Gender Roles In Gina Frangello's Slut Lullabies

In Gina Frangello’s book, Slut Lullabies, her stories give many examples of the gender roles and stereotypes of women. In “Saving Crystal”, Crystal and Jenna’s fathers relationship represents the stereotypical gender roles of man and wife. Jenny also uses her sexuality to bribe her teacher. Gina Frangello shows the strength of women in her short story Slut Lullabies. She is able to show us the power of women and how the main character is able to push past any challenge, as well as many stereotypes about women. Also, she gives examples of gender roles and how people are more lenient with men’s sexual activity than women’s. The main character suffers many through many situations within the story but manages to stay strong.
Saving Crystal explores the gender roles put into place of a woman and her husband. The woman is seen to be a housewife who stays at home all day while the man is working. After Crystal and Jenna’s father had fought and he hit her, she says that she “shouldn’t have even asked” if she could go down to see her mother (150). Crystal represents the stereotypical wife who is obidiant to her husband and does exactly as he wants and acts how he wants her to behave. She begins telling Jenna how she “got pregnant like he wanted. I’ve stopped working. I haven’t seen my family in over a year. There’s nothing left. Nothing.” It is another example stereotype that Crystal represents and how she follows her husbands every command. She is attempting to do everything for him that he asks. This example also shows the gender roles that are set in place as Crystal is the stay at home wife who perfects the house. But, Jenna’s father is the bread winner of the family and he has to be the one providing for them in order to keep his ego in check as superior. Another example of when Crystal portrayed the stereotypical obedient wife was when she told Jenna that “if you didn’t sass back at him all the time, he’d be a lot nicer to you, too.” (162) This shows us that Crystal is truly ignorant and believes that she is being hurt physically because of her behavior and that what Jenna’s father is doing to her is normal. The idea of gender roles is brought up again as Crystal is telling Jenna to be more obedient to her father because he is superior and supports the family. Jenna’s teacher turns into another example of a stereotype of women. He is demanding of Jenna and orders her to obey him. Jenna tells Robert that she will tell on him if he doesn’t give her $300, he says that he hopes that she knows “that if I give you money, I’d better get something in return.” (160). He had started off as a nice and kind character within this story, but as he learned Jenna’s true plan, he became more evil. He became demanding and portrayed the gender role of being the dominant and superior man and making Jenna comply to his wants and be submissive to him. He wants to have power and control of her and that is comparable to the role of how the man wants to be the breadwinner and ensures that he is the one supporting his family, not anyone else. The first story of Frangello’s book begins with, Slut Lullabies, she gives the reader a picture of a girl who develops into a stronger person because of the actions and people around her. No matter who tries to destroy her or ruin her future, …show more content…
Men as being superior and stronger than women and holding all of the power. But, women are put down and demeaned. In the end of Slut Lullabies, the main character is empowered by being able to push past her experiences and spend time with her dying mother. Also, in Saving Crystal, Jenna uses the money to move past the awful household with her father and her teacher. She goes to visit her mother and is able to move on. Both the main characters in these short stories were able to become stronger women and defy the usual stereotypes put in place against