-- Gaimans short story was shaped by societys culture

Womens roles in the 90s -- Influenced the Media -- How the view of man and woman was
The 90s was a time for change, and one of the changes that occurred were the
expectations society had on the sexes. It may have seemed that the perspective on gender roles
had changed; men could be stay at home dads, and women could be the provider for the family;
Men could express their femininity, and women could express their masculinity. But, Gaimans
short story portrays the reality that both genders had just gotten a new set of expectations.
Intro to the Fairy Tale + Art Horror story -- 1994 -- What does it mean? + Sigmund F.
Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman portrays societys views of women by using the
interactions between the King, Queen, Snow White and the Prince as a metaphor for gender
stereotypes in 1994. Sigmund Freud, a well respected neurologist, and founder of psychoanalysis
shared that like dreams, fairy tales explain the unconscious mind, therefore, Gaimans twisted
fairy tale revealed what he unconsciously believed society expected of men and women. In this
essay I will explain how Gaimans short story used hyperbole to over exaggerate the dynamic of
each character, and how he strategically used the characters sexual encounters with one another
to metaphorize behavioral expectations for men and women. Today, we may judge the way
society used to treat women, but we shouldnt be too quick to spit up and not expect it to fall on
our faces, no. A little over twenty years have passed since Gaiman wrote Snow, Glass, Apples,
but the story is relevant in todays gender expectations.
Dynamic Characters & Their interactions -- Womens sexuality
Gaimans short story is narrated by the Queen through multiple flashbacks. She begins
her story with a basic background of Snow White, her relationship with the King and her lack of

wisdom. She focused on her interaction with the King at the age of eighteen; she explained how
their lust brought them together, and gave her the title of Queen. They didnt share a room, but
Queen said that the King would send for her, she said I would go to him, and pleasure him, and
take my pleasure with him (Gaiman). The Queen was not ashamed of taking pleasure in sex
because she had embraced her sexuality, and her character essentially embodies women in 1994.
While the Queen represented the ideas women had about sex, the Kings response also
represented the attitude some men had in regards to womens sexuality; instead of shaming
women, men had embraced the modern woman that took pleasure in sex. In the early 90s, sex
was only for the heterosexual male to enjoy, and while men knew enough about their own
sexuality, women were left having to fake orgasms. It wasnt until 1969 when Our Bodies,
Ourselves was published that women began to learn more about their anatomy, and after that
women began to act like the Queen in Gaimans story. They were unashamed of being sexually
active, and were vocal about the pleasure that came with sex.
While some women were open about expressing their sexuality, there was another group
of women that refused to embrace their sexuality because their male counterpart demanded
pleasure for themselves, but did not reciprocate that towards them. This type of interaction was
metaphorized in Gaimans short story through the interaction between the Queen and Prince. The
Queen was left to run the kingdom on her own, and one day the Prince went to visit the queen.
She shared in her flashback that she had visited the Princes room and she narrated her sexual
encounter with the Prince, he told her You must neither move, nor speak. Just lie there on the
stones, so cold and so fair. I tried, but he had lost whatever force it was that had made him virile;
and, some short while later, I left the Princes room, his curses and tears still resounding in my
ears (Gaiman). First of all, the Prince is having sex with the Queen, her social rank is higher

than his, yet the Prince still demands for her to lie still on the cold stones. The Queen was
enjoying herself, but that caused the Princes attitude to change; he began to curse, and cry
because the Queen did not want to lie on the cold stones like a dead body. Instead, the Queen
wanted to enjoy herself. Before the Queen had gone into the room she said I am no innocent
(Gaiman). The word innocent implies purity, or virginity, yet the Queen was no longer a virgin
due to her relations with the King, but she still wanted to have sex with the Prince. The Queens
response serves as a metaphor for the females in society that had embraced their lust for a
partner, and had acted upon it. Meanwhile, in the 90s some men had the Princes mentality, they
wanted full control over their female counterpart. But even though some men had that mentality,
it was not enough to stop women that were like the Queen who had embraced their sexuality. By
embracing their sexuality women were not only benefiting themselves, but they were also paving
the way for equal treatment of men and women in the bedroom, and in society.
Men and their sexuality
After having sex with the Queen, the Prince had set off into the woods where he found
Snow Whites dead body. The Queen imagined what the Prince was doing to Snow Whites
corpse and she thought that he pounded into her cold body (Gaiman). The Prince has
necrophilia because he had asked the Queen to imitate the characteristics of a dead body, and
because he had sex with a corpse. The metaphor behind the Prince and Snow Whites sexual
encounter is that the a woman needs a man at her side to have a life. This idea that a woman
needed a man by her side was diminishing as a result of the Feminist movement, but even though
women were praised for being independent there were some men in society that did not want
them to stop depending on them. Aside from gender expectations, men and women had also
faced different exual expectations, but some men were not content with the progressive ideas that

