Androgyny

Shakespeare in recent years, just like in his time, has been described as a writer who liked to challenge the circumstances and expectations of his time. During the 16th/17th century, women and men had specific roles, characteristics, and expectations to live up to and had to strictly abide by them. Men were meant to provide for their family; and be courageous, masculine and powerful. As opposed to women who had completely different gender roles during the era. Women, on the other end of the…

decades because it “often contradicts itself,” “can accommodate many agendas,” and is “a fertile source of ideas and illustrations,” (13). Relating most closely to feminism, “The celebration of the feminine style coexists with the valorization of androgyny; the insistence on gender as crucial to women’s perspective and experience coexists with a stern admonishment to women not to think consciously of their sex,” (Rosenman 13). Rosenman offers future critics plenty to dissect from A Room of…

the world” (Mckee 2003, p.15). In fact, textual analysis is widely used in slash fanfic studies. For example, through analyzing Star Trek (1966-present) slash fanfic contents, Jenkins (1992, p.193) argues that slash fanfic establishes a “play with androgyny” and a Utopia for women to express their sexual fantasy. Keft-Kennedy (2008) also examine how slash fanfic authors construct aggressive…

They say sex sells… and that is ultimately the issue. Sexual intercourse was once considered by society to be a private act, a physical pact made between two people behind closed doors. How did such a seemingly private act turn into such a lucrative business; when did it become acceptable for men and women to view their bodies as sexual commodities? In the primitive ages, it was necessary for cavemen to observe the act of procreation so that they could ensure the reproduction and longevity of…

In Rocky Horror, both Brad and Janet are greatly changed by the events that took place. Brad was always a traditional man but Frank-N-Furter challenged this with his androgyny. Brad stops conforming to the gender role that men must be straight and ends up being intimate with Frank-N-Furter. He has an androgynous experience of his own which challenges the gender roles he is used to and ultimately changes his communication…

Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis Trilogy takes its readers on a journey of evolution. It’s Genesis begins with Lilith is awakened from her drug induced sleep for the last time. Prior to this awakening, she had not yet seen what her captors looked like. But her vivid descriptions of her current womb like prison are described as rather bleak, bare, and cold, “The wall were lightly colored- white or grey, perhaps. The bed was what it had always been: a solid grey platform…” (5). When she does meet her…

Behind the Masks During the English Renaissance, a new wave of writers—Like Thomas Wyatt, Philip Sidney, and William Shakespeare—aspired to tackle what it is considered to be controversial topics, such as equality, social justice, and sexual desire. However, because of their relationship with the royal court, their reputations in society, and/or the strict religious code, their controversial works were disguised, in which they employ multiple literary devices to either protect themselves from…