Gender Stereotypes In Forbidden, By Beverly Jenkins

Gender stereotypes are a common part of today 's popular culture, particularly within the romance genre. In the novel, Forbidden, by Beverly Jenkins, the protagonists are star-crossed lovers who have to face many barriers before they can be together. As with many romance novels, throughout the course of the story, the main characters are figures who uphold common gender stereotypes. The heroine, Eddy Carmichael, is an innocent woman who is set up to be independent but ultimately reduced to a damsel in distress. Her love interest, Rhine Fontaine, is a typical male hero. As shown through Eddy and Rhine 's actions and characterization, as well as their eventual courtship, gender norms and stereotypes become clear as the protagonists are reduced to nothing more than archetypes of the romance genre. The protagonist of Forbidden is Eddy Carmichael, a young and ambitious African-American woman living in a period of inequality. At the start of her novel, she stands out as a heroine that readers should want to root for due to her independent nature. She has goals of opening up her own restaurant and is willing to go to great lengths in order to achieve that goal. She is willing to go against what her society expects of her as a woman of colour and do what she …show more content…
Throughout the course of the novel, Eddy and Rhine are demonstrated to be archetypal figures of the setting and genre of the novel. The heroine, Eddy, is an innocent damsel in distress, and the hero, Rhine, is impulsive and acts on his desires. Their relationship relies heavily on the stereotype that males have to both save women from their problems, as well as introduce them to their sexualities. Furthermore, through their actions and characterization, and through their eventual relationship, the protagonists of Forbidden uphold gender stereotypes that are popular to the romance