women could get equal treatment in the bedroom or even in society. So Snow White serves as a
symbol for the women that did not have a chance to express their sexuality because their male
counterparts did not allow them to, and the Prince embodies the idea some men had on womens
sexuality, that sex was only for the man to enjoy.
Though some men expected to only receive, and not give there were some men that were
willing to give, but what they were giving was not enough. In Gaimans short story, Snow White
encounters a monk out in the forest. The monk saw Snow White, and gave her money in return
of sex, so she caught it, and nodded, and went to him. He pulled at the rope around his waist,
and his robe swung open (Gaiman). There are a couple of things wrong with this interaction
between the monk who is not supposed to have sex, and Snow White who is a thirteen year old.
The monk offered her a penny, a penny, so he could touch her, and so she would touch him. The
monk did not hesitate, and was only in search to pleasure himself, and his drive was strong
enough to overshadow the fact that Snow White is a little girl, and that is an issue. The monk is a
character that embodies some men in the 90s that had a distorted view on the treatment of
women. Men in the 90s were in an uncomfortable position where they might have felt like their
power was being taken away from them by the ladies of society. The reality was that women at
the time were given the chance to express their sexuality like men had, but according to *
womens sexuality in a male dominated culture that uses images of women as a tool of their
domination (38 -- scho). Due to the large amount of males in the entertainment industry women
therefore had a difficult time expressing their sexuality, thus encouraging men that pleasure was
for them and not for their female counterparts. While women were encouraged by a portion of
society to express their sexuality, the other portion of society encouraged people to maintain

tradition by pressing gender stereotypes onto the genders of how they should act through
different outlets in the the media, and through market segmentation.
Men and Womens expectations vs reality
While the sex-expectations were changing, the behavior in gender expectations soon
followed. Men and women were changing the expectations and while women learned to embrace
their sexuality they expressed their masculinity, men began to embrace their femininity by
expressing their emotions. In Gaimans story the King, and Queen led an egalitarian sex life in
which both of them took pleasure, but their sex life changed when the King was attacked by
Snow White. After the attacks the Queen would go to the Kings room to sexually please him,
but the Queen said that he started, violently, and began to weep and held him tightly, until the
sobbing had stopped, and he slept, like a child (Gaiman). The King didnt want the Queen to
give him fellatio, so he pulled away from her, yet he still let her comfort him. During this
interaction between the King and Queen in the bedroom you see the King become vulnerable,
and you could even say that he was comfortable with expressing his femininity. The King and
Queen in Gaimans story serve as a symbol of the progressive man and woman of the twenty and
twenty-first century. Their ability to accept one another, and their capability to express their
masculinity and femininity openly mirror the way some people in 1994 thought of the sexes.
While the King represented the men who were comfortable expressing their femininity,
the Prince represented the men in society that felt uncomfortable with getting in touch with their
more feminine side. The Princes interaction with the Queen is a metaphor of the men that refuse
to accept their femininity. He prevented himself from opening up to the Queen, and he wasnt
willing to let her express her sexual individuality or masculinity either because it made him
uncomfortable. The biggest difference between the two male characters was that while one of

them was comfortable getting help from his female counterpart, the other was enraged and did
not want anything to do with her. But also the way the two men defined their masculinity sets
them apart. The Princes defines his masculinity through sex, but the King did not allow his
sexual interactions define him. The Prince tried to force the Queen to submit to him, and the
King enjoyed having sex with the Queen as equals. The culture during the 90s and throughout
history the identity of a man was defined by his characteristics and by his sexual interactions. In
the 90s, American Pie movies were played and like Gaimans story they served as an example of
the cultural expectation of men and their sexuality. While women were expected to prolong their
virginity, men on the other hand rushed, if not pressured to lose their virginity as soon as
possible.
Men, Women and Chainsaws
Expectations of women are high especially in slasher movies, not only do you have to
survive the attack of a crazy psychopath ladies, no, you also have to look hot while you run
away. In the book Men, Women and Chainsaws written by Carol Clover she discusses the role
men and women play in slasher movies. Clover quotes horror film director Dario Argento who
said, I like women, especially beautiful ones. If they have a good face and figure, I would much
prefer to watch them being murdered than an ugly girl or man (Clover 42). This is a major
problem, think about it. First of all, he is casually talking about seeing some get murdered, that is
a major red flag; people dont just say that. And then, he goes on to explain that he would rather
see a pretty girl get hurt rather than an ugly girl as if seeing someone get murdered was an
option to begin. Since this class is focused on horror, I am going to look past that, but I will
unveil what Argento really thinks about women by closely analyzing what he said. He is talking
about a slasher film, and well for starters, women are normally the victims in these kinds of

