EN 2012 Study Guide - Final Guide: Nalo Hopkinson, Marjorie Garber, Monique Wittig
16 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
Language reinforced sex in language, used as a means to shape gender, for social control. Universal male pronoun assumed, but not universal female pronoun eg. elles. Gender not biological, sex is, gender is constructed by society. Through gender performativity, you are perceived as masculine or feminine, though social constructs forced upon you as early as birth eg. girling of a girl. Gender used to legitimize one"s humanity, as confusion leads to violence. Abjection- process of exclusion from the intelligibly human (if you do not fit gender norms, you are an outsider) Rejects masculinity & femininity as stable, assumes both roles. Employs process of citation to shows agency, subvert gender norms. Rejects racialization of black individuals, black feminism. Colonial view placed on natives as masculine noble savages which undermines the earlier practices of natives eg. two-spirited people. Attempts to use myth to construct cultural imperialist view onto minority or racialized group, thus lacking gender diversity.
