand of Darkness by Guin is a story involving an imagined planet known as Gethen. One man, Genly Ai is determined to convince the Gethenians to join the Ekumen- an organization that promotes international co-operation. Ekumen would be an equivalent of the United Nations Organization in the contemporary world. The audience learnsthat Gethenians are androgynous, and this is a major setback for Genly as he can nolonger convince them to join Ekumen so that they can achieve gender equity. More so, the country’s king Argaven, is not convinced to join Ekumen . This leaves Genly with onlyFaxe toconsult. Faxe is the foreteller on whether planet Gethen will succeed in joining Ekumen or not. He assures that is merger will be successful in five years.

Simone de Beauvoir, in her 1949 text The Second Sex, examines the problems faced by women in Western society. She argues that women are subjugated, oppressed, and made to be inferior to males – simply by virtue of the fact that they are women. She notes that men define their own world, and women are merely meant to live in it. She sees women as unable to change the world like men can, unable to live their lives freely as men can, and, tragically, mostly unaware of their own oppression. In The Second Sex, de Beauvoir describes the subjugation of woman, defines a method for her liberation, and recommends strategies for this liberation that still have not been implemented today.