Gender, And Heteronormalcy In Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts

Maggie Nelson’s book The Argonauts is a memoir that focuses on her relationship with her partner Harry,the changes both of them go through as Harry begins taking testosterone and Nelson becomes pregnant, and ends with her giving birth to their son. The Argonauts can be described as a book that has hit its cultural moment, a book that has come just in time. During her pregnancy, Nelson really begins to question some of the most controversial topics discussed throughout the world today. She questions the ideas of what society thinks about gender and motherhood, and breaks down those ideas by opening up about her own life. By examining the theories of language/structure, gender/sexuality, and heteronormalcy, Nelson is not only able to question …show more content…
Once she and Harry had gone out and when Harry tried to pay with his credit card (the name on the card was Harriet Dodge) the cashier asked if the card belonged to Nelson. In the silence that followed, Nelson wondered whether or not things were going to become violent. “A shadow of violence usually drifts over the scene.”(111). Later we learn that at one point in his life, Harry was gay bashed and began to make homemade weapons, such as a dirty sock with nails protruding from it. Although more people have come out as gay/lesbian/trans, there is still great backlash against …show more content…
Throughout this book, as we look into the lives of both Nelson and Harry, it becomes clear of the struggles that members of the queer community go through. Situations from having someone look at your driver’s license for a long period of time, to someone mistaking your credit card for your partner’s. Readers are also able to see the legal struggles the LGBT+ community has had to overcome. Not only with Prop 8 denying them the right to get married, but in relation to their children. We learn the struggles Harry had gone through to legally adopt his son. The fear Harry had of the possibility of having a transphobic judge deny him his parental rights to his child. That Harry did not fulfill the place of a mother, but was not your average father either. We also see how liberated Harry felt once he began taking testosterone and had top surgery. Once he started taking testosterone he finally felt free, and guilty for holding himself back for so long. The book also shows the hardships that the couple had gone through in order to actually become pregnant. Two months before the book’s release, same-sex adoption was made legal in all fifty states. This is progress considering everything Harry had gone through in order to legally adopt the child he was currently raising, a child that was