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Perla Soto

Professor Holly Batty

English 102

07 November 2018

Gender Roles: Society Has No Business In Your Pants

We come into this world assuming that we are who everyone says we are. The moment

we pop out of the cave we receive the almighty, “it’s boy” or “it’s a girl”. We spend our entire

lives being indirectly told that we have to act a certain way because of who we were told we

were from birth. David Henry Hwang and Ursula K. Le Guin demonstrate to us through their

literature that gender and sexuality are the driving forces within our societies. The manner in

which we function is based on this apparent idea that a woman is dainty and submissive while

the male is masculine and physically superior. Why should people have to live up to the

presumptions of their genders?

In M. Butterfly we see the story of a romantic tragedy unfold during the time of the

Vietnam war. The main protagonist, is a white western man, named Rene Gallimard, who works

for the French Embassy the man is fixated with the fantasy of attaining the woman who will

come through with his most wished for desires. He has the ability to create the “perfect woman”

and an established concept of a genuine “Oriental” woman. To this misogynistic male the perfect

woman is submissive, she is self-disciplined, and has the will to do anything for her male

dominant. The time and place where the story of these lovers begins is at the opera. Here is

where Gallimard is immediately intrigued by a performer who was playing the role of Madame

Butterfly, a Japanese woman, who falls in love with a western man in the navy. The man leaves
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the woman and she commits suicide. Fascinated by the performance Gallimard goes to look for

the actress who goes by the name of Song Liling. At first impressions Song is not too fond of

Gallimard. To him Madame Butterfly is a beautiful story because the woman committed an

honorable sacrifice for a man who was “unworthy” of her unlimited supply of love. However,

Song sees it otherwise. Imagine if the story was the other way around with a skinny, mini,

boobie, blondie who falls in love with a short statured Japanese businessman. Now, picture him

treating the woman poorly and leaving her for some time while she sits and prays for his return.

Then when she finds out that the man who she’d fallen for has married another woman, she kills

herself. This version of the story would not be glorified by Gallimard because it is not an

Oriental woman who ends her life for a western man (Hwang 18). Scenes later when Gallimard

is invited to Song’s flat where his presence feels invasive his attraction for towards her is

enhanced.

The truth about the perfect Oriental woman, is revealed to the audience when we’re told

that Song Liling is really a male spy taking information from Gallimard for the communist

government. It’s interesting because although it was all an act, Song never broke character. In the

scenes where she appears without the accompaniment of Gallimard she stays being a female.

There is a segment where her fellow Comrade even protests about the dress she wears; perhaps

deep down Song is a cross dresser. She keeps up the act for over twenty years without ever being

questioned by Gallimard. Song pleases Gallimard without ever showing him what lies beneath

her clothes. Many times he would ask her to show herself to him, but the idea was brushed off by

Song reminding him of her conservative ways. Even though he never got Song to take off her

clothes he would still get what he wanted; she seduced him and acted like his slave.
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For humans it is the normal thing to refer to someone as he or she which is what Genly

Ai does in The Left Hand Of Darkness to cope with the concept of people not having a specific

gender. In this novel a human is plonked on a planet where the people are androgynous beings.

Gethenians, which are the residents of the planet, choose to have either male or female sexual

organs for certain days of the month; that is called kemmer. Most of the time they are genderless.

Ai makes the effort to understand and come to terms the whole idea of gender amongst people

not existing. The one person who he struggles to accept is Estraven, who is the protagonist of the

novel. He feels hostility and lacks trust in Estraven. From his sexist male point of view the

feelings he gets of suspicion and things that cause him concern he classifies as feminine. The

qualities that astonish him or the things he finds to be satisfactory he classifies as masculine

(Cornell). Since the androgynous beings are not the norm to his customs it is difficult for him to

picture a world where gender is obsolete. Ai attempts to grasp and clarify the world that is

around him. He does so by showcasing his own culture and using his prefered way of

communicating; it’s all to make this new world more relatable and simpler to live in. As his

journey takes place he learns that he shouldn’t judge on solely what he sees. When he was in the

country to Orgoreyn he saw that it was clean place that had everything in order.

