Gender In Borderlands By Marjane Satrapi, And Virginia Woolf

Enter into any café on the UCSC campus for a prolonged period of time and you are likely to hear the words “gender is a social construct”. Initially you’ll think to yourself, “what a load of granola” this is an expected reaction because for most people the concept of “gender” is natural. Its not until you are able to see how the idea of gender is constructed from physiological differences between males and females as discussed by researcher Miller AE and his team of scientists. Or how men possess great privilege because of gender roles, and women are seen as objects, that you will truly be able to understand that gender is nothing but a social contract. Authors Gloria Anzaldúa, Marjane Satrapi, and Virginia Woolf discuss in their novels Borderlands,

After reading the works of a professor condemning women as the inferior gender Woolf writes, “Possibly when the professor insisted a little too emphatically upon the inferiority of women, he was not concerned with their inferiority, but with his own superiority” (Woolf 34). She believes that the suppressive nature of gender roles on women aren’t really about keeping women down. Rather it’s a means to protect male privilege. Its not that men derive pleasure from the fact that women have less privilege in society. Men enjoy the privilege and power that has been created by them. This is why men are willing to support the uplifting of women to greater levels of equality, but are not willing to give up their own privilege to create equality. Nevertheless, this is true of all groups holding a place of privilege, it is unnatural to do so (talk more perhaps). Similarly, Anzaldúa explores hyper masculinity in her Chicano society, she writes, “His ‘machismo’ is an adaptation to oppression and poverty and low self-esteem. It is the result of hierarchal male dominance” (Anzaldúa 105). Upon first glance, this statement is confusing because it labels machismo both a result and adaptation. I will begin with the latter statement. Since machismo is the result of hierarchal male dominance it must therefore succeed it. She is saying that

Throughout her novel there are numerous examples of gender roles that oppress both men and women. I will focus though on the inability to break free from gender roles and social customs. Anzaldúa describes the relationship between individuality and community when she writes, “Much of what the culture condemns focuses on kinship relationships. The welfare of the family, the community, and the tribe is more important than the welfare of the individual” (Anzaldúa 40). Social customs are deeply ingrained in Chicano society because of the emphasis on the community over individuality. You are a member rather than an individual in society. This puts the emphasis on how one acts, behaves, and belongs in the society rather than one’s personal purpose. Social constructs only exist because there is a community that upholds them. This flavor of society guarantee you support so long as you conform to the social customs. Consequently, it becomes very difficult to fight against social constructs like gender roles, let alone not personally conforming to