Sedrakyan 1

Flora Sedrakyan

English 102

Professor Batty

5 November 2018

Exploring Gender Roles and Sexuality

The idea of “gender” and “sexuality” is thought to be a conception formulated by society

and one’s culture, which indicates the “ideal” behaviors for an individual of that specific sex.

One important aspect, that’s noted in Queer theory, is the idea of “heteronormativity”. This

contributes to the immense pressure implicated onto both heterosexual and homosexual

individuals, to follow such set “hetero” standards and expectations. ​M. Butterfly​ by David

Hwang and ​The Left Hand of Darkness ​by Ursula Le Guin display a number of similarities and

difference presented within their story, implementing how society, people, and power dynamics

play a significant role in one’s perception of gender and sexuality. Both authors implement the

concept that there should not be a division amongst humanity, which imply that one gender is

greater than the other. Furthermore, the texts both depict this notion that gender is merely

performative in order to successfully fulfill a specific desire or need.

In a heterosexual society, one’s true homosexual desires have been difficult for one to

truly accept, because people believed that it did not seem to fit such societal norms, which one

can clearly see through Hwang’s play, ​M. Butterfly​. The play illustrates the toxic relationship

between two men, Gallimard, who is believed to be a heterosexual male, and Song, who

embodies a female persona in order to obtain classified information from Gallimard. Throughout

the course of their relationship, Gallimard becomes infatuated with Song, because she was able
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to fulfill his idea of the “perfect woman”, yet is unaware of Song’s true gender identity. In Act

Two, Scene Seven, Song converses with Chin and states “...only a man knows how a woman is

suppose to act”, thus allowing her to manipulate Gallimard for decades (Hwang 63). Song was

able to conform to Gallimard’s desires of being with this perfect woman, who supposedly wants

to be in love with a Western man. However, towards the end of the play, when discovering

Song’s true identity that he was in fact a man, Gallimard finds it troublesome to come to

realization with his homosexuality. He states, “Yes I do! I knew all the time somewhere that my

happiness was temporary, my love a deception. But ... my mind kept the knowledge at bay. To

make the wait bearable” (Hwang 88). Gallimard claims he knew that Song was in fact a man, but

his infatuation with Butterfly didn’t allow him to see what was right in front of him. His

homosexual thoughts and desires are hidden inside him, just as he hides his homosexuality from

the world, because Western cultures are opposed to such idea. However, it was not just

Gallimard, but Song too, who had to mask his homosexual identity from his Eastern cultures and

societal standards. The homosexual identities of both Gallimard and Song are kept away from

their cultures to an extent, which impose the pressures of maintaining such gender roles in

predominantly heterosexual societies.

In ​The Left Hand of Darkness, ​Genly Ai is on a mission to convince the people of Gethen

to join the Ekumen. Upon his journey, he discovers and learns many of the customs and lifestyles

of the Gethenians, one being that all of the individuals are androgynous. Genly Ai finds it

peculiar how these beings don’t fall under male or female binaries, and due to this very reason,

has difficulty trusting Estraven in the beginning of the novel. The Gethenians have no social

construct, people aren’t divided into male or female, because the all share the same
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characteristics. Genly Ai states, “I tried to, but my efforts took the form of self-consciously

seeing a Gethenian first as a man, then as a woman, forcing him into those categories so

irrelevant to his nature and so essential to my own” (Le Guin 32). To Ai, he sees Gethenians, like

Estraven, as males with female tendencies, but is forced to categorize them into one or the other

due to his upbringings. He believes that their gender is some form of deceptive performance and

views himself to be this superior being, because he has a specific gender.

While ​M. Butterfly​ explores gender roles and the pressures enforced by a heterosexual

society onto individuals to mask their homosexulaity, Ursela Le Guin’s ​The Left Hand of

Darkness​ depicts a place that is free of specific set of sexual “norms” and roles for each

individual. She metaphorically explores the division between biological sex and the social

construct of gender through her science-fiction novel. For instance, the characters of her novel

are androgynous beings, who transform and embody their randomly assigned gender during the

process of Kemmer for the mere purpose of sexual reproduction. Since every individual has the

equal opportunity in becoming either male or female, the Gethenian society has no social

construct of gender roles. Therefore, every individual in Gethen is seen as being equal to one

another without having this predetermined notion that one gender is greater than the other.

Furthermore, since Genly Ai is biologically male, the Gethenians ostracize him and see him as a

sexual deviant. Their treatment towards Genly Ai mirror’s Judith Butler’s description of those in

a hetersexual soceity, that discriminate against those who do not fit into the fixated binaries of

being “masculine” and “feminine”.

