Elif Guvendi Yalcin

ING633-GENDER STUDIES
Dr. Gillian Mary Elizabet !lban
"inal #a$er
The representation of female identities in Angela Carters novels is so interestingly
disturbing most of the time it is not easy to read them. Carter is radical in that sense and her
novels are not gentle since they include excessive violence. When I first read them, I was
shoced and found her message about female identities troubling. In her fictions Angela
Carter has two inds of women! first ind is which I lie to name as a lamb woman has a
puppet lie character, repressed by the society and cannot act as an individual" however, the
other one is utterly opposite, lion lie, taes the strings into her own hands and lives her life
according to her own rules and ideas. As a woman in a very patriarchal society# Turey# I
reali$ed that Angela Carter lamb type of woman exist in Turey rather than %ion types.
&esides, these %amb women are sub'ected to extreme violence and die every year in Turey
lie the passive female protagonists in Carters novels. Therefore, for me it is easy to picture
these two inds of women in Turish society.
In almost all parts of society, women face family scrutiny with respect to what they
wear, where they go, whom they spea to and so on. &ut in some families, any relations with
men other than immediate relatives can be perceived as a source of disobedience or disgrace
re(uiring retribution. Turey is one of many countries where honor crimes are nown to
occur. In Turey there are many pacified sleeping beauties and they are being illed
mercilessly by the society in which they are living. Their life is full of violence. Therefore,
Angela Carter is right in her point in supporting )uillette type of women not victimi$ed
)ustine. The purpose of this paper will be to analy$e Carters portrayal of femininity in
*
selected examples of writings with the aim of demonstrating similarities between Carters
puppet lie lamb women and women in Turey who are slaughtered by men to reclaim their
honor.
In Angela Carters fiction we encounter two female characters who could not be more
different, two types of women who are worlds apart. In other words, they either provoe,
surprise, shoc or stir pity and open readers eyes to problems around them. +ne thing is
clear! it is nearly impossible to forget Carters female protagonists. To mae my point clear I
chose to wor with one of her novel The Passion of the New Eve ,*-../, and her non#fiction
The Sadeian Woman and the Ideology of Pornography ,*-.-/. I label the first type of woman
as lamb woman and the second type as the lion woman. The most striing feature of lamb
woman is her passivity and denial of her own power. +n the other hand, lion woman is self
confident and self assured.
Te %a&b '(&an
In her The Second Sex, 0imone de &eauvoir says, 1+ne is not born, but rather becomes, a
woman ,*--.,2.3/. Angela Carter, lie 0imone de &eauvoir re'ects the idea of an essential and
natural gender identity and stresses that masculinity and feminity are the acts, which are
performed. 4ender identity is real to the extent that it is performed. It may be said that Angela
Carter maes distinction between bodily sex and gender. According to Carter, gender ac(uisition
is lie an actor playing a role. The process by which 5ew 6ve learns to perform as a woman
confirms de &eauvoirs theory that one is not born but rather becomes a woman. &iological sex
and culturally determined gendered one are two different things. In her The Sadeian Woman:
Polemical Preface, Angela Carter says!
17 there is the unarguable fact of sexual differentiation" but separate from it and only
partially derived from it, are the behavioural modes of masculine and feminine, which are
culturally defined variables translated in the language of common usage to the status of
universals. ,8/
2
4ender is, thus, a social and cultural construct, which Carter illustrates by showing how 6ve
ac(uires womanhood through the socio#cultural situation in 9eros establishment and also in
6ves love relationship with Tristessa. 0imilarly, women are not born as passive or lamb they
learn to become lambs in the society they are living.
There are two opposing figures in the novel the Passion of the New Eve. The first is
%eila and she is the typical example of lamb woman. %ailah is the blac erotic dancer.