The main conflict we see in the novel is the overall struggle Ai faces with accepting and

understanding who Estraven is. It is known that Ai is not fond of Estraven, but eventually a

connection made between the two. It is possible that in the beginning Ai found interest in

Estraven due his soft female-like features and his masculine character when taking part as prime

minister. However, was afraid to see the reality of Estraven’s true self. Ai had pretended to not

see Estraven for who he was; both a woman and a man. The problem originally arose from Ai’s

need to categorize Estraven in a definite gender rather than just as a person.

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Ultimately, from both works of literature a lesson was learned. Both M. Butterfly and The

Left Hand of Darkness demonstrate that it is okay to for a male to be emotional and be in touch

with an inner feminine side. There is no shame in loving whoever it is you love. Also, that the

bond between two people shouldn’t be undermined because it makes a third party

“uncomfortable”. We are all made as individuals, we all have our own thoughts, and we all have

our own feelings. No one should be told how they should or shouldn’t feel. Life would be much

simpler if people didn’t have labels of confinement which are genders. Imagine the simplicity of

being neutral and not having to think about these black and white concepts. There would be no

need to for anyone to assume superiority towards anyone else. If we were to strip ourselves of

skins, besides the reproductive, genital organs, we would look and be the same. Under the skin

we are all made of the same materials. If we could simply ignore genders and sexuality we would

have more room for the things that matter the most. Issues like sexism and discrimination would

be less or practically become nonexistent.

The need to have fixed gender roles and sexuality comes from the notion that people have

to be put into categories. We live in a world that is the complete opposite to that of The Left

Hand of Darkness. In the world we live in people get classified as males or females, gay or

straight, transgender or pansexual, etc. Along with those classifications come the assumptions of

how a person has to act. Gender roles within our societies reckon how a person should act,

articulate, groom oneself, and dress accordingly to their given sex. Women, for instance, have to

dress in a way that meets the feminine standards, they have to be mannerly, and be the nurturing

figure. Men on the other hand, are strong, show no emotions, and they’re the ones who contain

the power. If a person wants to dress a certain way, wants to love a certain person, and do

anything in particular they should be allowed without a problem. The ability that a person has
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should not be determined by gender they were given when they came into the world. If a male

wants to wear a dress or skirt he should be allowed. If the male feels sensitive for whatever

reason, he should be allowed to express his sensitivity. The life that a person wants to live should

not be compromised because their reproductive organs. The same way in that just because a

woman is woman it doesn’t mean that she is inferior to the male.

Works Cited

Cornell, Christine. “The Interpretative Journey in Ursula K. Le Guin's the Left Hand of

Darkness.” IIS Windows Server, Kent State University Press, 2001,

library.lavc.edu:2063/eds/detail/detail?vid=7&sid=b137f521-a25c-4fad-b17c-
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28fb3276381c%40sdc-v-

sessmgr03&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3D#AN=edsgcl.82469994&db=edsglr.

de Graw, Sharon. “Review of Ursula K. Le Guin's Journey to Post-Feminism by Amy M.

Clarke.” Lavc Library , Femspec, 2011,

library.lavc.edu:2063/eds/detail/detail?vid=7&sid=b137f521-a25c-4fad-b17c-

28fb3276381c%40sdc-v-

sessmgr03&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#AN=edsgcl.82469994&db=edsglr.

Haedicke, Janet V.. "David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly: The Eye on the Wing." Journal of

Dramatic Theory and Criticism . Vol. 23..(1992): Web.<From Literature Resource Center>.

Le Guin, Ursula K.. The Left Hand Of Darkness. Ace Books, 1969. Print.

Hwang, Henry David. M. Butterfly. Longman Publishing Group, 1993. Print.

Shimakawa, Karen. "JHU Press." "Who's to say?" or, making space for gender and ethnicity in

'M. Butterfly.'. Johns Hopkins University Press, Oct 1993. Web. <http://www.press.jhu.edu>.