Yet, this view merely upholds the false ideas of gender roles. For example, if a functional penis makes one masculine, than bearing children makes one feminine. It is the reliance on biological differences that lead us to uphold that our roles as male or female are “natural,” (Wittig 1907) which they clearly are not. Gender roles and the ideas of masculinity and femininity are founded on the same meaningless relationship as the language used to describe these ideals, as well as the language used to hide the underlying system of patriarchy, as reinforced by capitalism, that is stained into our way of life. While the female characters of the novel may be able to appear deviant to their role as women in society, those appearances are just as false as the roles they ultimately subscribe to. Similarly, the male characters may react to what seems an altered state of gender, but are still superior to women, even if castrated, as long as they have the capital to prove
Yet, this view merely upholds the false ideas of gender roles. For example, if a functional penis makes one masculine, than bearing children makes one feminine. It is the reliance on biological differences that lead us to uphold that our roles as male or female are “natural,” (Wittig 1907) which they clearly are not. Gender roles and the ideas of masculinity and femininity are founded on the same meaningless relationship as the language used to describe these ideals, as well as the language used to hide the underlying system of patriarchy, as reinforced by capitalism, that is stained into our way of life. While the female characters of the novel may be able to appear deviant to their role as women in society, those appearances are just as false as the roles they ultimately subscribe to. Similarly, the male characters may react to what seems an altered state of gender, but are still superior to women, even if castrated, as long as they have the capital to prove