:nfortunately she is both woman and blac. In 6ves eye she is nothing more than a sexual
ob'ect. 0he is wearing shiny blac leather high#heeled shoes, blac fishnet stocings and is
wrapped in a fox fur ,*8/. And in the novels phallogocentric order, %eilahs duty is to play
prostitute. 6velyn ties her to the bed for hours while he strolls around the streets. ;eturning to
find she has defecated on the sheets he beats her for her dissent. <e says ! =If she fouled the
bed, I would untie her and use my belt to beat her. 0he seemed to me a born victim and she
submitted to the beating and the degradations with a curious, ironic laugh.. isnt irony the
victims only weapon> ,2?/. It is made very obvious that for 6velyn, %eilah is 'ust a victim or
an animal waiting her master# in that case 6velyn is the master# to teach her some trics. 0he
is the patriarchal stereotype of femininity. 6ventually, %eilah becomes pregnant. Any feeling
that 6velyn felt for her vanishes once he is confronted with her fertile body. 0he has a
bacstreet abortion, hemorrhages in the bac of a taxi on her way home and the disgruntled
6nglishman is forced to tae her to a clinic, all the while wondering how he will pay for her
treatment and which moment might prove opportune for him to slip away. At this point in the
narrative, 6velyn has plumbed the depths of his egocentric masculinity but his actions
figuratively and literally unman the man. 6velyn is the one who freely exercise the male power on
her. 0he is the very representation of the lamb woman. 0he accepts the assigned role of her gender
and plays along. 0he even lets 6velyn use her and throws her lie a piece of trash when he learns
about her pregnancy. <e does not care about her health or the baby and abandons her in the
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middle of nowhere. <e sees her lie a victim or a lamb waiting to be sacrificed for the purpose of
6velyns manly pleasures.
The second example of lamb woman is discussed by Angela Carter thoroughly in her non
fiction The Sadeian Woman chapter two The Desecration of the Temple: The Life of !stine.
)ustine is the typical angel in the house created by the phallocentric society. 0he confronts a
series of misfortunes all ends in disappointment. 0he is raped and condemned to death. The
irony is she does not even commit a crime and her only crime is being woman. As Carter
states =Always the ob'ect of punishment, she has committed only one crime and that was an
involuntary one" she was born a woman, and, for that, she is ceaselessly punished. The
innocent girl pays a high price for the original if imaginary crime of 6ve7@ ,3-/. 0he is the
typical woman character in a mans world. 0he possesses all the (ualities a lamb has and 'ust
playing the part assigned her. Aoreover, )ustine is defined as the virtuous woman by the
society but Carter believes that )ustine follows her heart not reason therefore her virtue is
sentimental one. 0he claims that
=)ustines virtue is not the continuous exercise of a moral faculty. It is a sentimental
response to a world in which she always hopes her good behaviour will procure her some
reward, some respite from the blea and intransigent reality which surrounds her and to
which she cannot accommodate herself. The virtuous, the interesting )ustine, with her
incompetence, her gullibility, her whining, her frigidity, her reluctance to tae control of
her own life, is a perfect woman. 0he always does what she is told. 0he is at the mercy of
any master, because that is the nature of her own definition of goodness@ ,BB/
Carter states that )ustine does everything automatically lie the typical lamb woman
does not hold the strings in her hands. 0he internali$es the traditional role models and
subconsciously accepts them without (uestioning their rightness. Carter says that =)ustine
demands punishment even before she has been accused. 0he does not tae advantage of
C
4ernandes confusion to destroy the incriminating letters she carries@ ,B2#B3/. 0ince she is
the perfect repressed passive woman she is doomed to die.
)at i* +(n(r ,illin-
An honor illing is 'ust one example of violence against women in Turey. Today in
Turey it is not very unusual to see women illed by men to reclaim their honor. )ustification
for honour illings can include a young woman looing at a man, becoming pregnant out of
wedloc or being raped. Durthermore, the concept of honor is mainly related to womens
sexuality, chastity, and nowing ones duties according to tradition. <onor crimes are an
extreme form of violence against women and girls under eighteen are among the victims. It is
mostly common in rural parts of the Turey. According to the (uestionnaire conducted among
males and female by women 54+ worers in the article =The Eynamics of <onor Fillings in
Turey@ by Dili$ Fardam the perception of honor is mainly associated to woman and her
sexuality. Dor instance, one male police officer states that ==As the older people say, 1horse,
woman and gun" these three things are sacred. <onor is the betrayal of your wife, she starts
to have relations with other men7 In the event, a person lives for his honor and dignity. And
your honor is your wife. If she betrays you, your dignity is trampled@ ,*8#*./. To mae
matters worse, based on this (uestionnaire .G percent say that honor is woman even the
women themselves , *./ Dor example, CC.2 per cent of women living in urban areas and 8C.B
per cent living in rural areas believe that women must obey their husbands. Durthermore, *G.8
per cent of women in urban areas and 2C.- per cent in rural areas believe that in some cases a
man can beat his wife, as well as C2.. per cent of women in urban areas and 8*.2 per cent
rural areas believing that the behavior of women is the responsibility of males.
