Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Sexism in Windup Girl
I think it will be interesting to hear during the class discussion if anyone felt as if the story was sexist. This might be biased, since I'm currently in the process of writing a paper on feminism for another class, so I immediately related the two works. Also, whenever rape is discussed so openly in a story, there is sure to be debate regarding sexism. Anyways.. To me, there are many other ways (besides unwilling prostitution and rape) that authors can use to illustrate female debasement, slavery, and oppression. It seemed that Bacigalupi chose to use the most cliche ways to show the debasement of Emiko. In contrast, the men portrayed in the story are described as being seen as slaves in a different way. For example, the Chinese man that escaped genocide was robbed of his money, job, fame, etc. This implied to me that you can humiliate a man by taking away his money and fame, but not by using rape to humiliate him in front of a crowd. Why couldn't any of these aspects be taken from the women in the story? This seems unfair. Also, it seemed that Emiko was created to be viewed as the ultimate male fantasy. She's cute, tiny, submissive, vulnerable, in constant peril, needing rescue, sexually bio-engineered, she has super-human powers, and she's ready to be eternally grateful to the first man who treats her kindly. Does anyone see the viewpoint that women are inferior to men in any other parts of the story? I'm interested to hear, from both sexes, what everyone's take on this issue is.
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The way I read it, Bacigalupi's intention wasn't to be sexist for the sake of being sexist, but rather to make a point about the degradation of this future society in conjunction with all the political corruption, climate fiasco, and energy crisis. Emiko's humiliation as a sex object portrays this very well. I also think that Bacigalupi's world building was based in the problems in our society today, just projected into the future with new technologies and what not, which is why Hock Seng was victimized by racism rather than being reduced to a sex object. I'm not saying this doesn't happen now, that men don't get raped, it's just not as well known, whereas misogyny or the objectification of women has been part of our culture and history for quite a while. I do agree with how wrong it is that Emiko was actually trained to be subservient and is treated as less than human because of her gender and genetic engineering, but I thought it was a core part of the story. On the other hand, there's Kanya, who takes over the Environment Ministry as a woman in power, so I don't think the novel is completely sexist against women.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Emily about the whole Kanya vs. Emiko aspect, and I also thought that much of the prevailing sexism had to do with a resurgence of traditional cultures. Hock Seng (not sure of the name) refers to multiple wives and the importance of male heirs vs. female "mouths." It's not just Emiko, it's just that she is the worst off because her status as a New Person (and an illegal "abomination") means that she can't fight back.
ReplyDeleteI read the treatment of Emiko less as a commentary on the debasement of women and more as a way of forcing the reader of confronting the idea that what was happening to Emiko wasn't any less wrong or horrible or shocking because she was bio-engineered. Were there other ways of addressing the theme of her humanity or the cruelty of the discrimination against her? Certainly, but her rape left little wiggle room for qualifying her situation: what happened to her was wrong. No one, traditional human or new person, should be subjected to such horrors.
ReplyDeleteAs for the nature of Emiko's engineering, I think designing her to be obedient is a trait shared by all New People (if I remember correctly), both male and female. Additionally we never directly see a male New Person. Perhaps her original role as an assistant was intended to be a reflection of Japanese culture rather than Bacigalupi's own thoughts on the role of women. I think I read an article that said Japan had the least gender equality among developed nations (perhaps on CNN), if true Emiko's design and original job would make sense as a reflection of traditional Japanese culture.
All that aside, I agree with Emily that Emiko breaking free from her genetic programming and training is one of the central parts of the story.
I'm pretty sure Emiko's original role in Japanese society was as a sort of sex toy for an upper class Japanese man but I could have read too much into it.
DeleteI personally found it extremely sexist. It was interesting, don't get me wrong, to hear the thoughts of a sex toy. However, Kanya is also looked down upon slightly because of her gender. She's the ONLY other female character we get a sufficient introduction to other than Mai. I think Kanya's purpose is to offset the existence of Emiko. However, it is interesting that Kanya is almost presented as asexual because she never mentions anything about sex/love/gender. It's about power and control. She comes off to me as an extremely masculine female, which may be a reaction to her position in the Ministry.
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