Throughout ​M. Butterfly​ and ​The Left Hand of Darkness,​ readers are exposed to various

yet similar power dynamics implemented primarily by societal views on gender roles. In ​M.
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Butterfly,​ characters, like Rene Gallimard, view themselves to be superior to and far more

masculine as opposed to others, like Song. The Westerners had this set mentality that they were

these dominant beings, that the Easterners had to submit to, which is evident in Act Two, Scene

Three, when Gallimard states, “The Orient simply want to be associated with whoever shows the

most strength and power” (Hwang 45). His attitude towards the East, is a reflection of white

male dominance primarily seen in Western cultures. In addition to so, the West feminized and

fetishized the East, due to their preconceived notion that the East is inferior to them. Hence,

throughout the play, Gallimard believes to be in charge, only for the fact that Butterfly is not

denying him of all his desires. He was so infatuated by Song’s submissive nature and fed off of

her innocence, that he was completely blinded by the fact that Song was exploiting him. To

asserts his dominance in his affair with Butterfly and hold onto his dignity, he constantly refers

her to, “My poor little treasure” (Hwang 40) and believes that, “...she feels inferior to them—and

to me” (Hwang 31). Butterfly embodied the docile and submissive woman that Gallimard has

been searching for perfectly, creating the illusion that he was in control of that relationship. As

stated before, his craving to have as much power and dominance as he possibly can, ultimately

lead to his demise at the end of the play. Gallimard would rather have died with honor than

knowing he let another man strip his dominance and dignity from him.

In Judith Butler’s essay, “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution”, she argues that

gender is not inherent, but rather formed and executed through the repetition of actions

associated with male or female and determined by external factors. She compares gender

performativity to a theatrical performance, embracing the idea that individuals are simply actors

of their gender, which one can seen through characters presented in both ​M. Butterfly​ and ​The
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Left Hand of Darkness.​ For instance, Song Liling in ​M. Butterfly​ is biologically male, yet

successfully embodied a woman, which proved to be beneficial in obtaining classified

information from Gallimard and later exploiting their relationship. She was able to perform the

role of Gallimard’s infatuation of this ideal woman and possessed his love completely, causing

him to lose sight between with what’s reality and fantasy. In ​The Left Hand of Darkness​, the

Gethenians are depicted as beings that remain genderless for vast majority of their life, except

during Kemmer. During the six days of Kemmer, individuals, who vowed to one another,

possess male or female sexual characteristics for the sole purpose of sexual reproduction.

Afterwards, the individuals return to being androgynous beings and stay in this state of somer,

until it’s time for the next cycle of Kemmer. The characters of both texts don’t seem to fall under

the social constructs of being either “masculine” or “feminine”, and express characteristics of

both genders for their desired purpose.

Simone de Beauvoir once stated, “...one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman”. By

this, one can conclude that the social role of a “woman”, constructed by society, comes from a

collection and repetition of behaviors which people associate with being a woman. Judith Butler

claims this process of embodying one’s desired gender through a series of actions as “gender

performativity”. The idea of “gender” and “sexuality” are products of society trying to push forth

“heteronormativity” onto individuals, thus implementing immense pressure. In ​M. Butterfly​ and

The Left Hand of Darkness​, socially constructed binaries are deconstructed by characters

embodying and performing a genders for a sole purpose. The authors explore gender

performativity and illustrate how gender isn’t merely associated with one’s biological sex, but

with repeated actions that society correlates to a specific gender.

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Works Cited

Butler, Judith. ​Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity.​ , 1990. Print.

Butler, Judith. “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and

Feminist Theory.” ​Theatre Journal,​ vol. 40, no. 4, 1988, pp. 519–531. ​JSTOR​, JSTOR,

www.jstor.edu/stable/3207893.

Hwang, David Henry. M. Butterfly. New York, N.Y. (440 Park Ave. South, New York 10016) :

Dramatists Play Service, 1988. Print.

Kiah, Tara E. “The Deconstruction of Gender Roles in Hwang's M.Butterfly.” ​Academia.edu​, 8

Apr. 2015,

www.academia.edu/11858675/The_Deconstruction_of_Gender_Roles_in_Hwangs_M.B

utterfly.

Le, Guin U. K. The Left Hand of Darkness. New York: Ace Books, 1976. Print.

“LibGuides: Queer Theory: Background.” ​Background - Queer Theory - LibGuides at University

of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign​, guides.library.illinois.edu/queertheory/background.