Eata on honor crimes and forced suicides is not collected systematically. A report on
the issue published in 2GG?

reported over *,*GG cases of =ethics and honour illings,@ ,:nicef/
B
HThere were many other Ihonour illersI in prison and they were treated with respect, even by
the prison guards,H Aehmet said. ,:nicef/
%a&b )(&en In Tur.ey
%eilahs and )ustines situations are very similar to the countless of women in Turey.
Therefore it is not shocing in Turey even worse. There are countless %eilahs and 'ustines.
As well as being second to men women in Turey face domestic violence. According to the
recent research as many as -G J of Turish women experience violence at the hands of their
husbands or boyfriends. ,:nicef/. Aany women report that their husbands beat them on their
wedding night. 0ome of the most serious violations of human rights specifically target women
are crimes committed in the name of =honour@. <onour crimes are mostly common in south#
eastern regions of Turey but they have also been reported in the ma'or cities, including
Istanbul and I$mir. 6xamples are!
=23 year old ;uiye FKLKbirer was illed by her brother returning from military service because it
was alleged that she had a relationship with her brother#in#law.Waterpolo teacher AK'gan Albayra,
divorced from her husband, was shot by her brother whilst she was dining with her boyfriend. <Klya
Maar was illed by her ** year old son because she went out a lot. Ce$vet Aurat illed two of his
sisters, Ayten Aurat and 4Klten 0Nyleme$, because they came home late and he decided that they
were prostitutes.Oregnant Ayse Tarhan was stabbed to death by her husband &ehman Tarhan
because he suspected that she was having an affair. After illing her he separated her flesh from her
bones and then buried in the stove and so on. ,:nicef/
This so#called Hhonour illingsH in Turey have reached record levels. According to
government figures, there are more than 2GG a year P half of all the murders committed in the
country. In the Turish context, the concept of honour is represented as being determined by
acts of =purity@ or =impurity@ and is embodied in womens behaviour. This is lined in a fatal
way to a mans prestige and status, which paradoxically provides women with the power to
maintain and emasculate a mans position of privilege in society if they choose to resist the
8
hierarchical order. As in the case of %eilah masculinity is defined by ones ability to exert
control over another. In that case 6veleyn controls %eilah and he even beats her. +ne of the
things that is nown from the domestic violence movement is that women have many
survival strategies and sometimes what is experienced as submission and passivity is of her
way of handling life with a violent man. &oth %eilah and )ustine are the perfect lamb women
since they play the roles that are tagged to them. As Aary Wollstonecraft indicates in her A
Qindication of the ;ights of Woman"
=woman are told from their infancy, and taught by the example of their mothers, that a
little nowledge of human weaness, 'ustly termed cunning, softness of temper, outward
obedience and scrupulous attention to a puerile ind of propriety, will obtain for them the
protection of man" and should they be beautiful, everything else is needless, for, at least,
twenty years of their lives@ ,B?8/.
In other words it is clear from childhood women are taught to be soft, wea, cunning and proud
only of their beauty. As Wollstonecraft argues women who are capable of rational and abstract
thought are not desired in male dominated societies lie Turey. Oassivity and submission to a
male sex are the traits of an ideal woman. In addition to this, 6laine 0howalter states in The
Demale Tradition =women are greater dissemblers than men when they wish to conceal their
own emotions. &y habit, moral training, and modern education, they are obliged to do so. The
very first lessons of infancy teach them to repress their feelings, control their very thoughts@
,2?G/. It is very obvious that women are very good at hiding their own feelings.