movies. I mean think about it this is what sells; who would like to see a psycho ex-girlfriend go
after her ex? He begins by saying that he prefers beautiful women *point this out explicitly*
(sound familiar?). Notice that he mentions nothing about the women besides the fact that they are
pretty (Hint, think about this presidential election), no comments on their personality and then he
goes on to say that he would not like to see an ugly girl or man get murdered. Ladies, if you
were a film director would you think, yea, Id like to see a sexy Brad Pitt get murdered. The
answer is most likely no, so what does that reveal? There are so many things about this comment
that disgusts me, but dont get me wrong, I can take it, and Im not saying this is Argentos fault
for wanting to see beautiful women get murdered, no, his job as a director is to deliver what his
audience asked for, and who is his audience? The answer are youngsters, teens that are sixteen
years old, or older; that is why the girl in some movies come off as very sexual, to fulfill their
pubescent fantasies and desires. When Argento made this comment it was truly a reflection of
how society saw women. Society looked at women and portrayed them a purely innocent or
extremely naughty (and, yes, I meant to say naughty in a sexual way).
Clovers book was published in 1992, but the year before that, Mr. Donald Trump,
Republican Presidential Candidate for the 2016 Election told the Esquire magazine said, "You
know, it doesn't really matter what [they] write as long as you've got a young and beautiful piece
of ass." In this conversation Trump was talking about the media, but he shifted the conversation
and targeted women. A beautiful piece of ass, sure that make be some girls cup of tea, but to
say that that is all there is to a woman does not cut it.
Metaphors and Symbols overall -- What it means & importance
Snow Whites original story goes as. Before Snow White was born her mother asked
that she look white as snow, have red lips like blood and coal black hair. *name, status wrote on

what those colors meant. The white skin of Snow White would symbolize sexual purity, the red
lips would then symbolize the menstrual blood, and the black would then mean ____. The reason
why this is important is because it speaks on gender roles in *date it was published. What the
story of Snow White tells the audience is that women were either viewed as pure or as dirty; that
a womans sexuality defined her, and that was all a woman was. As a result of that view on
women, men and younger boys would see this attitude towards women, and accept it as true.
When society puts the value of
-- black eyes -- no mentioning of her white skin = shes not pure?
Autumn -- preserving
Winter -- hunger
Sigmund F. -- Historical/Cultural context -- Influence on Society -- Why the story matters
How women viewed themselves Had any man seen me standing there, I would have had his
eye -Queen
Society influences Media -- But what do we say? -- Media influences us? Does it really?
Gaimans story is a reflection of what society through of men and women in 1994, and
that is what happened. The media was a portrayal of society, and when I say the media I am
referring to short stories, books, movies, and news. But, today we hear comments that blame the
media for being corrupt. Blaming the media for feeding us lies, but the reality is that we as a
society are the ones in control of what goes on the media. People in the media and entertainment
industry are giving us the consumers what we want. There is a fine line, and the issue isnt black
and white. One of Gaimans argument was regarding men and womens sexualiy, and
expectations. Some of the expectations that people were created by us, the people.

Media: Gender Roles/Stereotypes 2000s+ Why does this matter? +You & Future

Today, we hear the words like fuckboys and sluts to describe men and women that are what
we consider too lustful, and as a society we would put anyone to shame that has too much sex.
Society pressures young men to lose their virginity as soon as possible otherwise they would be
bashed by their friends for not smashing soon enough. While on the other hand young women
are sexually policed and told that if the lose their virginities they are no longer pure. There is a
problem with this because the goal of studying the past is to learn from it, not repeat it or make it
worse, but the problem comes when the pressure begins to build. Men are now encouraged to
express their femininity and women are also encouraged to express their masculinity, but today
we still see how gender stereotypes are a little more subtle than they were before. Before the
emoji update, many of the ones we saw on our iphones were of women getting haircuts or
dancing, and the male emojis would be running or doing sporty things. On Twitter not long ago a
joke was made that if women didnt vote, Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump
would be winning. A woman took this further and she said that she would willingly give up her
right to vote, so that he would win. It is 2016 and the misogyny still exist, it is not as popular as
it was before, but the simple fact that we hear such comments in the twenty first century is a
problem.