Second wave feminism in the USA learned a lot from the African-American Civil Rights Movement. Rallying cries like Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Freedom Now," Stokely Carmichael's "Black Power," and the ubiquitous "Black Is Beautiful" resonated with many feminists, even those who weren't African-American themselves, but who saw parallels between their experiences and those of other oppressed and marginalized groups. The Female Man definitely channels that political spirit, and over the course of the novel our protagonists learn to recognize the power politics that shape their societies—and their lives.
Questions About Power
- What constitutes "power" in Jael's world? Is it wealth? Physical strength? Access to weaponry? Access to scientific knowledge and advanced technologies? When it comes right down to it, who holds the most power? Womanland or Manland?
- In Jeannine's and Joanna's worlds, women have less social and political power than men, but they are told that they have other kinds of power to make up for it. What are these "womanly" powers, and how do they compare to the kinds of power held by men?
- To what extent does The Female Man associate power with violence?
Chew on This
Although characters like Ewing believe that women have certain "physical limitations" that put them at risk of male violence, The Female Man suggests that men's ability to exercise power over women doesn't have much to do with physical size or strength. Instead, it argues that men's power comes from social structures and conventions that train men to be aggressive and women to be docile, which deliberately keep women vulnerable by limiting their education and access to resources.
Although the female protagonists of The Female Man secure power in a number of different ways, the novel suggests that violence is a necessary strategy for overthrowing the patriarchal order.