It is not very easy to explain the reasons behind honor crimes since it has many variables such
as socio, economic and cultural. In simple terms I can say that the first reason is lac of
education. In Turey honor crimes are the most common where the education of women is
ignored and girls are not allowed to pursue their basic education because of =namus@ or early
marriages. Wollstone supports the idea that women should be educated rationally in order to
give them opportunity to contribute society ,B??/. In addition to this, she claims that the
.
education of women to please their husbands would lead women to adultery and society will
not be able to see advantage with the abilities of women ,B?-/. There should be no double
standard when it comes to virtue" moral and intellectual virtue should not differ in ind for men
and women, Wollstonecraft says. Womens conduct should be founded on the same principles
and have the same aim as mens. 0imilarly, little girls in south eastern part of Turey are not
sent to schools. They do not have economic freedom. Instead these girls are sold by their own
fathers to any men who pay a bride price. As a result, they do not have the power to control
their own lives because their husbands or family controls them and there is much societal
pressure for women to obey their husbands. 0uch lac of power can mae women vulnerable to
violence. In such an atmosphere, it is difficult for women to find a space where they are
empowered to spea out against practices that treat them as property and limit their decision
maing capacity.
The second reason is as 0imone de &eauvoir claims in her The 0econd 0ex =women is taught
from adolescence to lie to man, to scheme, to be willy. In speaing to them she wears an
artificial expression on her face" she is cautious, hypocritical, play# acting@ ,*C**/. These are
the techni(ues that women adopt since they are submitted and regarded as second sex.
Therefore, the relationship between men and women become master# slave relationship in
which the master has the absolute power over the slave. 0he further claims that women are
seen as inessential and other ,*C*2/. 0he also says that women are wanted to be seen as
mysterious since mystery belongs to the slaves. 0he says that to be true woman she must accept
herself as the +ther ,*C23/. &eavoir thins that women have been taught to accept masculine
authority. 0o she gives up critici$ing, investigation and 'udging for herself. A woman who lives
for the favor of men is still a prisoner, for her sex imprisoned her. A woman is ab'ect that
belongs to the sub'ect, and this maes her the second sex. In other words, the continuing
passivity of women is explained by &eauvouir by the extraordinary power that society has
attributed to male penis. Dor the boy the penis is external and erect. &ut the girls genitals are
mysterious, hidden and ambiguous. As her genitals are unable to become erect, she cannot
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become powerful as men. %iewise, in Turey the maintenance of female virginity has
traditionally been e(uated with family honor and is one of the greatest causes of violence
against women.
Third reason may be the increasing economic power of women in Turey. Eay by day more
women 'oin the wor force. Therefore, they gain their economic freedom and become
passionate. Met this is not welcomed in patriarchal societies lie Turey since As 0andra A.
4ilbert and 0usan 4ubar claims in their essay The Aadwoman in the Attic, passionate women
are viewed as monsters or madwoman. 0he states that = 7to be any woman in a society where
women are warned that if they do not behave lie angels they must be monsters7.patriarchal
sociali$ation literally maes women sic, both physically and mentally@ ,2G2-/. The angle
character is always pure, dispassionate and submissive" in other words, the ideal female figure
in a male dominated society. +n the contrary the monster female character is sensual,
passionate, rebellious and decidedly uncontrollable! all (ualities that cause a great deal of
anxiety among Turish men.
%i(n )(&an
The very opposite of lamb type of femininity is called lion type of femininity. In
Angela Carters fiction there is a huge gap between lamb and lion woman. %amb types of
femininity do not now their rights and spea for themselves. They are repressed and cannot
act alone without the permission of male chaperone. +n the contrary, %ion women are self
confident and therefore they now their sexual needs and desires. They handle their sexuality
in an explicit way. In addition, they lie flirting with men and they are the performer of
seduction not its ob'ect.
Durthermore, lion type women get rid of the conventional role models for women and
men. They follow their reason and they do not let chance to control their life. They now how
to control their lives.
-
+ne of the prototypes of Carters representations of the lion woman is the
=Aother@ figure in her novel The Oassion of the 5ew 6ve. Aother is the opposite of the
beautiful, charming and passive feminine characters in the boo. In the boo mother is
described as a monster lie creature. 0he lives in the city of &eulah. 0he is the creator of this
city and portrayed as 14reat Oarricide R7S the Castrix of the Ohallocentric :niverse R7S
1Aama. ,8./ <er fertility and feminity is terrifying. 0he is a 1sacred monster of 1personified
and self#fulfilling fertility with a 1false beard fully clothed in obscene naedness and
1breasted lie a sow. ,B-/ Aaybe Carter wants to destroy the dumb beauty image of the
woman by creating an ugly mother. The Aother is very powerful and she has women soldiers
in her service. Aother is characteri$ed as 1a huge woman, more than six feet tall, 5egroid and
has multiple breasts artificially constructed. 6velyn describes Aother to be! 1a self# designed
goddess and 1she was so big she seemed, almost, to fill the round, red#painted, over#heated,
red#lit cell 7. ,Carter! *-.., p. 2/.
The aim of Aother is to create a female space without the mortal intervention of male
time. 0he plans to achieve this by fertili$ing 6ve with the preserved seed of 6velyn, without
any mediation of a male presence. 0he would have a sperm ban lie this to mae women
self#sufficient, without any dependence on man.
The second prototype of %ion woman is )uliette in her essay the 0adeian Woman
chapter three 0exuality As Terrorism! The %ife of )uliette. )uliette is the antithesis of )ustine.
Carter thins that she is a =5ew Woman@ or lion woman since she does not comply with the
desire of her heart on the contrary she follows the order of her brain. )uliette taes advantage
of every inch of her brain in order to reach two things" first one is money the other one is
sexual satisfaction. According to Carter use of heart is the =crippling aspect of femininity@
,.-/.
*G
Carter thins that %ion woman follows their self interest. In the case of )uliette she commits
many crimes yet she easily gets away with it. 0he is never punished for these crimes" on the
contrary she is rewarded since she has sex with the law# maers. 0he nows very well that
sleeping with law maers provides her with the =Aafia Plie protection@ and the fragile sides
of them ,?G/. 0he learns how to use her sexuality as a power and through this process she
gains her sexual autonomy over men. 0he steals, sells her body and murders for her self
interest. In the end )uliette transforms herself into a =5iet$schian superwoman@ who has
=transcended her gender@ ,?8/. )uliette is a complete libertine. Dor the sae of self interest she
even lics arses and eats faecal matter. Carter thins that she =liberated herself from the
limitations of her femininity@ ,?-/. 0he does not need men since she uses dildo. Carter
describes )ustines life as =pilgrimage@ and )uliettes life as a =battle campaign with, as its
final victory, the con(uest of all disgust, horror, superstition, pre'udice# and finally humanity@
,--/.
)uliette refuses femininity and mother role by illing her child. 0he uses contraception
techni(ues therefore she is sexually active yet deliberately sterile. Carter states that =)uliette is
the living proof that biology is not destiny@ by using variety of contraception techni(ues as
well as anal sex she refuses to be a mother ,*GC/. In other words, she denies her reproductive
function.
/(nclu*i(n
Accepting gender role does not bring any good to women in Turey since traditionally
women regarded as second sex. I believe that as )udith &utler emphasises in her wor 4ender
Trouble gender is a repeated performance, it is therefore what you do at particular times,
rather than a universal who you are ,2C-8/. In other words, it is the society or the culture that
maes the women so wea in the eyes of men. Eomestic violence against women in the name
of namus or honor will continue as long as women are seen as the second sex.
**
)0R,S /ITED
&eauvoir, 0imone de. ,*--./. The 0econd 0ex. %ondon! Qintage.
&utler, )udith, ,*--G/. 4ender Trouble! Deminism and the 0ubversion of Identity, ;outledge
Classics
Carter, Angela. ,*-../. The Oassion of 5ew 6ve. %ondon! 4ollanc$.
Carter, Angela. ,*-.-/. The 0adeian Woman! An 6xercise in Cultural <istory. %ondon! Qirgo.
4ilbert, 0andra A., and 0usan 4ubar. The Aadwoman in the Attic. 5ew <aven! Male :O, *-.-.
Fardan, Dili$. =The Eynamics of <onor Fillings In Turey! Orospects for Action@
http!TTwww.unfpa.orgTuploadTlibUpubUfileT8.8UfilenameUhonourillings.pdf
0howalter, 6laine ,*--?/ A %iterature of Their +wn! &ritish Women 5ovelists from &ronte to
%essing, Orinceton :niversity Oress
Wollstonecraft, Aary ,*--3/ A Qindication of the ;ights of Woman, %ondon! Oenguin. Dull
6lectronic text!http!TToregonstate.eduTinstructTphl3G2TtextsTwollstonecraftTwoman#
contents.html.
:nicef! :nite for Children. <onor Crimes and Dorced 0uicides
http!TTwww.unicef.org.trTenTcontentTdetailT.CThonour#crimes#and#forced#suicides#
2.html
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